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8 July 2025 - Museum Beelden aan Zee in The Hague presents the first solo exhibition of the British artist Ryan Gander in the Netherlands from 20 June 2025 to 4 January 2026: Ryan Gander x Edgar Degas – Pas de Deux. In this new exhibition, Degas’ Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans engages in a dialogue with Gander's 21 contemporary reinterpretations of the famous ballerina. By placing her in everyday, and sometimes absurd situations, Gander blurs the line between art and reality and explores the way we view art. It is the first time that an overview of his ballerinas, which have been collected worldwide since 2008, is being shown. Information and tickets: www.beeldenaanzee.nl
When the French artist Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) first publicly displayed his sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (1880 - 1881) in Paris, it caused quite a stir. Instead of being elevated or idealized, the young ballerina was depicted surprisingly realistically: not cast in bronze, but modeled in wax, dressed in a fabric tutu and ballet shoes, and with a wig of real hair. Over a century later, from 2008, Ryan Gander (1976) re-examines the status of this vulnerable girl in a series of contemporary variations, with abstract, colored cubes.
Ryan Gander is considered one of the most prominent contemporary artists in Great Britain. He studied photography and fine art at the Manchester Metropolitan University (1999), followed by postgraduate studies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (2000) and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (2002). His versatile oeuvre encompasses a wide range of media, including sculpture, installations, animatronics, performance, design, and publications. His work is conceptual and sensory, often humorous, and always accessible.
Since the early 2000s, Gander has exhibited frequently and internationally. The exhibition Ryan Gander X Edgar Degas – Pas de Deux is his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, with 21 loans from Europe and Japan. In the Beelden aan Zee museum, his contemporary ballerinas come together for the first time, and moreover in combination with Degas’ historical masterpiece, a bronze from 1922, on loan from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. In his series of reinterpretations, Gander literally frees the fourteen-year-old ballerina from her pedestal. He says about this: "I have turned the Degas sculpture into a spectator instead of a sculpture."
The historical ballerina, normally a showpiece in an open museum hall, is placed centrally in a large blue cube in the exhibition. Director and curator Brigitte Bloksma explains: “What is normally an object of admiration in the museum changes here into a moment of introspection and interaction. Gander gives the little dancer her own will. Leaning against a wall, playing or sitting on the ground, she sometimes seems to be observing you as a visitor. Just like in Alice in Wonderland, in this exhibition you enter a world where the usual rules no longer apply, and where you yourself become part of a choreography.”
For the artist, the way we view art in a museum - particularly in Great Britain - is determined by taste, education, and even class. That the ballerina is a child, on the threshold of adulthood, is crucial for Ryan Gander for precisely this reason: “In early puberty, people are the most creative. Young people approach art without stigma and can therefore respond in a more interesting way. They interpret art honestly – they say things that adults might not dare to say because it seems too obvious.”
Gander's playful sculptures with their poetic titles transform a static icon into a recognizable, human figure, full of uncertainties, doubts, and desires. Visitors encounter the girl while she dreams, plays, or smokes – sometimes introspective, other times rebellious. As old as time itself, slept alone (2016) shows her lying with closed eyes, as if she is sleeping. The physical vulnerability of her young body contrasts with the massive, bright blue cube next to her. She seems to be dreaming away from her surroundings, as if she doesn't want to be watched.
A richly illustrated catalog has been published for the exhibition, with an introduction by Brigitte Bloksma, an essay by Sandra Kisters, Director of Collections and Research at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, an interview with Ryan Gander by Lydia Figes, and quotes from fourteen-year-olds who have previously viewed the sculptures.
Just like the 14-year-old dancer, all children up to and including 14 years old have free access to the museum.
Museum Beelden aan Zee
Museum Beelden aan Zee in The Hague is the place in the Netherlands where sculpture, architecture, and nature come together, with an exhibition and public program where tradition and innovation meet. The iconic museum building, located in the dunes, offers space for about ten exhibitions per year.
Further information and entrance tickets: www.beeldenaanzee.nl
Partners:
VriendenLoterij
Don Quixote Foundation
Sponsors:
LIDA Fonds, Blockbusterfonds, Municipality of The Hague, Zadelhoff Cultuurfonds, Stichting Retourschip, Molsbergen Development, Zabawas, Mondriaan Fonds, Private Donor
Note for the editor:
Press release and high-resolution images can be found at: https://www.beeldenaanzee.nl/nl/pers
For press accreditation and further questions:
Museum Beelden aan Zee, Denise Hermanns / Stan Koppe
pr@beeldenaanzee.nl / +31 (0)70 358 58 57