Daily Art Brief — 11 October 2026
Two forthcoming Amsterdam exhibitions open fresh views onto Whistler and Yoshitoshi, while a Tokugawa Art Museum feature follows the intimate history preserved around a single Japanese tea bowl.
James McNeill Whistler takes the spotlight at the Van Gogh Museum with “Whistler. Dandy en dwarsdenker,” running from 16 October 2026 through 10 January 2027. Developed with Tate Britain, the exhibition is described as the first overview in the Netherlands devoted to Whistler’s work. It presents the painter and printmaker through paintings, etchings and drawings, including his 1872 “Composition in Grey: Portrait of the Artist.” Whistler’s etchings and drawings also record cities such as Paris, Amsterdam and Venice. The exhibition frames his belief that art should evoke a mood, like music, alongside his reputation as an art aesthete and enfant terrible.
The Van Gogh Museum will show Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s complete “Hundred Aspects of the Moon” series for the first time at the institution in “Yoshitoshi. Meester van de maan,” on view from 1 October 2026 through 4 January 2027. The prints depict warriors, lovers, historical figures and mythical beings from Japanese and Chinese history, mythology and folk stories, distinguished by powerful colours, unexpected compositions and close attention to human emotion. The series entered the museum through the Dutch state with 141 Japanese prints from the estate of collector Elise Wessels. Vincent van Gogh owned five Yoshitoshi prints and studied elements of their style.
At the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, a black Raku tea bowl attributed to Hon’ami Kōetsu is presented under the name “Shigure.” Its box records that Morikawa Jojun’an received the bowl from his grandfather at 16 and cherished it for many years. The box was stamped by its former owner, the wealthy merchant Hirase Rokō, with the phrase “集散不期 願貽同好.” The inscription expresses a wish that, although parting with the bowl was unavoidable, it would pass to someone who shared his appreciation. The museum’s account offers no further information about Kōetsu’s practice or the bowl’s formal qualities.