Museum Voorlinden
A private contemporary collection on a dune estate, with a swimming pool you can walk under without getting wet.
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Joop van Caldenborgh, a Dutch chemicals industrialist, built a collection of contemporary art over fifty years and in 2016 opened it in a purpose-built museum on the Voorlinden estate at Wassenaar - a long low pavilion by Kraaijvanger with a ceiling of thousands of glass louvres that filter daylight evenly across the galleries, standing in dune woodland and parkland with sculpture through it. The permanent installations are what people come for: Richard Serra's Open Ended, a walk-in steel spiral; Ron Mueck's Couple Under an Umbrella, two hyperreal figures at several times life size; James Turrell's Skyspace; and Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool, which appears full of water from above and is entered from below through a chamber under the surface, so people stand under it looking up through the water at those above.
What you actually see
- Erlich's Swimming Pool - entered from beneath, looking up through the water.
- Serra's Open Ended - a walk-in steel spiral of enormous weight.
- Mueck's Couple Under an Umbrella - hyperreal figures at several times life size.
- A daylight-filtered pavilion - thousands of glass louvres over the galleries.
When to go
April to October. Half a day.
Honest expectations
Timed tickets and it sells out at weekends. The Swimming Pool has queues and limited numbers below at a time. Closed some days for private events. It is out of town and needs a bus.
Nearby
The Louwman Museum is south; Wassenaar's dunes and beach are west.
What to pack for Museum Voorlinden
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
