Stephanie Rosenthal will take over as artistic director of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, beginning in spring 2027. The appointment puts a museum leader with a strong record in contemporary programming at the helm of one of the Netherlands' most distinctive institutions, just as it enters the decisive phase of its transformation. Rosenthal is currently director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a post she will hold through the museum's long-awaited opening in December. The succession in Abu Dhabi has been prepared well in advance: Valerie Hillings was appointed the inaugural director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in August, allowing Rosenthal to see the opening through before moving to the Netherlands. Her years in the emirate have been spent bringing a landmark museum project to fruition -- experience directly relevant to the building programme awaiting her in Rotterdam. She takes over an institution mid-metamorphosis. Rosenthal singled out two attractions in particular: the Depot, the museum's mirrored storage building billed as the world's first publicly accessible art store, and the planned renewal of the museum's modernist main building, which is expected to reopen around 2030 after extensive renovation. The combination of a working store open to the public and a renewed historic home gives Boijmans a genuinely unusual dual identity among European museums. The appointment signals continuity of ambition: a bold exhibition programme paired with one of the most closely watched construction projects in the museum world. Rosenthal's record in building audiences and a distinctive programme identity will be closely watched as she sets the agenda for the museum's next decade, bridging the Depot era and the building's return.