Spring has sprung in Sir Peter Paul Rubens‘ garden: the fritillaries, crown imperials, anemones and spring snowflakes are in bloom. The very first tulips can also be seen. The garden is now changing every day. Celebrate the new season in the Rubens House with outdoor activities and a tulip festival on Saturday 5 April 2025.

For the first time, the public can see spring blossom in Rubens’ garden. At the moment, stately crown imperials, speckled fritillaries, fiery red anemones, yellow and purple primroses and white spring snowflakes are blooming. The very first tulips can also be seen. 

They grow in turn until about mid-May: from elegant white, bright yellow or orange-red tulips to rare flamed and striped tulips. All with special names such as the Tulipa ‘Black and White’, ‘Absalon’, ‘Bacchus’, ‘Bronze Charm’, ‘Little Princes’ or ‘Rubens broken’.

A season full of outdoor activities

The garden of the Rubens House is ideal for enjoying a sunny spring day or a surprising outdoor activity. On Saturday 5 April, the spring season will be festively kicked off with lectures, guided walks and creative workshops. Visitors can also discover the fascinating history of the Antwerp tulip trade.

Garden curator Klara Alen shares new archival research on the Antwerp tulip bulb club: a group that ran a profitable trade in bulbs, barely 200 metres from Rubens’ front door. Rubens’ beer supplier, his brother-in-law and a few collectors of his work made a lot of money from it. 

Whether Rubens himself was involved in the tulip trade is not (yet) clear. Thanks to this discovery, the ‘monkey paintings’ or singeries by Jan Brueghel the Younger can now be interpreted as an indictment of the tulip craze in Antwerp, and not that of the Northern Netherlands.

Spring awakenings

From April, there will be extra activities every weekend: there will be yoga in the greenery, there will be guided tours and the coffee bar will be open. On Easter Monday 21 April 21 there will be a playful Easter egg hunt for young and old. The library will display fifteen exclusive paper tulips and special sketchbooks by artist Isabelle de Borchgrave (1946–2024).

Garden subscription

The garden of the Rubens House changes every day and even every hour when the weather is sunny. Enjoy the historic tulips with a garden subscription and discover every new variety.

Practical information

The garden is accessible daily for a fee, except on Wednesdays. A garden ticket costs 8 euros and a garden subscription costs 39 euros for one year. The garden subscription can only be purchased online.

Different prices apply for activities. Check www.rubenshuis.be/kalender for all activities and prices.

Depending on the flowering, the tulips in Rubens’ garden can be admired between 1 April and 15 May. Isabelle De Borchgrave’s tulips can be viewed for free in the library during the weekends of April 5, 12 and 26.

Art and museums in Antwerp

• ANTWERP | ‘Panamarenko. Infinite Imagination’ exhibition until 4 May 2025 at KMSKA.
• ANTWERP | ‘Compassion’ in the MAS: the many faces of compassion.
• 2025 at the museums of Antwerp.
• 2025 at Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA): René Magritte, Marthe Donas, Panamarenko, Hans Op de Beeck.
• ANTWERP | Graphics Museum De Reede ft. Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Félicien Rops and Albrecht Dürer.
• ANTWERP | Rubens Experience and Rubens Garden at Rubenshuis.
• Antwerp will have a new Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp M HKA.
• ANTWERP | Innovations in the Middelheim Museum provide a completely new visitor experience.
• A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
• Red Star Line Museum.
• Paleis op de Meir. 
• DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
• ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.