Michelangelo's men in Haarlem

In 2025, it was 550 years since Michelangelo was born. 550 years after his birth, Teylers Museum pays tribute to one of the most famous artists in history. Until January 25, 2026, 'Michelangelo's Men' is on view at Teylers Museum: an exhibition about Michelangelo Buonarroti's (1475-1564) fascination with the male body. Do you love this art and have you seen the Sistine Chapel in real life? Have you ever been inside the oldest museum in the Netherlands? You can see this collection—or rather, masterpieces—all together in the Netherlands for the first time. The exhibition is almost over.

Michelangelo (1475 – 1564)

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, better known by his modern given name Michelangelo (1475–1564), was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet. He is considered one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance.

 

Love

Love was very important in the artist's oeuvre and life. His works embody love for divine creation, in marble, painting, and male beauty. Regarding Michelangelo's private life, many sources mention only one name. His great love is said to have been Tommaso dei Cavalieri. Furthermore, Michelangelo maintained a friendship with Vittoria Colonna, with whom he had regular correspondence. Michelangelo was much older than his noble admirer Tommaso, but his love is evident in the many romantic poems and sonnets that Michelangelo dedicated to him. In the strict Vatican, many of his works were controversial; they were sometimes considered too explicit. The David grew into a symbol of Western sculpture. Adam and David are the divine perfect creation and bear witness to Michelangelo's adoration of the male body. Michelangelo himself was never married and remained faithful to his love for art.

 

Drawings, sculptures and letters

In 1790, the newly opened Teylers Museum in Rome acquired a large collection of Italian drawings, including 22 drawings by Michelangelo. They are among the finest drawings he ever created and form the heart of the exhibition. This world-class collection from the oldest museum in the Netherlands is complemented by approximately forty international loans, many of which are being shown in the Netherlands for the first time. These include not only drawings, but also a letter, a fragment of a poem written by Michelangelo, and sculptures, including the marble statue. Apollo-DavidIn addition, a book and several drawings and prints by friends, pupils, and followers will also be on display. The loans come from, among others, The Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, The British Museum in London, the Uffizi in Florence, and the Louvre in Paris. Highlights from art history that have not previously been seen in the Netherlands are coming to Haarlem, such as The Dream from The Courtauld Gallery and Study for the Libyan Sibyl from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Drawings are fragile and are therefore rarely exhibited. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these phenomenal artworks by Michelangelo together – in the Netherlands.

 

Naked and muscular

Michelangelo was fascinated by the male body. It plays a role in almost all his artworks, often nude, muscular, and in a provocative pose. His David and the Creation of Adam: these are artworks so firmly anchored in our collective memory that we often take them for granted. But in Michelangelo's time, they were revolutionary, and throughout history, they have regularly been regarded as controversial. Also on display is a figure study for an ignudo in the Sistine Chapel, ca. 1511 from the collection of the Teylers Museum.

 

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'Michelangelo's Men' is on display at the Teylers Museum until January 25, 2026. Accessible only with a time slot and a ticket purchased in advance. Admission price including surcharges: MJK + 10 euros pp, VriendenLoterij VIPkaart + 5 euros pp. https://teylersmuseum.nl/nl/zien-en-doen/de-mannen-van-michelangelo Previous museum blogs: https://www.postzegelblog.nl/tag/made-in-holland/