Clara the Rhinoceros will be open next Friday, September 30th at the Rijksmuseum. 

Clara was strange and new, huge and awe-inspiring – she was utterly unlike any other known animal. From 30 September 2022, the Rijksmuseum presents Clara the Rhinoceros, an exhibition about an animal who travelled far from her native land of India and became the most famous rhinoceros in the world.

Clara the Rhinoceros shows how new knowledge changed perceptions of the rhinoceros, and how art played its part in this process. The 60 objects on display include paintings, drawings, medals, statues, books, clocks and a goblet. Very few of these artworks have been displayed before in the Netherlands, and never before have so many exceptional objects devoted to Clara the rhinoceros being presented together. They range from the first-ever European print depicting a rhinoceros – made in 1515 by Albrecht Dürer – to a life-size, full-length portrait of Clara by Jean-Baptiste Oudry dating from 1749. Clara the Rhinoceros runs from 30 September 2022 to 15 January 2023 in the Phillips Wing of the Rijksmuseum. 

The exhibition is made possible in part by two private donors through the Rijksmuseum Fonds.