Arts & Culture Calendar for May 2026

Museums and exhibitions

Here I Can Breathe – Glazen Huis, Plein 40-45 (through June 21)
Nine artists turn their gaze toward Nieuw-West: the parks, skate parks, squares, and courtyards that make the district what it is. Through photography, video, text, and music, they show how public space isn’t just space, but a place we inhabit and shape together. Beautiful, accessible, diverse, and free to view on the windows of the Glazen Huis and the Tuinstadhuis. Real art by real creators, with our city at the center.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Metamorphoses – the Rijksmuseum (through May 25)
Ovid wrote it two thousand years ago, and artists have been exploring it ever since. In this major spring exhibition, the Rijksmuseum takes you into the world of vengeful gods, desire, cunning, and metamorphosis. They do so through more than 80 international masterpieces by Titian, Caravaggio, Rodin, Bourgeois, and Brancusi. An impressive exhibition that shows how a single ancient story continues to inspire generations of artists.
Website & tickets:Website

And don't be late for these current exhibitions!

OSCAM x ARTNOIR: Watering a Black Garden – OSCAM (through May 6)
An accessible group exhibition featuring work by eight artists from the African diaspora. Watering a Black Garden explores themes such as care, identity, and connection through photography, film Services and installations feel both personal and collective. The exhibition is on view at OSCAM, an interdisciplinary museum in Amsterdam-Zuidoost focused on art, fashion, and design, with a strong emphasis on emerging talent and underrepresented perspectives. A quiet, layered exhibition that invites you to take a moment to reflect.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Between Fires – Irradiated Imaginations & Anti-Nuclear Solidarities – Framer Framed (through May 17)
A substantive yet clearly structured exhibition exploring the relationship between nuclear technology, colonial history, and resistance. Between Fires takes its starting point in the Kazakh steppe—where nuclear tests took place for decades—and connects that history with contemporary art and research. Through film, sound, Services and installations a layered yet serene whole Services and installations , in which personal stories and broader geopolitical narratives coexist.
Framer Framed is known for these kinds of context-driven exhibitions, where art and social themes converge.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Yellow. More than Van Gogh's favorite color – Van Gogh Museum (until May 17)
For many people, the color yellow symbolizes cheerfulness, warmth, and exuberance. But for Van Gogh, yellow also represented courage, innovation, and much more. In this exhibition, which is entirely devoted to Van Gogh's favorite color yellow, we see what the color meant and why it was innovative in the 19th century. In addition, there is also a special installation by Olafur Eliasson, which allows the public to experience the color yellow in a unique way.
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20th century: Srefidensi: fifty years of Surinamese independence – The Rijksmuseum (until May)
Every six months, the Rijksmuseum presents new topics about the 20th century. Suriname has now been independent for fifty years, which is reason enough for an extensive exhibition. There are photos of demonstrations in 1944 at the monument to dockworker Willem Diepraam, the significance of Srefidensi Day is explained in detail, and there are traditional angisas and other historical monuments. An important exhibition that every Amsterdam resident should see.
Website & tickets: Tickets

IN SITU #1, Nora Turato: I HEAR YOU, I HEAR YOU – Stedelijk Museum (ongoing)
The mezzanine of the Stedelijk's New build features a massive 'in-between space.' The Stedelijk has commissioned a group of young artists to experiment in this space. Nora Turato is the first artist to kick off IN SITU. Her work includes video and sound installations that explore our relationship with language.
Website & tickets: www,stedelijk.nl

Theater, dance, opera

This Will Not End Well, Het Zuidelijk Toneel / Suze Milius – Frascati (May 21–23)
Recognition: everyone wants it, but no one likes to give it. In this musical performance, Suze Milius focuses on a small group of artists being interviewed, but it soon becomes clear that one is speaking the other’s words. Beneath those intonations, the tensions are painfully exposed. Poetic, funny, and alienating, just as you’d expect from Het Zuidelijk Toneel and Suze Milius.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Goodbye to Eddy Belleguelle, ITA Ensemble – International Theater Amsterdam (May 7–23)
In a tough working-class village in northern France, the sensitive Eddy grows up in an environment that has no room for who he is. Eline Arbo adapts Édouard Louis’ autobiographical novel into a raw and musical portrait, performed by four actors, each playing the role of Eddy. Awarded the VSCD Directing Prize and four stars from both NRC and Trouw, this is a production that stays with you—and for those very reasons, it’s returning for yet another run. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you go!
Website & tickets:Tickets

