Museum Voorlinden – A New Museum in The Hague, Netherlands

Museum Voorlinden is a brand new contemporary art museum situated in Wassenaar in The Hague, Netherlands. I highly recommend visiting the museum by bike as it takes around 20 minutes from The Hague Central Station and the cycle route is green, very beautiful and well worth the short journey.

Museum Voorlinden is a bright and airy brand new building with natural light coming in at all angles. Most of the facade comprises massive glass panels from floor to ceiling, making it an extremely modern-looking venue.

To be entirely honest, I’m usually sceptical of modern art museums and galleries but I honestly loved Museum Voorlinden, mostly because of the interactive art that challenges perceptions and brings the viewer a unique perspective on things. Plus, we had a good laugh taking some fun selfies.

During my visit, I was pretty tempted to stick my finger into what appeared to be a round lilac pool consisting of sticky, gooey moving glue. But I had to refrain (sadly). The exhibition was not entirely interactive (oh hum).

And who’s to say you cannot lounge around at a museum as though you’re at the beach? There is an opportunity for that too at Museum Voorlinden. These amazing, lifelike sculptures were so real – the detail was just astonishing. So make sure you look at everything from the toenails, veins in the legs to the facial features of these BFGs. Really amazing stuff! I felt as though I was at Scheveningen Beach amongst the tallest folk in the world.

Moreover, I absolutely loved the ‘swimming pool’ within the museum. Yes, this must be the only museum with a swimming pool within its walls. Well the pool is of course part of the modern art on display but it is really extraordinary since you can view it from the top and from down below. Taking an actual dip within its very shallow waters…well that’s unfortunately impossible and staff would have to restrain us, despite the hot weather we’ve been having here in the Netherlands lately.

Other fascinating works include this rather large canvas of army print which made for a nice photo backdrop. Plus, it’s actually a Warhol. All the more reason to strike a pose of course!

And some slightly more bizarre works included these seemingly random apples on the floor and various paintings of a woman adjacent to it. Could this be the Dutch version of snow white?

One strange and particularly massive artwork was this metal maze-like structure (Richard Serra). From the outside it looked a bit like Noah’s Arc but on the inside I was completely freaked out…all the ‘walls’ are angled giving the illusion of being inside the hull of a ship. It also felt (to me) that it could at any possible moment collapse and squish me as flat as a Dutch pancake (pannenkoek). Imagine. Tons of steel on top of this African is no way to die. I ran out of its hull to safety singing and listening to the echo of my voice vibrating on the metal panels.

One can easily make a half-day trip to Museum Voorlinden. Be sure to also walk around the lovely large gardens of the estate or have a coffee or bite to eat at the cafe on-site.

Have you been to Museum Voorlinden? Tell us in the comments about your experience. We’d love to know your opinion!