Take an inspiring tour of The Hague’s visual delights as we share with you our best picks for a creative visit to the city this summer.
Fotomuseum Den Haag
Paul Blanca, Homage to Paul Blanca
until 14 Aug 2022
Fotomuseum Den Haag has a series of adaptable gallery spaces, so each area really is tailored to the photography on show. The Paul Blanca exhibition is displayed in a series of white rooms, flowing openly into each other. Starting with early work using models, and then moving into the more extreme work where Blanca used himself as the model because no one else was willing to put a real arrow through their cheek or stuff a live rat in their mouth.
In the final room there’s a series of images of bull fighting, not particularly exciting in their composition, but intriguing because of their process – screen-printed in bulls blood.
In addition to the framed historical photographs, the museum is displaying a selection of platinum prints that Blanca made in 2020 together with fellow photographers Koos Breukel and Hans de Kort. This rare printing process sheds a new light on Paul Blanca’s oeuvre. The exhibition also contains a short video based on the new documentary ‘Paul Blanca, This Film Will Save Your Life’ by Amsterdam-based director Ramón Gieling.
Find out more about the exhibition here.
Also showing, Tree and Soil by Robert Knoth and Antoinette de Jong, until 14 August 2022
Fotomuseum Den Haag
Stadhouderslaan 43
2517 HV Den Haag
The Netherlands
Kunstmuseum De Haag
Alphonse Mucha
until 28 August 2022
This is a huge museum, and a massive exhibition of Mucha which really places his work in its era. To create his illustrations and posters, Mucha often worked from photographic studies, and those images are a really fascinating insight into the way he lived and worked.
Enjoy the fabulous Art Deco spaces of the museum too, designed by architect H.P. Berlage, it is striking not only for its distinctive yellow brickwork, but also for its spacious interior, natural light and modern colour scheme. It’s really something.
Find out more about the exhibition here.
Kunstmuseum De Haag
Stadhouderslaan 41
2517 HV Den Haag
The Netherlands
Mauritshuis
FLASH | BACK
until 16 October 2022
In this, it’s 200th year, Mauritshuis, home of Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring and so many other high profile paintings from the likes of Rembrandt, Jan Stten and Frans Hals, now houses new work from 16 Dutch and Flemish photographers. Responding to paintings and spaces they selected from the museum, the photographers have created new works to be displayed alongside the Old Masters.
The photographers, selected in collaboration with the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam, are: Sara Blokland, Morad Bouchakour, Anton Corbijn, Elspeth Diederix, Desirée Dolron, Rineke Dijkstra, Kadir van Lohuizen, Sanja Marušić, Vincent Mentzel, Erwin Olaf, Kevin Osepa, Ahmet Polat, Carla van de Puttelaar, Viviane Sassen, Dustin Thierry and Stephan Vanfleteren.
Find out more about the exhibition here.
Mauritshuis
Plein 29
2501 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
Prince William V Gallery
Just five minutes walk from the Mauritshuis, the Prince William V Gallery is part of the Mauritshuis, home to the work of more than 150 Old Masters, and happens to be the location of Ahmet Polat’s image from the FLASH | BACK exhibition.
It’s a bit of a hidden gem for The Hague, and really worth the visit.
Prince William V Gallery
Buitenhof 33
2513 AH The Hague
The Netherlands
Museum Panorama Mesdag
We can’t explain it to you for two reasons – one, you need to see it for yourself, and two, it involves magic (or maths). Mesdag’s skies will probably inspire you to look up and out more, but this painting, the largest in the Netherlands, even wowed Vincent Van Gogh back in 1881 when it was first unveiled.
It’s a painting, but it’s a mind game, and we think photographers will love it!
Also, showing Time & Tide, Panoramic photographs by Siebe Swart, until 28 August 2022
Museum Panorama Mesdag
Zeestraat 65
2518 AA Den Haag
The Netherlands
Stay in the city at voco hotel, have dinner at theatre Amare, pop out to Morgenstond to see the Mauritshuis Mural created by Collin van der Sluijs and Super A, and… get more information about The Hague from Holland.com.
Join our mailing list for lots of good photography things direct to your inbox – our newsletters, calls for entry, updates on our work, and invitations to events and exhibitions.
Not a Shutter Hub member yet? Join here for opportunities to promote your work online and in exhibitions, access selected opportunities, events, seminars and workshops, meet up and share photographic experiences, and become part of our growing community