Private museum

The collection is both the raison d'être and guiding principle behind Museum Panorama Mesdag. The centrepiece of the collection is without doubt the large panoramic canvas in its historical setting. The art collection also consists of over 100 paintings, 16 sketchbooks and over 1,100 individual sketches and drawings, a small collection of graphic works, approximately 170 photographs and various objects such as Mesdag's painting tent. The majority of the works of art were created by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, his wife Sientje Mesdag-van Houten and other family members. Only a small percentage was created by Mesdag's contemporaries. H. W. H.W. Mesdag selected the works for Panorama Mesdag Museum. Together with his Scheveningen Panorama, the works form an artistic whole: the paintings give a good overview of Mesdag's works and form an introduction to the panorama canvas that he considered the highlight of his career. Panorama Mesdag's historical archive, which includes correspondence, records, maps and annual reports, is part of the art collection.