Yvonne Brentjens (1957) is an art historian specialised in twentieth-century and contemporary design. Her research focuses mainly on the social issues that are involved in the design and appreciation of everyday objects.
She studied art history at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and the Universiteit Utrecht. In 2004 Yvonne Brentjens received her PhD at the Universiteit Leiden on medievalism in Dutch decorative arts around 1900.
Between 1985 and 2005 she worked as a design critic for Het Financieele Dagblad, the Dutch financial newspaper, on industrial design and decorative arts. In the same period Yvonne Brentjens contributed to magazines as 'Items' and 'Bijvoorbeeld'.
Between 2002 and 2011 she realised several monographs and exhibitions for the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. In 2006 she was awarded the Mr J.W. Frederiksprijs.
In 2012 she wrote 'De stoel van Friso Kramer' as part of the series Premsela Design Stories. The year 2015 saw the publication of her book 'V=Vorm'.
Since then, she contributed to publications for the Joods Museum, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. In 2022 she wrote a monograph on Cubic 3 Design for Kunstmuseum Den Haag.
In addition to her art historical work, she focuses on editing.