Museum Beelden aan Zee

Museum Beelden aan Zee was founded in 1994 by the collector couple Theo Scholten and Lida Scholten-Miltenburg. It is the only museum in the Netherlands focusing exclusively on modern and contemporary sculpture.

The shape of museum Beelden aan Zee is similar to that of a shell; on the outside, only the soft beige wall is visible and only inside does the museum building designed by architect Wim Quist reveal itself. The various halls and terraces host some 12 exhibitions a year featuring international modern sculpture in a wide variety of materials and styles. Unique is the view of the sea from the sculpture terraces and the Zeezaal where the museum’s changing collection is on display, with works by Armando, Stephan Balkenhol, Iris Le Rütte, Tony Cragg, Per Kirkeby, Giacomo Manzú, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Igor Mitoraj, Jan Meefout, Kiki Smith and many others.

Plaster Shop by the Sea

Everyone knows a statue in the Netherlands. We often see something of our patriotic history in the many monuments in the Netherlands. The Plaster Shop, open to the public since 14 November 2014, unravels the artistic process preceding these statues.

Fairy Tale Statues by the Sea

In 2004, on the boulevard of Scheveningen, on the initiative of Theo and Lida Scholten, the founders of museum Beelden aan Zee, a large outdoor terrace was created with twenty-three fairy tale statues by sculptor Tom Otterness (1952). These fairy tale statues are eagerly seen, climbed and photographed and can count themselves among the highlights of Scheveningen. Between well-known fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Gulliver and the tin soldier, the metre-high Haringeter lovingly refers to beautiful Scheveningen. At first glance, the statues look cheerful, but a closer look reveals that the fairy tales are creepy and sometimes grim. The sculpture terrace is public and free to enter.