The Rijksmuseum presents Point of View, an exhibition exploring ideas around gender in Western Europe from the 16th to the 21st century through 150 works from the museum’s own collection. Highlights include a portrait of William of Orange wearing a skirt at the age of four, a flamboyant gold toothpick in the shape of a dragon and a glass decorated with copulating roosters. Featured artists include Gesina ter Borch, Marlene Dumas, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Kinke Kooi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, Maria Roosen, Charley Toorop and Sara Troost among others.

Point of View explores objects such as furniture, drawings, photographs, accessories, items of clothing that, across the centuries, show particular associations with femininity, masculinity, and gender in general. They include portraits of children in the 17th century in the Netherlands They show that many Dutch children then wore skirts until about the age of seven, as can be seen in the recently acquired portrait of two-year-old Moses ter Borch painted by Gesina ter Borch (after 1667).

The exhibition is curated by Maria Holtrop, Curator of History; Charles Kang, Curator of Drawings; and Marion Anker, academic researcher of Women of the Rijksmuseum.