Panorama+Mesdag

=Panorama Mesdag=

The Panorama Mesdag is the largest and longest surviving panorama painting in all of Europe. It has continued to remain popular since its construction in 1880. The Mesdag has gained so much attention since its construction because of the way that it accurately captures and displays an aspect of life in the late 19th century in the Netherlands.

Around 1875, Belgian artists began experimenting with panoramic canvases. Panoramic art was unique to other forms of visual art because it made viewers seem like they were a part of the painting themselves. With the sudden rise in popularity of this unique type of art form, panoramic artists were in great demand. Hendrik Willem Mesdag, like many other panoramic artists, was asked to share his unique and popular form of art. Mesdag, along with his wife and a few of his closest friends, began creating the panorama in 1880. The panorama was planned to be located in the Hague.

The Panorama Mesdag captures life in the city of Scheveningen in 1881. Those who come to view the panorama experience an optical illusion. By standing in the center of the piece, a person will seem as if they are on a sand dune, staring down at the city and the beach. In the panorama, the Scheveningen beach is busy with people enjoying the warm weather. In the background, fishing ships are pulling onto the shore and a military ritual is taking place. Hendrik Mesdag also painted his wife on the beach of the painting.

When the Panorama Mesdag was opened to the public in 1881, it gained little attention. Soon after the panorama was completed, the cultural interest in panoramas decreased. With the start of a new era of art, the company that had funded the panorama went into bankruptcy. Soon after, Hendrik Willem Mesdag bought the panorama with his own money. Since then, the Panorama Mesdag has attracted two-hundred thousand visitors a year in hopes of being able to experience a small part of what life used to be like in the Netherland in the 19th century.