beelden aan zee

Museum Beelden aan Zee celebrates its 25th anniversary

2019 marks the 25th anniversary of museum Beelden aan Zee. To commemorate this milestone, the museum is launching a series of special exhibitions this year. The seaside museum in the Hague is the only museum in the Netherlands solely dedicated to contemporary national and international sculpture.

Sculpture by Thom Puckey, sculpture in the back by Lorenzo Pepe

From Tony Cragg to Igor Mitoraj

The founders, Theo and Lida Scholten, started collecting sculptures in the late sixties. This was the basis for the current collection of the museum, which opened in 1994. It now has over two thousand sculptures, medals and reliefs. The collection of museum Beelden aan Zee holds work from sculptors as diverse as Armando, Tony Cragg, Giacomo Manzú, Man Ray, Igor Mitoraj, Jan Meefout, Berlinde De Bruyckere and Shinkichi Tajiri.

Ossip Zadkine, on show until March 3

Beelden aan Zee also houses a research institute and the unique Gipsoteca. The latter provides insight into the development of several of the best-known sculptures in the Netherlands.

scheveningen sculpture
Gipsoteca by the Sea

The museum is dug into the dunes

The sand-colored building is a sculpture in itself. It was designed by Dutch architect Wim Quist and dug into the dunes. It does not show from the outside but there are terraces with great seaviews and a patio where one can enjoy a drink, far from the hustle and bustle of the beach.

Zhang Dali expo in 2017

Don’t miss the free sculpture ‘garden’ on the boulevard of Scheveningen, outside the museum. The funny fairy tale themed sculptures made by Tom Otterness are supercute!

What to expect in 2019?

The main upcoming exhibitions in Beelden aan Zee this year are:

March 16 – June 10: Genesis is the first retrospective of the renowned Dutch sculptor Carel Visser (1928-2015).

June 22 – September 22: The famous Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa (1955) is most known for his meters-high constructions in the public space resembling the heads of women.

Niki de Saint Phalle
Nana in Germany (c) via Wikimedia

From October 5: my personal favorite, French Niki de Saint-Phalle with her colorful women figures.

Did you ever visit museum Beelden aan Zee?

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