Blockbuster art and photographs, film festivals, Paris and defining a good mother are all on offer in March’s cultural round up.

Do a Kiefer double take
The Stedelijk Museum and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam are celebrating Anselm Kiefer’s 80th birthday with a combined exhibition of old and never before seen work.

Both museums focus on their ties with the artist. The Stedelijk is showing the show’s title piece Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, a monumental new work referring to Pete Seeger’s anti-war song and the influence of Van Gogh on his work. At the Van Gogh, hitherto unexhibited work by Kiefer is shown in conjunction with paintings by the Dutch artist. From March 7. Website

Taste some tapas at Tuschinski
The Amsterdam Spanish Film Festival is kicking off with a taster night at the Tuschinski film theatre with tapas and rioja and a showing of Casa en Llamas, about a family reunion in which the gathered siblings do not get on like a house of fire at all.

Cast members will be on hand to answer your questions and the festival’s director Virginia Pablos will reveal the programme for next month’s festival. March 7. Website

Immerse yourself in art in Rotterdam
Rotterdam is looking forward to a week of art of all kinds, including Art Rotterdam at the Ahoy conference centre where galeries will be touting their wares, and a presentation of work by 27 young Rotterdam artists united in The New Current. You will be tripping over art related events everywhere, from pop up shows to open studios, with just three days to see all 50. March 26-30. Website

See the East in Amsterdam
The CinemAsia Film Festival is celebrating its 17th edition, with locations including Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp, Rialto VU and latest venue Eye. The programme is bursting out of its seams with blockbusters and small independent productions from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. March 6-11. Website

Have a look at a thing or two
As anyone contemplating moving house knows, our lives are filled to overflowing with things, all with some special meaning or just simply there. At the Voorlinden in Wassenaar The Life of Things delves into the history of objects and why we are attached to them.

Fortunately the Voorlinden had lots of stuff in storage, including things by Ai Weiwei, Hans op de Beeck, Michael Craig-Martin and many more. Until November 2. Website

Visit the old new Paris
Paris in the 19th century is a changing city. Like the small shops in Zola’s Aux Bonheur des Dames devoured by the ruthless maws of the big department stores, the little old streets make way for Haussman’s boulevards. The exhibition New Paris, from Monet to Morisot at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague shows what the Impressionists saw just when all this was happening.  Until June 9. Website

Grab the moment at Foam
The Foam photography museum in Amsterdam presents a retrospective of the work of American photographer Saul Leiter (1923-2013). “Photographs are often treated as important moments but really they are fragments and souvenirs of an unfinished world,” Leiter said.

His have become frozen in time, witnesses to his particular treatment of colour and light and shade. The joyous red pop of the umbrella carried by a woman navigating the snowy New York streets is just one example of his painterly use of colour.  Saul Leiter – An unfinished world is on until April 20. Website

Witness the court of human emotions
The court house at the Parnassusweg in Amsterdam is providing the only possible backdrop for a project by artists Machteld Aardse and Robbin Talens and criminologist Tasniem Anwar. From 2021 they documented several trials involving terrorism resulting in a collection of annotated drawings, showing not only the workings of the court but the emotions at play. The Courtroom as a Landscape is on until March 31. Website

Enjoy a fairytale ending
Once upon a Mattress, written in 1959 by Mary Rodgers who loosely based it on The Princess and the Pea, is a jolly musical romp in which true love, combined with a bit of cunning on the part of a feisty princess, conquers all. Aptly produced by Happily Ever After, it is on at the Amsterdams Theaterhuis. March 15, 16, 20-23 & March 27-30. Website

Take your mother to Centraal Museum
What makes a good – or a bad – mother? The Centraal Museum in Utrecht has brought together work by Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Luchita Hurtado, Camille Henrot, Käthe Kollwitz, Tala Madani, Patricia Kaersenhout, Charley Toorop, and Billie Zangewa to reflect on motherhood, and how mothers have had to cope with society’s ideas of how they should fulfill the role. Good Mom/Bad Mom – Unraveling the Mother Myth is on from March 29. Website

Meet a Moroccan in Mokum
Marokkaan in Mokum tells the story of Moroccans who made Amsterdam their home over the generations. Migration history, culture, activism, identity are all themes that come up in talks, film and exhibitions, The event goes on until September but March is a particularly busy month at several Amsterdam venues. Find the dates at the website.