Tilburg has it all: contemporary art museums, nature museums, and textile museums! A day trip to Tilburg can easily be filled up with history and wonderful art. 🖼
So, you’ve found yourself in this southern bustling city, full of engaging and unique museums. Now you’re wondering — where to go?
Well, you’re in geluk because we have the lowdown on a select few of the best museums in Tilburg.
1. De Pont Museum
De Pont Museum in Tilburg is a contemporary art hub. 🎨
The museum is built into a former will-spinning mill — a cool place to house contemporary art, creating a unique atmosphere and environment to browse and enjoy. 🧐
Besides a ton of exhibits, what also really stands out at De Pont is the lovely interior of the museum. It’s a combination of minimalism and design that really does the trick.
Need a break? Grab a seat in the library or a cosy latté in the café!
Exhibitions at De Pont Museum
There is plenty to see at this Museum, with an extensive list of artists featured. It’s safe to say that, no matter your preference, there’ll be something to keep you engaged at De Pont!
Here are just three examples of exhibitions currently on show at De Pont:
Raphaela Vogel
Exhibition dates: Open from February 18, 2023 to 27 August 2023
Vogel’s current exhibition in the Netherlands, ‘KRAAAN’, which is a play on both the Dutch and German words for crane (in German it is spelled with one ‘a’, in Dutch it has two), experiments with international art. The artist’s work is a ballsy exploration of gender, animals, people, and machines. The exhibition includes a reconstructed crane that seems to ascend to the sky.
Thomas Schütte
Exhibition dates: Open from August 16, 2023 to January 28, 2024
A German artist, Schütte, will soon be displaying three architectural works from his original 1981 exhibition called “Westkunst” at De Pont. His models tend to be quite interactive, meaning the structures often invite you to climb up the stairs or hide in a small interior gap (don’t get stuck though).
Collection
Exhibition dates: Open from December 15, 2023 to August 27, 2023.
This is a particularly large collection with work from various artists, including the likes of Beatriz González, Marlene Dumas and Rob Birza. If you’re interested in seeing something eclectic and unexpected, this is the one to choose!
On Thursday evenings, entrance to De Pont Museum is completely free after 5 PM!
📍 Location: Wilhelminapark 1, 5041 EA Tilburg
💲 Price: €12.50 and kids under 18 go free
⏰ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM
2. PARK
PARK is a centre for contemporary art that was established by seven artists living in Tilburg.
It is a platform for contemporary visual art — and if that sounds a bit vague to you, welcome to the contemporary art world! It has an educational programme for visitors, though, so never fear.
It also offers workshops and special evenings where you can get involved in the contemporary art world in a more immediate way.
It has played host to some really cool exhibitions at the intersection of visual and performance art, and continues to collaborate with local and international artists to bring the contemporary art world to Tilburg.
It usually hosts an artist for a summer residency, who will present lectures and workshops for the public.
📍 Location: Wilhelminapark 53, 5041 ED Tilburg
💲 Price: Free
⏰ Opening hours: Friday to Sunday, 1 PM to 5 PM
3. Doloris
Doloris is officially not a museum, but nonetheless, another awesome artsy and inspiring spot in Tilburg that offers you a fully immersive experience.
You can enter the Meta Maze, a collection of over 40 rooms of art. The catch? The art is surreal and immersive, designed to make you excited and also a little disorientated. Wandering through the maze, you’ll become completely absorbed by the art.
After all that art, you’ll need some sustenance for your stomach, which Doloris can provide incredibly well.
They have a rooftop filled with street food from all over the world, and, of course, some delicious drinks. Your final taste of Tilburg’s art at Doloris will be gazing at the skyline while munching on something tasty on the rooftop.
📍 Location: Spoorlaan 21C, 5038 CB Tilburg
💲 Price: €25
⏰ Opening hours: 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM
4. The TextielMuseum
The TextielMuseum in Tilburg offers a unique opportunity to see just how important textile and textile making was throughout Tilburg’s history. You can still see the working machines today, weaving and making fabrics!
Exhibitions at the Textile Museum
Every Thread a Story
Exhibition dates: June 10, 2023 to October 1, 2023.
This art exhibition centres around the artist’s use of textiles to express emotions and tell stories. Whether it’s social issues (including diversity, sexuality, and gender) or poetry, the stimulus has all been “translated” into the artistic medium of tapestries and other rich textiles. The exhibition consists of a selection of art from various contemporary artists.
Damask design – designs with light and shadow
Exhibition dates: January 30, 2023 to January 14, 2024
Are you interested in learning more about how mind-blowing damask fabric pieces are made in the first place? Well, this exhibition delves into the process, revealing the initial stages of the “sketch” and how it eventually gets woven into the beautiful, final damask masterpieces.
📍 Location: Goirkestraat 96, 5046 GN Tilburg
💲 Price: €12.50 for adults, €4.00 for children, and free for those under the age of 13
⏰ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 12 PM to 5 PM
5. Natuurmuseum Brabant in Tilburg
Natuurmuseum Brabant has been around since 1935, with an aim to encourage people to appreciate all things natural! 🌲
From huge mammoths in the Ice Age exhibition to wolves in the Real Wolf exhibition, or even becoming a detective in the OO – ZONE, where you will find over 2000 objects in an accessible museum depot, there is enough to fill up an entire day.
For the youngest visitors, there are the exhibitions BOS and Frog & Friends, where they can visit Frog’s house and play various games.
Natuurmuseum Brabant is, first and foremost, a family-friendly museum about the lives of plants and animals, and it does a great job of explaining the awesome history of nature to you and your little ones.
Behold this life-size model of the woolly mammoth, at least three and a half meters high and six meters long. The model’s designers put the mammoth together on the spot because of its epic size.
While you’re there, you really can’t miss the giant whale skeleton. 🐳
This skeleton is 15 meters long and weighs over 1000 kilos. The skeleton is one of three sperm whales which washed ashore in Scheveningen in 1995, and the size of it is mind-boggling.
📍 Location: Spoorlaan 434, 5038 CH Tilburg
💲 Price: €12.50 for adults, €10.50 for children, and free for kids under the age of 4
⏰ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 AM to 5 PM
Tilburg is a lovely city and one that deserves way more attention than it usually gets! Not only does it have epic museums on offer, but there is so much else to do in Tilburg.
Have you been to any of these museums in Tilburg? Let us know in the comments below! 👇
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in December 2018 but was updated for your reading pleasure in June 2023.
We recently visited the Museum De Pont and the Textiel Museum in Tilburg. The Textiel Museum is educational and fascinating. The history of the wool trade around Tilburg was very enlightening. We were not impressed with the current exhibit at the De Pont. It’s a wonderful space for modern art. We would like to see the next exhibit.