The Mesdags
Read more about Hendrik Willem and Sientje Mesdag as artists.
Panorama of Scheveningen is one of Hendrik Willem Mesdag’s most famous paintings. It is the oldest panorama in the world still at its original location, Panorama Mesdag at Zeestraat 65 in The Hague.
Hendrik Willem Mesdag made various preparatory studies for his large panorama of the dunes of Scheveningen. One of those studies is on view at The Mesdag Collection.
Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Study for Panorama of Scheveningen, 1880
The Panorama of Scheveningen opened on 1 August 1881. Hendrik Willem Mesdag worked with other painters from The Hague School, like Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, George Hendrik Breitner and Théophile de Bock, on this artwork.
Even Vincent van Gogh saw Mesdag's panorama. He visited it together with the painter Théophile de Bock. He wrote to his brother Theo about it on 26 August 1881:
‘Then I saw Mesdag’s panorama with him, that’s a work for which one must have the utmost respect. (…) That painting’s only fault is not to have any faults.
Unrestricted view in every direction
Measuring an enormous 114,5 in circumference and 14 metres in height, the panorama is a unique cultural and historical monument. The canvas is circular, which means that you can stand in the middle of the painting (and hence in Scheveningen as it was in 1880).
The view is unrestricted in every direction: the fishing village with the lighthouse, the North Sea and the beach with the fishing boats, the increasingly fashionable resort, the water tower and – in the distance – The Hague.
Panorama Mesdag is just a 5-minute walk from the museum The Mesdag Collection.