Moco Museum

The Moco Museum is a private museum of modern and contemporary art on the Museumplein in Amsterdam, and it has made its name by bringing street art and pop art into the mainstream museum world. It opened in 2016 in a late nineteenth-century villa, Villa Alsberg, which stands in the same square as the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, and a visit gives a very different experience from those larger institutions. The rooms are smaller, the atmosphere is livelier, and the focus is on artists who are known to a wide public and often work outside the gallery system.

The museum is best known for its connection with Banksy, the anonymous British street artist whose stencils and satirical images have become some of the best known works in contemporary art. Moco has displayed a number of his pieces, including some of his widely reproduced images, and the museum's reputation is partly built on them. Alongside Banksy, the collection and exhibitions have included work by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, who made the bridge between the street and the gallery in New York in the 1980s, and by contemporary artists such as KAWS and others working in pop, graffiti and digital media. The selection changes, so check what is on show before you go.

The experience is designed to be accessible and sometimes interactive. Some rooms use immersive installations, light and sound, and visitors are encouraged to take photographs, which makes the museum popular with younger audiences and on social media. The display is not a systematic survey of the history of art but a showcase of popular contemporary names, and some critics find it more of an experience than a scholarly exhibition. Even so, it is a lively way to see the work of artists who shaped visual culture, and it often appeals to people who do not usually visit museums.

Opening hours are long, with later closing at the weekends, and the last admission is about an hour before closing, but hours change, so check before you go. Tickets are best booked online for a time slot, since it can be busy. The surrounding Museumplein has a large lawn, a pond used in winter for ice skating, and many cafes, and the Concertgebouw is nearby.

The museum suits young visitors, street art fans and anyone who wants a quick, colourful stop. Allow about an hour. It combines well with a visit to one of the large museums on the square.