Stephanie Rosenthal to lead Rotterdam's Boijmans museum from spring 2027

Stephanie Rosenthal will become the next Artistic Director of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam in spring 2027.

The museum announced the appointment on 30 September 2026. It said Rosenthal will take up the post in spring 2027 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The appointment was also reported by ARTnews on the same date. That gives staff and audiences a clear timetable. Spring is still months away.

An artistic director is the person who leads a museum's artistic programme. In plain terms, that means guiding what is shown and when, working with curators, artists and lenders. Think of the job as part curator, part planner and part public face. The choices affect loans, tours and tickets. They affect who gets to stand in front of what.

Rosenthal currently serves as Director of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, according to the Rotterdam museum's announcement. That is the title given in the museum's statement. She will bring experience from that director role to Rotterdam. The announcement does not look back. It looks forward to spring 2027.

The hiring institution is Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, which is located in Rotterdam ArtReview. Rotterdam is a port city in the Netherlands. If you have never visited, the full museum name plus Rotterdam is what to put into a map app. Naming the city matters. It tells visitors exactly where to go to see the results.

Early announcements of this kind give everyone time to plan. They give staff time to prepare the calendar. They give the incoming director time to finish current work. They give the public a name to watch. A start season, rather than a start day, is normal. Spring 2027 leaves room for the details to follow.

The museum publishes all of its press releases in its online Pressroom. Requests for press visits must be sent to pressoffice@boijmans.nl. Images and video material can be used free of charge by the press with credit to the photographer and the museum or Depot name. Those are the house rules for journalists and picture editors who want to follow the next chapter. Details are listed on the museum's press page Museum Press Office.

What makes this stand out for a general reader is simple. Museum leadership sounds inside-baseball. It is not. It decides what you will be able to see on a future visit. A new artistic director means new choices about exhibitions and displays.

For now, the basics are set. Who: Stephanie Rosenthal. What: Artistic Director. Where: Rotterdam. When: spring 2027. Watch for the museum's next announcements. They will spell out the first programme under Rosenthal.