Rijksmuseum Names KPN as New Founder, Exhibition Wing to Be KPN Wing
On June 29, 2026, the Rijksmuseum announced that KPN, the leading Dutch mobile and internet provider, will become the museum’s new Founder, the highest tier of corporate partnership. As Founder, KPN will make a substantial financial contribution to the preservation of the national collection and the expansion of digital accessibility worldwide. As part of the collaboration, the museum’s exhibition wing will be renamed the KPN Wing. KPN has been the museum’s main partner since the 2013 reopening, serving as digital partner for Operation Night Watch and co-developing the Rijksmuseum app and Collection Online, an AI-driven database making 800,000 artworks and 500,000 books digitally searchable. In summer 2024, KPN donated two sculptures by Dutch artist Carel Visser, now in the museum gardens. Philips, which held the Founder role since 2001, will continue as a partner.
The Signal
The elevation of KPN to Founder signals a deepening of long-term corporate-institutional partnerships focused on digital infrastructure and public access. For collectors and curators, it underscores how museums are leveraging tech-sector relationships to fund preservation and global reach, with KPN’s AI database serving as a model for democratized collection access. The naming of the KPN Wing also reinforces the trend of prominent corporate branding in museum architecture, a strategy that balances private funding with institutional identity. The transition from Philips to KPN reflects a shift in corporate sponsorship from manufacturing to telecommunications and digital services, aligning the Rijksmuseum with the innovation priorities of the 21st-century cultural sector.
- Artists: Carel Visser
- People: Taco Dibbits, Joost Farwerck
- Museums: Rijksmuseum
- Locations: Amsterdam
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