The Marriage of Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Dutch National Opera (May 8–28)
On one turbulent day, everything revolves around deception, desire, and power in this household that appears so proper. Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, Mozart’s timeless classic takes on a sharp, contemporary edge as a psychological thriller, featuring an impressive cast and musical direction by Baroque specialist Francesco Corti.
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Medea for a Benefits Scandal Commemoration, Toneelschuur Productions – Theater Bellevue (May 6 and 7)
What if Medea weren’t a figure from Greek mythology, but a mother caught up in the benefits scandal? Director Angelo Ormskerk and writer Maarten van Hinte transform Euripides’ tragedy into a confrontational and moving family drama, based on true stories. Not a story of revenge, but of resilience and the people who kept the faith. A sharply critical and intense play.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Music

L’Atlantide (1921), Marmoucha Orchestra – Muziekgebouw (May 3)
A film that once ventured into the desert and never quite emerged from it. L’Atlantide was filmed on location in the Sahara at the beginning of the last century—an unprecedented undertaking at the time—and evolved into a visual spectacle brimming with exoticism and mystery. At the Muziekgebouw, the film takes on a new form: a live soundtrack in which traditional North African sounds, original compositions, and improvisation reinforce one another. Don’t expect nostalgia, but rather an exciting reinterpretation in which image and music constantly challenge one another.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Great Pianists: Alexander Malofeev Plays Rachmaninoff and Grieg – Concertgebouw (May 10)
He is young, but plays as if he has already lived a lifetime. Alexander Malofeev presents a program that oscillates between finesse and raw power: from the playful baroque of Grieg’s Holberg Suite to the almost superhuman demands of Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata. His playing is praised for this superb combination, because it is exactly what this music needs. An evening where virtuosity is not the goal, but the means.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Festivals / Events

Rollende Keukens, Westerpark (May 13–17)
For five days, Westerpark will transform into an open-air restaurant where getting lost in food is exactly the point. More than eighty (and likely even more) mobile kitchens from the Netherlands and abroad will roll onto the grass, serving everything from steaming paella and arancini to Jamaican cuisine and Vietnamese street food you’ve never tasted before. Meanwhile, there’s live music ranging from classical to reggae, and countless charming little bars. Free admission, but expect to linger for a while in sunny Westerpark. Website & tickets:Website

Theater Na De Dam
Not a traditional commemoration, but a moment when the city takes a brief breath after two minutes of silence. Theater Na De Dam invites creators and performers from across the country to reflect on war and freedom. These performances may be small or grand, but they all strike a chord. They honestly explore how stories from the past continue to resonate today. Two must-see performances during this festival:

Shakshuka: No Onions, Judith Schrijver – Theater Bellevue (May 5)
In *Shakshuka: No Onions*, Judith Schrijver doesn’t serve up a standard performance, but rather a personal dish that has been carefully crafted and presented without any unnecessary ingredients. She delves into themes such as heritage, identity, and family, with a tone that is both lighthearted and confrontational. The title already hints at its uniqueness: this is not a traditional mix, but a conscious choice of what does (and does not) make it to the table.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Not Canceled Yet, Theater Na De Dam Productions – Royal Theater Carré (May 4)
On May 4, *Not Canceled Yet* explores new ways of commemorating. What does freedom mean when it doesn’t feel like a given? And how do you pass on memories without letting them fade? Don’t expect a solemn ceremony, but rather a poignant, timely interpretation of what commemoration can mean today.
Website & tickets:Tickets

Films

The Drama
In *The Drama*, we follow a couple whose relationship slowly begins to shift from real to staged—or perhaps it’s the other way around? What starts as a familiar tension between two people evolves into a game of roles, expectations, and manipulation. Who decides what’s genuine when you’re constantly putting on a show for each other? A film that dissects the dynamics of love without ever fully revealing where the game ends and reality begins. Fantastically performed by Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, whose chemistry makes the screen sizzle.

Pillion
A young man becomes entangled in an intense relationship with an older motorcyclist and ends up, both literally and figuratively, in the backseat. Pillion explores a world of power, surrender, and desire, in which boundaries are constantly tested and pushed. What begins as attraction develops into a difficult dependency: who is in control, and who lets themselves be carried along? The film is raw, physical, and filled with a constant underlying tension.

I Swear
I Swear centers on a boy with Tourette’s syndrome, for whom self-control is never a given. His tics and unfiltered outbursts constantly clash with a world that revolves around restraint, politeness, and, above all, credibility. When he finds himself in a situation where his word matters, “I swear” suddenly becomes complicated: what does honesty mean when your own body sometimes contradicts you? The film explores the boundaries between vulnerability and discomfort, revealing just how thin that line really is.