4 exhibitions in the Hague not to miss in 2025
- maxwell museums
- Dec 8, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
This year will be another great year for exhibitions in den Haag — or the Hague, to give the city its English name.
For a medium-sized city (it’s the third largest in the Netherlands) it really punches above its weight in terms of art and culture. The Hague’s best museums are some of Europe's best museums. And that means that there are always excellent temporary exhibitions to catch too!
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So if you’re wondering what to see in the Hague if you're visiting (and I recommend that you should), then here are four stand-out shows in 2025 that should be top of your list.
Grand Dessert: The history of the dessert at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag
Visitors with a sweet tooth can dive into the delicious world of desserts in this unusual exhibition on the much-loved final food course.
The exhibition brings together hundreds of objects from Kunstmuseum Den Haag’s own collection, but also items on loan from museums, castles and country estates. They range from baking tins to recipe books, from dinner services to cutlery, and from ice cream moulds to menus. It offers a fun combination of art-historical objects alongside creative contributions from contemporary makers. Tom Friedman's sugar cube sculpture is a highlight.
The exhibition’s guest curator Janny van der Heijden — host of the Dutch version of the Great British Bake Off — says that desserts warrant a huge museum show because they are “more than just the ultimate ending to a meal.” Van der Heijden thinks desserts "[reflect] changes in culture, society and tastes down the centuries.”
The show also offers visitors evocative fragrances which they can inhale on their exhibition journey — because, of course, tasting is mainly done with your nose. You’ll be able to get a nose-full of the spicy fragrance of Indonesian sponge cake and the delicious smell of apple pie, amongst 10 others. Grand Desserts is open now until 26 October 2025
New Paris: From Monet to Morisot at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag
The Impressionists have arrived in the Hague. But it’s a different European city that this art exhibition focuses on: Paris.
65 paintings from some of the most famous artists of the Impressionist movement are on display — including Manet, Renoir, Degas, Bazille, Caillebotte, Cassatt, and Morisot. Collectively they show the evolution of the French capital in the 19th century. It was a time that saw Paris transform into the vibrant city we know today.
The stunning centrepiece is the landmark showing of three early paintings by Claude Monet. Each painted in 1867 and from a balcony at the Louvre museum, they show views of Paris that symbolise the radical change in the city. This exhibition marks only the second time these three outstanding city-scapes have been together in Europe since their creation.
Visitors should expect a journey into Paris’s history, where bustling cosmopolitanism rubbed against poverty and political unrest. As the title suggests, it offers a new view of the city of love. New Paris is open until 08 June 2025
Ryan Gander x Edgar Degas: Pas de Deux at Museum Beelden aan Zee
One of the world’s most-loved sculptures is coming to the Hague, and will appear in a fun and thoughtful exhibition at the seaside gallery of Museum Beelden aan Zee.
Degas’ iconic sculpture La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans — or The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer — is one of the most recognizable sculptures of modern art, and even made a cameo in 2009 blockbuster comedy movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The work depicts a young ballerina in a restrained and realistic pose.
For this exhibition, it will be seen with 24 other ballerina sculptures, all created by the British artist Ryan Gander. Since 2008, Gander has been working on a series in which he riffs off Degas’ ballerina. But instead of the 19th century’s air of poise, Gander places his dancer in unexpected or everyday situations. And often, she is paired with an ultramarine blue cube to add a splash of colour.
With Gander’s works in constant dialogue with Degas, it’ll produce a show that interrogates the role of art in presenting reality versus fiction. Ryan Gander x Edgar Degas opens 20 June 2025 until 04 January 2026
Anne Desmet: Building without Barriers at Escher in The Palace
British printmaker Anne Desmet creates razor-sharp prints in which she plays with perspective and architecture. So displaying some of them in the museum dedicated to the great M.C. Escher — and his so-called impossible constructions — is a natural fit.
Escher was the Dutch graphic artist known for his mind-bending artworks such as Ascending and Descending. Like Escher, Desmet excels in transformations and metamorphoses. In this show, their work is seen side-by-side, and it's the first time Desmet's work has been exhibited in the Netherlands.
In addition to around forty prints by Desmet, the exhibition will also feature a selection of sketchbooks, woodblocks and tools. It will be a unique and fascinating dialogue between two greats of craftsmanship and precision. Anne Desmet opens 20 November 2025
Looking for exhibitions further afield? Here's the best exhibitions this year in the Netherlands