Dancing with Degas: Ryan Gander’s rebellious ballerinas take over The Hague
- maxwell museums
- Aug 4
- 8 min read
Ryan Gander’s rebellious ballerinas have pirouetted into Museum Beelden aan Zee this summer. They do so in conversation with one of the world’s most famous sculptures — Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. In this exclusive UK interview, museum director Brigitte Bloksma reveals how these 22 life-sized figures, a rare Degas loan, and a mysterious blue cube have come together by the seaside in The Hague.
This interview first appeared in the maxwell museums newsletter. Subscribe here
Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside — especially when there’s an art gallery there.
It’s why I’m a big fan of The Hague’s coastal suburb of Scheveningen. You get a vast kilometre-long beach AND one of Europe’s most impressive sculpture galleries.
Half-hidden in Scheveningen’s dunes is the Museum Beelden aan Zee. It’s the only Dutch museum that focuses exclusively on contemporary international sculpture, and last year it celebrated its 30th birthday.
The museum massively punches above its weight, hosting exhibitions of the work of some of the biggest hitters in the medium: Henry Moore, Anish Kapoor, and Joan Miró to name a few. Their latest show — which I’m just back from visiting — is no different.
Walk into their main gallery right now and you’ll be met with over twenty feisty bronze ballerinas. They’re the work of British artist Ryan Gander, from a series he began in 2008 which is a direct reinterpretation of Edgar Degas’ 1880 work Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (The little fourteen-year-old dancer). AKA, one of the most famous sculptures in the world.
In a huge coup, the Degas is here too. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in nearby Rotterdam have offered a rare loan of their 1922 cast of the famous bronze.
When Degas’ little dancer was first shown in 1881 in Paris, the press were shocked. A critic wrote: “She pushes her face forward with beastly impudence.” Viewers were scandalised by its realism, and its lack of reverence.
Gander riffs off this boldness to great effect. His ballerinas sleep, look bored, play hide-and-seek, crawl on the floor — and one even enjoys a crafty smoke.
They’re everywhere you look in this brilliant exhibition. It’s the first time more than one of Gander’s dancers have been shown together, having been painstakingly reunited from all over the world by the show’s curator — and the museum’s director — Brigitte Bloksma.
There’s a real joy to the experience of visiting this show. Yes, it’s partly the seaside location (sunshine streams into this gallery) but it’s also Gander’s playful creations. There’s a reason why he’s one of Britain’s most globally in-demand artists (Alongside this exhibition he currently has solo shows in France and Japan, and his work greets visitors to this year’s Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London).
For today's interview, I’ve gone behind-the-scenes of the exhibition with Brigitte.
I was lucky enough to be shown around by her, and her passion for the project was clear. Here we dive into the exhibition’s genesis, how she managed to unite so many ballerinas from across the world, and why you absolutely should be booking a trip to this new Hague exhibition.
Hi Brigitte. So tell me, how did this exhibition — Ryan Gander’s first in the Netherlands — come about?
The idea arose three years ago in a conversation with collector Jack Bakker, who owns one of Gander’s ballerinas. I had just started as director, and from the start I wanted to connect the tradition of sculpture with contemporary art in order to engage a new and younger audience.
Sculpture really connects all your senses and brings together different cultures, crafts and materials. Bringing together Degas’ famous little dancer with Gander’s 22 contemporary ballerinas shows how an iconic artwork continues to inspire over time and can have new meanings through different contexts and audiences.
When I shared the concept with Ryan, he was instantly enthusiastic and came up with the brilliant idea of showing Degas’ work in this enormous blue cube. So she has her own modern temple now!
Who is this girl in Ryan's work?
The ballerina in Ryan’s work is much more than a reference to Degas and to art history.
Ryan explores what the original little dancer signifies today, separate from her historical background. Dressed in a modern ballet suit instead of a classical tutu, he allows the ballerina to freely explore the museum gallery.
Where Degas once captured the girl as an object to be looked at, Ryan gives her a new role. She no longer stands on a pedestal to be admired — instead, she moves among us, the visitors, and has been turned into a spectator rather than a sculpture.
Can you explain the cubes that feature in each of the ballerina artworks?
Ryan always presents the ballerina with a white plinth and blue cube [of differing sizes]. The blue symbolises abstract ideas often seen in modern and contemporary art. Think of Matisse's Blue Nudes or Yves Klein's ultramarine monochromes.
The white plinth is a reference to important art institutions like museums and galleries. In the exhibition, the ballerina interacts with the blue cube and becomes — just like you the viewer — a spectator rather than an artwork.
