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The Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum) traditionally focuses on the Netherlands’ countryside and rural life. Founded in 1912, the focus of its collection is on clothing, crafts in danger of being lost, and historic interiors. The museum has a small art collection. The paintings are selected mainly because they depict certain old crafts or historical costumes, or because they could be used for presentations in an interior of one of the museums’ houses. The museum’s collection also contains work in the applied arts such as woodcarvings and textiles, as well as a collection of drawings, silver miniatures, ad a great many prints.

In addition to its 90-plus buildings, the museum also hosts the presentation of what is called the Canon of the Netherlands. This is a permanent exhibition based on fifty topics devised to give a chronological overview of Dutch history.

Tim Smeets, Curator of Domestic Culture, and Inge Schriemer, Curator of Development, Interpretation and Recreation (March 2023)