Museum Voorlinden: very instagrammable!

I saw Museum Voorlinden quite often on my Instagram feed. This museum of modern art in Wassenaar (close to The Hague) has many photogenic pieces of art in their collection. It’s not only a very ‘Instagrammable’ museum, it has a wide variety of artworks both 2 as 3 dimensional. If you love modern art, I definitely recommend this museum.
Museum Voorlinden is surrounded by a beautiful garden with many flowers, designed by a landscape architect. There’s a restaurant right next to the museum that you can also visit without a museum ticket. It’s easily accessible from The Hague.
In this blog post I’m sharing my favorite highlights from Museum Voorlinden.


There are two hyper-realistic sculptures at Museum Voorlinden. One is this lady, ‘Dawn’ by American sculptor John de Andrea. She sits in front of neon letters by Danish artist Jeppe Hein called ‘Please Participate’, with the instructions on how to behave in the museum. The other hyper-realistic sculpture is the couple under the umbrella at the top of this page. They’re made by Ron Mueck, an Australian artist that now lives in the UK. Both sculptures are amazing. They look so real that you’re almost embarrassed to look at them. With ‘Dawn’ I felt a bit uncomfortable getting so close to here while she’s naked, and with the couple under the umbrella I thought that they could move anytime soon. It’s great when a work of art can move you like that.


I love playful art that you don’t need to take too seriously. These mini elevators from Maurizio Cattelan are a great example. At a random place in the museum you’ll find these two miniature elevators in the wall. They make a ‘ping’ sound before the doors open. No one knows where the elevators go to in this single story museum but it sure sparks your imagination.


Another work of art that plays with size is Tears of a Swan from Quynh Dong. On the floor of the museum you’ll see rose petals that are about 10 times as big as they normally are. Despite the size and the material (ceramics) they look super light as if they’ve just fallen of a rose. In the background you see a neon letters sign saying ‘I promise to love you’ from Tracey Emin. She’s known for her autobiographical artwork (like the tent on which she wrote all the names of people she slept with), and with these neon letters she also showcases her own feelings.

From the outside you see closed windows and doors, but you can actually enter this work of art and be amazed by the interior. Through the Wall is made by Chinese artist Song Dong. Inspiration for this work are the ‘Hutong’, neighborhoods in Beijing where people live in very small houses. We’ve seen Hutong when we were in Beijing, and Song Dong actually got all the materials for this work of art in those Hutong. Most of the small houses in Beijing are being demolished so that new real estate can be build. Knowing this, Through the Wall feels like a little museum on its own.


Until October 28 you can enjoy the exhibition on the work of American painter Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud has been painting every day life in America since the sixties. Despite his age (he’s 98 years old), he still paints. On his works you’ll see hotdogs, cakes and ice creams. If these subjects didn’t make you happy jet, the colors certainly will. He paints everyday objects, so ordinary that you might not even give them a second look in real life. But on Thiebauds paintings they get a colorful stage.

You can find more information on Museum Voorlinden on their website.
A visit to the museum can be perfectly combined with a day in The Hague, read all about my food favorites in the Hague on this page.

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