Ryan is intrigued by the strange interplay between spectator and spectacle. He describes looking closely at one of Degas’s sculptures for the first time, thinking: “I understood that it was her who was doing the watching.” Continually in motion, mysteriously sized (much like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland), and hovering just out of reach, his ballerina poses scale and perspective as yet another question to the viewer — who is big here, and who is small? And who is viewing who?
Never has more than one ballerina been shown at a time before. How did you manage to bring so many together from all over the world? Was it difficult?
In collaboration with Ryan's galleries such as Annet Gelink Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Esther Schipper, TARO NASU, and several well-known private collectors, we managed to find out where Ryan’s ballerinas ended up after being sold from 2008.
The works are part of collections across the Netherlands, the UK, France, Switzerland, Japan and North America. It took almost three years to bring all the sculptures to our museum at the same time. We are very grateful to all collectors and museums who generously agreed to lend their works for nearly six months. It truly feels like the whole family finally got back together! We worked with many different parties for transportation, and it was a complex puzzle to get the works together in time.
Are there any ballerina's you wanted to secure but couldn't?
I really would have wanted the ballerina that is part of the permanent collection of The Contemporary Austin in Texas. It’s subtitled as The zenith of your career (The Last Degas). This ballerina hangs upside down by a chain as if leaping or falling through the air. But unfortunately, the ballerina is fixed to the tree in the museum garden.
Ryan Gander's ballerinas and Degas’ iconic sculpture
And the Degas sculpture is a real coup. What does it mean to you, the museum and to Ryan to be able to bring it to the Hague?
We’re very grateful that Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen was willing to lend us one of their most important masterpieces.
It was also very interesting to research Degas' sculpture with them for our exhibition catalogue. Much is still unclear about the work, such as the number of bronze casts made posthumously of the original wax sculpture, the exact length of the original ballet skirt, and how Degas' blindness affected this sculpture.
The exhibition prompted both us as a museum specialising in sculpture, and Boijmans, to research and publish about it again. As a result, the exhibition gives new life to Degas' dancer on several levels.
And one of the works is a brand new commission, made for this show and your collection. But this one is different from all the other ballerina works. How?
In Waiting for timefall, or, Living in a time where everything is possible, but nothing can happen (2025), the ballerina is no longer the sole object of reflection; she is integrated into a wider, almost cosmic perspective. The work depicts the ballerina against the backdrop of a large blue plane, in a moment of stillness, as if she is waiting for something beyond her reach — alluding to the idea of ‘waiting’ as an active state of being.
The image evokes the tension between the desire to control the concept of time with its inevitable passage. I really love this work because the cube becomes a blue mirror; a cosmic experience where you as a spectator are part of the story of the ballerina.
How Beelden aan Zee reaches a global audience
You've just had your three-year anniversary at Beelden aan Zee museum. Have you achieved what you wanted to in that time?
Three years is still too short to realise all the ambitions, but the museum is attracting more visitors, and younger visitors.
Our After Hours event invites cultural partners from music, theatre, or dance to create a vibrant programme related to our exhibitions and to invite people to experience sculpture in a new way. We also organise international exhibitions that have a social impact like Voici Mon Coeur! by Syrian artist Khaled Dawwa, which poignantly depicts a bombed street of Damascus, or works by Stephen Wilks and Tania Kovats, which show the consequences of human actions on the oceans.
Above all, I am proud of the wonderful team who keep the museum accessible to a wide audience without government funding.
On that point, where does your funding come from?
So yes, we receive no government subsidy. We depend on private donors, private and public funds, entrance fees, and income from the shop, catering, and rental of the museum’s spaces. This makes us a very entrepreneurial museum. No day is the same.
I personally love The Hague. But I feel it's a hidden gem to many people. Scheveningen even more so. Is it hard to attract visitors?
That perception has changed significantly in recent years. The Hague is now the third most visited city in the Netherlands. Its unique blend of cultural heritage and coastal charm makes it a destination for all seasons. Our museum is nestled in the dunes of Scheveningen, just minutes from the city centre by bike or tram.
International art lovers know how to find us well after our exhibitions on Henry Moore, Picasso, and Miró. We get lots of visitors from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. We work closely with the tourist board to reach a wider audience and will be launching a new website later this year.
Finally, where else do you recommend museum and art lovers visit on a trip to The Hague?
You cannot visit The Hague without a visit to the Mauritshuis where another world-famous girl is on display. Namely Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. And of course, Panorama Mesdag, the museum featuring a vast cylindrical painting of Scheveningen, the surrounding dune landscape and the North Sea, opened on 1 August 1881. With its remarkable dimensions — 14 metres high and 120 metres wide — it remains the largest painting in the Netherlands today.
Ryan Gander X Edgar Degas. Pas de Deux runs at Museum Beelden aan Zee in The Hague in the Netherlands until 04 January 2026
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