Groningen Art: Museums and Galleries to See on a City Break

What Groningen art covers

The city's art scene is not one thing. It takes in a major museum with wide-ranging collections, an artists' society that has exhibited in a monumental building at the Martinikerkhof, a museum devoted to graphic craft and design, and small commercial galleries where you can buy work. That mix means you can plan either a formal museum visit or a low-cost browse, depending on your mood and the weather.

Several venues in the province appear on regional art listings, including the Groninger Museum, Museum Møhlmann, Het Behouden Blik, MOW I Museum Westerwolde and Klooster, which shows how far the art offering stretches beyond the city itself. For a one to four day break based in Groningen, the city-centre stops below are the practical core; the provincial museums are further out and need more time than a short break allows.

Groninger Museum: the colourful museum building

The Groninger Museum is the city's headline art venue and the building itself is part of the attraction. It is described as a colourful, versatile museum with extensive collections in art and antiquities.

Allow a good half day if you want to see both the art and the antiquities rather than rushing one wing. The temptation on a short break is to treat it as a quick photo stop, but the collections are broad enough that a focused visit still takes two hours or more.

Pictura at the Martinikerkhof

Pictura sits in a monumental building at the Martinikerkhof, the square beside the Martinikerk, and shows work by artists from various directions and disciplines. That gives it a different feel from a municipal museum: smaller, rotating and tied to current makers. The setting alone justifies the walk, since the Martinikerkhof is one of the calmest squares in the centre.

Treat Pictura as a half-hour stop rather than a destination in its own right, and pair it with a look at the church next door. Because exhibitions change, the reason to go is the current show rather than a permanent collection, so check what is on before you set out. If you want the wider picture of the city's religious buildings, the guide to the Groningen cathedral covers the Martinikerk and its neighbours.

GRID Grafisch Museum Groningen

GRID is described as a museum of graphic crafts, graphic art and design, with historical presses on view and craftsmen on hand to explain everything. That makes it a good choice if you want to understand how printed work is made rather than simply look at finished pieces, and it suits anyone with an interest in posters, typography or design.

Set aside around an hour, or more if a demonstration is running while you are there. It is a quieter alternative to the Groninger Museum and works well as the second stop of a museum day.

Klinkhamer antiek en curiosa and Galerie Erik Zwezerijnen

Klinkhamer antiek en curiosa is a large antique, curiosa and record shop of around 200 square metres, and it rewards unhurried browsing rather than a shopping list. It is the kind of place where the pleasure is in the rummage: old objects, oddities and vinyl in the same space. Go with time to spare and no fixed idea of what you want.

Galerie Erik Zwezerijnen is an atmospheric gallery showing the artist's own work, which is described as colourful, energetic and cheerful. It is a small, focused stop rather than a collection, so ten to twenty minutes is enough unless a piece catches you. Together with Klinkhamer it makes a natural browsing pair if you would rather look at art and objects than pay for another museum ticket.

Both venues are small, independent stops that reward unhurried browsing rather than a formal museum visit. This is also the part of the day where the city's architecture does some of the work, since the historic centre is compact and easy to read on foot; the Groningen Architecture guide picks out the buildings worth looking up for.

Batsu for colourful Japanese pottery

Batsu is a Japanese shop selling pottery in bright colours, small works of art, rice wines and translated books. For a traveller who wants to take something home that is not a fridge magnet, the ceramics are the draw: useful, decorative and light enough to pack. It is a shop rather than a gallery, so treat it as a browse rather than a scheduled visit.

The Reitemakersrijge public toilet as a design stop

One of the more unexpected entries on any Groningen art itinerary is a public toilet at Reitemakersrijge, created by Koolhaas and Olaf and described as a picture to see. It takes a couple of minutes, and it is the sort of minor design detail that gives a short break its character. Slot it in as you walk through the centre rather than making a special trip.

Fitting the art stops into one day or two

With one day, start at the Groninger Museum, walk into the centre for lunch, then take Pictura at the Martinikerkhof and finish with a browse in the galleries and Klinkhamer. That gives you one substantial museum, one small exhibition and one unhurried shopping stop without any backtracking. With two days, put GRID on the second morning and keep the afternoon free for whatever caught your eye on day one.

Walking between these stops is short enough that you will not need public transport, and the centre is flat and compact. If you are building a longer itinerary, the Museums in Groningen guide covers the wider set of venues in the city.

Where to pause between art stops

Lunch fits naturally between the museum and the galleries, so a quick sit-down does not have to eat into the afternoon.

The reality of closures and changing listings

Some small venues do not last. Het Nederlands Stripmuseum is listed as closed and no longer available, and the information for SiO2 is no longer maintained, which shows why a fixed list of small galleries ages badly. Check the venue's own page the week you travel rather than trusting an old round-up.

Check each museum's opening days for the dates you are in Groningen before you build a day around it. If a museum is shut, use that day for the streets, the market and the architecture instead.

Which art stop should you book first?

Start with the Groninger Museum if you want one solid anchor for the trip, then leave the rest of the art day loose. Pictura, Klinkhamer, Galerie Erik Zwezerijnen and Batsu work best as an unhurried walk with a coffee in the middle.

If you would rather keep things simple and wander, build the day around the museum and treat Reitemakersrijge, the Martinikerkhof and the Folkingestraat shops as the looser half. That combination gives you a good range of the city's art without a packed schedule.