Beelden aan Zee

Modern sculpture museum half-buried in the dune behind the Kurhaus

Beelden aan Zee ("Sculptures by the Sea") is a small, exceptionally well-curated museum of post-1945 figurative sculpture, set in a half-underground complex of galleries and a sea-facing terrace. The collection is strong on Dutch and Belgian sculptors — Karel Appel, Igor Mitoraj, the Reinhoud d'Haese animals — and rotates around two or three temporary shows a year.

The roof and surrounding terrace carry the larger pieces, including the famous SprookjesBeelden aan Zee row of fairytale figures that line the boulevard above the museum. Open Tuesday to Sunday. About a ten-minute walk south of the Pier; combine with the Kurhaus.

things to do museum art
A story
The museum was founded in 1994 by Theo and Lida Scholten, who privately collected modern figurative sculpture for forty years before opening it to the public on their own seafront land. The architect Wim Quist designed the building to be largely invisible from the boulevard — it is mostly cut into the dune below the Kurhaus.