Museum Beelden aan Zee

About 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 dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary (inter)national sculpture.

The first statuette for the Beelden aan Zee collection was purchased in 1969. The Beelden aan Zee collection currently comprises more than 5,000 sculptures, including approximately 1,000 plaster models and 500 medals.

The collection ranges from portraits to monumental, larger-than-life sculptures. The leitmotif has always been the human figure; artists seek to unravel both the physical appearance and the human psyche. Humanity is the most versatile subject imaginable; for centuries, artists and sculptors have made it their central subject. A wide variety of materials are used, from bronze, stone, and ceramics to polystyrene, plastic, glass, textiles, and iron.

The Beelden aan Zee collection includes works by artists including Armando, Atelier van Lieshout, Stephan Balkenhol, Zadok Ben-David, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Fernando Botero, Caspar Berger, César, Tom Claassen, Iris Le Rütte, Wessel Couzijn, Tony Cragg, Eugène Dodeigne, Jeroen Henneman, Per Kirkeby, Giacomo Manzú, Igor Mitoraj, Jan Meefout, Mimmo Paladino, Jaume Plensa, Thom Puckey, Kiki Smith, Marc Quinn, Johan Tahon, Shinkichi Tajiri, William Turnbull, Henk Visch, and Ossip Zadkine.

Since February 2017, part of the collection, under the name VoorBeelden (For Images), has been continuously exhibited in the small gallery. Some of the sculptures can be viewed in 3D on the website.

The shape of the Beelden aan Zee museum resembles that of a shell; From the outside, only the soft beige wall is visible; only once inside does the museum building, designed by architect Wim Quist, reveal itself. Around twelve exhibitions a year are organized in the various halls and terraces, featuring international modern sculptures in a wide variety of materials and styles.