Voorlinden rebuilds its whole museum for ten years of icons
For the anniversary exhibition Celebrating the Icons of Art, Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar has been rebuilt throughout for the first time. Contemporary icons meet twentieth-century masterpieces, until 28 February 2027.
Anyone walking into the museum in Wassenaar enters a building that has been rebuilt for this one exhibition. For Celebrating the Icons of Art, the entire museum has been converted for the first time in the history of Museum Voorlinden. The occasion is its tenth anniversary in September 2026. The exhibition runs from 12 September 2026 to 28 February 2027 inclusive.
The idea is an encounter. Contemporary icons from the museum collection hang next to masterpieces of the twentieth century. The museum calls it a celebration of iconic art and of ten years of Voorlinden. It wants to show connections between artists and present art history as a continuing exchange between past and present. Alongside the contemporary favourites from its own collection, including works that gained iconic status at Voorlinden, there are also works from befriended museums and institutions.
The list of names runs from Francis Bacon to Bridget Riley: Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Nick Cave, Félix González-Torres, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Martha Jungwirth, Mike Kelley, Yayoi Kusama, Fernand Léger, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse, Annette Messager, Joan Miró, Claude Monet, Bruce Nauman, Louise Nevelson, Lygia Pape, Gerhard Richter and Bridget Riley. Two loans are already named in the announcement: Boy from 1999 by Ron Mueck, from the collection of ARoS in Denmark, and M-Maybe (A Girl's Picture) from 1965 by Roy Lichtenstein, from the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
The strangest work is by Martin Creed. Work No. 1562 from 2026 is a room that is half filled with balloons made of one hundred per cent natural rubber latex. It is the strangest because it is not an object to look at but a room to stand in. The installation is in a separate space that visitors can skip.
Director Suzanne Swarts says of the exhibition: "Celebrating the Icons of Art will be a celebration of recognition and surprise." And: "This exhibition is about the lasting and haunting power of art."
The building itself is the first thing visitors experience of this anniversary. Kraaijvanger Architects designed the museum in close collaboration with the client. It has an elongated floor plan with natural stone walls and transparent glass, so that much of the museum feels as if it stands in nature. The galleries get daylight through cut tubes. A velum and a transparent glass roof with indirect LED lighting keep the art well lit on dim days and in the evening. The museum has about twenty rooms, plus an auditorium, a library, a print room, an educational space and a shop. The layout consists of collection presentations, temporary exhibitions and permanent in situ works.
Two details from the building. The library was designed by architect Andreia Milani, and light reflects there from the shelves onto the spines of the books. And the floor of the educational studio is by artist George Korsmit (born 1953), who let chance do the work: dice determined the size of the colour fields, and he chose the colours blindly from about 1,600 samples. It is a small illustration of how the museum treats art and architecture. Its mission is that Museum Voorlinden connects people, art, nature and architecture, and that the building serves the art in every respect.
The garden around the museum was designed by Piet Oudolf. Voorlinden lies against the edge of the Wassenaar dunes, and woodland, water features and meadow characterise the landscape. In the summer months, the gardeners give tours of the garden. On Saturdays and Sundays the museum also opens from 10:00 to 11:00 for the Stilte op sokken hour (Silence in socks): a quiet visit with no other visitors nearby. This requires a separate online ticket. Phones go on silent, shoes go in a free locker and conversations wait until after the visit. From 11:00 the other visitors come in. Those who stay can wander until 17:00.
Voorlinden is open every day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, from 11:00 to 17:00. The address is Buurtweg 90 in Wassenaar. An adult pays € 24, a visitor aged 13 to 18 pays € 12, and children up to 12 get in free. The Museumkaart and the VriendenLoterij VIP pass are not valid there. During the installation of a new exhibition lower prices apply: € 15 for adults and € 7.50 for visitors aged 13 to 18.
Practical
Where: Museum Voorlinden, Buurtweg 90, 2244 AG Wassenaar
Runs until: 28 February 2027 (opened 12 September 2026)
Open: every day 11:00-17:00
Admission: adults € 24, ages 13 to 18 € 12, up to 12 free; Museumkaart not valid