Visiting Rijksmuseum before Vermeer

There is a separate entrance for those with tickets to the Vermeer exhibit and to control the flow of visitors you can only enter the Vermeer exhibit during the time slot mentioned on your ticket. After your visit to the Vermeer exhibit, you can visit the rest of the museum.
So there is no way to gain entrance to the museum before the time on your ticket. The rest of the museum doesn’t have extended opening hours.

I seriously doubt if they are keeping the whole museum open now that they have extended hours for the Vermeers. It must have been a huge negotiation with the unions as it is.

If you really want to see the rest of the museum and the only time available is before your Vermeer slot, you probably need to buy a separate, earlier admission to the rest of the museum. At least the money goes to a good cause!

I have been before, so I have worked out a quick-hits tour that will take about 45 minutes after our Vermeer time. My sister has never been before and I want to show her the Van Goghs and Breitners, the dolls' houses, and the old masters and The Night Watch. Maybe the 10 weepers if there is time... we have a Van Gogh museum reservation at 4 so it will be a race.

@Dutchtraveler, where is the separate entrance for the Vermeers--is it on the Museumplein side? Is there a separate coat check?

“ I seriously doubt if they are keeping the whole museum open now that they have extended hours for the Vermeers. It must have been a huge negotiation with the unions as it is.”

The unions aren’t the problem. Lack of staff is the main issue, specifically security staff. During the pandemic those working in security suddenly found themselves without work today as shops, museums etc were closed and flights, festivals and large event were cancelled. The majority of people working in security have found other jobs and only few are returning to the security business now that everything is back in full swing. So security staff is scarce and the Rijksmuseum is huge. The temporary Vermeer exhibit is held in the Philips Wing of the museum. That wing is small and compact compared to the rest of the museum. So you can get by with a small number of security staff.

“ @Dutchtraveler, where is the separate entrance for the Vermeers--is it on the Museumplein side? Is there a separate coat check?”
It will be very obvious where the dedicated entrance is once you get near the museum, you simply can’t miss the signs.
There are separate lockers for the Vermeer exhibit. If you want to visit the rest of the museum after you’ve visited the Vermeer exhibit, you need to retrieve your stuff from the lockers and take them to the main part of the museum where you can store your stuff in other lockers or in the cloakroom.

So I will be using the Museumkaart for my Rijksmuseum visit and already have 2:30pm tickets for it ... I also have separate tickets for Vermeer at 4:30pm so I am guessing I can use my museum tickets, leave and head over to Vermeer ... and since it is now open late, I won't be rushed to get out at the initial closing time.

We visited the Rijksmuseum on August before the Verneer exhibit.

We spent three hours going through the museum.

@Dutch_traveler

Where, though, is the dedicated entrance? On the back side by Museumplein, or to one side of the front facade? I kind of need to know, it will affect my transit to the museum. I'm going to be on a tight schedule.

@DQ very smart! That should work out nicely for you.

Visited Rijks and Vermeer last month.

The two entrances are directly accross from one another under the archway on the Museumplien side of the museum. The line forms at the entrances and runs back towards the Museumplien.

Once you enter the Rijks through either entrance you are in the same main hall. Same restaurant access, coatroom, lockers, etc. Vermeer is in a special exhibit area. You follow a blue line on the floor to get there. On the way they will check your ticket and give you a blue wristband for access.