It’s the most boring and thankfully also the shortest month of the year. Don’t worry. There is plenty to perk you up and before you know it will be June!

Visit the palace for free
People who were born in or live in Amsterdam have the whole of February to visit the palace on Dam square for nothing. Built in the 17th century, it is home to works by Ferdinand Bol, the sculptures of Artus Quillinus, admirer of Bernini (see below) and much more. It will also be hosting the winners of the Vrije Schilderskunst art competition. From Feb 1. Website

Meet the saviours of Amsterdam
Amsterdam is celebrating its 750th birthday this year, but if it hadn’t been for the people who cared for its monuments through the years, there would be less of it to celebrate. City restorers Stadsherstel is giving itself a pat on the back for saving 75 Amsterdam landmarks in the 70 years of its existence and there’s an exhibition at the Amstelkerk to prove it. There’s also a free map which will take you on a hour-long walk past 30 of the monuments. Check dates on the website

Get your wellies out
Another Amsterdam 750 treat and this one should be no problem at all: a walking route which will only reveal itself when it rains or has just rained. The route takes in 10 works of art which tell you something about Amsterdam, past, present and future. Check for rainy days on the Rainwalk website.

Behold the mini Bernini
There was great excitement over quite a small Bernini statue given on loan by the Rijksmuseum recently but then again it had taken a couple of centuries for the Netherlands to acquire a work by the most famous Baroque artist in the world.

The statue is a model version of sea creature Triton which adorns a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome. Director Taco Dibbits has as good as announced an exhibition in which the statue will figure alongside Dutch contemporaries of Bernini so watch this space. Meanwhile Triton awaits in room 2.17.  Website

See a flic at the Rotterdam Film Festival
The Rotterdam Film Festival has kicked off, with a programme of international and national films which will be coming to cinemas near you. The variety is endless but the one that hits the Zeitgeist most is the final part of Norbert Pfaffenbichler’s 2251 trilogy in which a masked ape man navigates a dystopian and heavily militarised society looking for a child.

A little harder to imagine is Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas but there’s plenty to laugh as well. These include The Little Eatery in Delfshaven, a humble greasy spoon that has the tourists queuing up watched by diffident locals. Until February 9. Website

See the Netherlands as it was
Bathed in a cool Vermeer-like light, dignified matrons show off their spectacular traditional headdresses while the girls look defiantly into the camera as the wind tugs at their skirts in the photographs of British-Dutch photographer Jimmy Nelson.

The land and sea scapes too take us back to a bygone time. The Vrijthof in Maastricht is showing 65 photographs Nelson made for his 2022 series Between the Sea and the Sky as well as two videos. From February 9. Website

Feel the buzz in Rotterdam
There’s a buzz about Toy Stories – Designing Intimacy at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. The exhibition shows that the way sex  toys are regarded today is light years away from the embarrassment of the past. The show looks at health, design, user experience and the role of women in ditching the penis-shaped sex toy for quite a lot of things that actually work. Red faces all around. Until May 11. Website

Treat your Valentine
The Orange Theatre in Amsterdam presents a special Valentine’s day edition of Venus in Fur by David Ives, who based his comedy about domination and submission on Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s book of the same name. In this version an aspiring actress and a director/playwright gradually become the protagonists in his play. February 13, 14 and 15. Website

Experience the stillness of Jan Mankes
Museum Arnhem and Museum Belvédère in Heerenveen have got together to host a major exhibition of the work of Jan Mankes. Mankes, who succumbed to tuberculosis at age 31 in 1920, was recognised in his time as a great painter of nature and lauded for the particularly serene quality of his work.

His Selfportrait with Owl was restored especially for the exhibition and is a great example of the great sensitivity with which he painted animals and birds. The two museums have divided the exhibition into two parts, with Museum Arnhem presenting an overview of his work and artists who were influenced by him and the Belvédère showing work he did in Friesland between 1909 and 1915. Jan Mankes- Silence and Struggle is on until June 22.

Last chance saloon
The Fries Museum’s exhibition of wedding gowns through the ages, from gorgeous Frisian 17th-century finery to equally gorgeous designs by Iris van Herpen to Queen Máxima’s (tear-stained?) Valentino wedding dress is entering its last weeks. Ja, ik wil! (I do!) is on until February 16. Website

February is also the last month you can brave the cold and see Miró at the Beelden aan Zee museum in Scheveningen. There are some 50 sculptures by the Spanish surrealist artist on show.

The selection of painted bronzes provides an insight into the development of Miró as a sculptor. They look just as jolly and colourful as his drawings and paintings but don’t be fooled. “If by some chance there is something lighthearted in my work, it was probably prompted by the need to escape the tragic side of my temperament. Life seems to me absurd,” Miró said. Until March 2. Website