Collection Treasures

Artist couple

Both Mesdag and Mesdag-van Houten only started as professional painters later in their lives. They paid great attention to nature and demonstrated through their work that 'getting to know nature' was their priority, as nature activists avant la lettre.

Love for the sea 
Mesdag's most important subject became the sea. In his own words: 'The sea is mine.' His beloved sea was reason to settle in The Hague, the place where he could admire the North Sea every day. Mesdag excelled in depicting extreme weather types: from wild waves or storms to a calm sea with large clouds. 

He gained international recognition for his work from 1870 onwards, with the artistic highlight of his career being the Panorama of Scheveningen (1881). 

Famous for her special use of color
Mesdag-van Houten painted still lifes, portraits and landscapes in the area around Scheveningen, in Drenthe and on the Veluwe. She was especially praised for her special use of color and was one of the best-known and most appreciated female artists of her time.

Artistic highlight

The rooms are a prelude to the world-famous Panorama of Scheveningen. This artistic masterpiece by Hendrik Willem Mesdag can still be seen in the same place where it was painted. It is the oldest panorama worldwide in the original roundabout. 

In the last museum room, a timeline provides an overview of the creation of the Panorama as well as important moments in the lives of the Mesdag-van Houten couple.