Van Gogh Museum opens Yoshitoshi exhibition on 1 October

Van Gogh Museum presents Yoshitoshi. Master of the Moon from 1 October 2026 to 4 January 2027 in Amsterdam. The exhibition brings a major Japanese print series into the museum’s programme for the first time and connects it with Vincent van Gogh’s interest in Japanese art.

Yoshitoshi exhibition runs until 4 January 2027

The presentation centres on Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, a series made between 1885 and 1892. The Van Gogh Museum describes the display as a dossier exhibition, with one hundred prints showing figures and episodes from Japanese and Chinese history, mythology and folklore.

The museum’s announcement says the series is remarkably complete and in excellent condition. It comes from the estate of Elise Wessels, an art collector and founding director of the museum Nihon no hanga. Through the Dutch inheritance tax scheme, 141 Japanese prints from her collection were transferred to the Dutch State to be housed at the museum. The dates and venue are confirmed in the museum’s exhibition announcement.

Van Gogh Museum links Japanese prints to its own collection

Yoshitoshi worked within the Japanese woodblock-printing tradition while using perspective and realism associated with Western art. The moon provides the series with a recurring visual and cultural thread, while the subjects range across historical figures, warriors, lovers and mythical beings.

Van Gogh admired Japanese colour woodcuts and assembled hundreds of prints from 1885 onwards, including five by Yoshitoshi. The museum says he hung the prints and studied them, and that their strong outlines, large areas of colour and unexpected compositions influenced his artistic development. This link gives the exhibition a direct place within the museum’s Van Gogh narrative rather than presenting it as a separate display of Japanese art.

The building’s two principal parts also help explain the exhibition setting. Gerrit Rietveld’s main building opened in 1973, while Kisho Kurokawa’s exhibition wing opened in 1999. The official building history describes the latter as the space for temporary exhibitions and records the entrance hall’s opening on Museumplein in 2015. Further architectural details are set out by the City of Amsterdam’s museum history.

Visiting Van Gogh Museum: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Yoshitoshi. Master of the Moon is on view from 1 October 2026 to 4 January 2027 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
• The display is a temporary exhibition centred on One Hundred Aspects of the Moon; the museum’s announcement does not state that the permanent collection is closed during the exhibition period.
• The museum consists of the Rietveld Building and Kurokawa Wing, connected by the entrance hall on Museumplein. The temporary exhibition wing opened in 1999.

Searching for Van Gogh Museum on social platforms

These links open searches for Van Gogh Museum on each platform.

Frequently asked questions about Van Gogh Museum

When does Yoshitoshi. Master of the Moon take place at Van Gogh Museum?

The exhibition runs from 1 October 2026 to 4 January 2027.

Where is Van Gogh Museum and how do you get there?

The museum is in Amsterdam on Museumplein, with the temporary exhibition wing connected to the entrance hall.

What is Van Gogh Museum?

It is an art museum with a permanent collection of Vincent van Gogh’s work and temporary exhibitions, including Yoshitoshi. Master of the Moon from 1 October 2026.