Museum Panorama Mesdag

Museum Panorama Mesdag is iconic in The Hague, and the Panorama of Scheveningen is its highlight.

The Panorama’s history

The Panorama of Scheveningen is over 140 years old. In 1880, Hendrik Willem Mesdag was engaged by a Belgian panorama company to create the biggest painting he had ever done: a cylindrical painting (360 degrees) featuring his beloved Scheveningen. The painting depicted a panoramic view of the sea, dunes and the old fishing village of Scheveningen. Location: the Seinpostduin, which used to be the tallest dune in Scheveningen.

Largest painting in the Netherlands

With a surface area of 1680 square meters, the Panorama of Scheveningen is the largest painting in the Netherlands. The painting is 14.6 meters tall and has a circumference of 114.5 meters. Mesdag couldn’t possibly have completed this herculean task all on his own. Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, George Hendrik Breitner, Théophile de Bock and Bernard Blommers – all famous painters at the time – helped him finish the panorama in four months. A fantastic achievement.

Collection and exhibitions

The panorama isn’t the only thing worth seeing in Museum Panorama Mesdag. The permanent collection, with personal works by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and his wife, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, is also worth a visit. Temporary exhibitions strive to connect the past and present, for example by reflecting on the panorama phenomenon and the way we depict nature.