Great Exhibitions #19: Birds @ Mauritshuis, Den Haag
Details
Sunday, March 8th, 2026 – 15:00
Meeting point: In front of the Mauritshuis, Den Haag
For the 19th edition of Great Exhibitions, we travel to The Hague to visit Birds, one of the most ambitious and poetic exhibitions currently on view in the Netherlands, curated by Simon Schama — and, quite unusually, also by a bird: Carel Fabritius’ famous Goldfinch.
The exhibition space feels like a softly lit, velvet-red aviary where birds from across continents and centuries are gathered — not flying, but stilled, observed, displayed. And that is exactly the point.
Birds explores the complex, often troubled relationship between humans and nature, and in particular between humans and birds: creatures we admire for their freedom, yet constantly try to tame, cage, hunt, collect, or turn into symbols and ornaments.
At the heart of the exhibition is Fabritius’ The Goldfinch (1654), a small yet astonishingly lifelike painting that becomes both guide and silent witness to centuries of fascination, possession and projection.
From prehistoric cave engravings and Egyptian falcon mummies, to baroque hunting still lifes, fashion made of feathers, Picasso’s and Matisse’s doves, and contemporary works confronting extinction and industrial exploitation, Birds moves through art, history, myth and ecology with remarkable emotional and intellectual range.
The exhibition doesn’t just show birds — it asks uncomfortable questions:
Why do we envy what can fly?
Why do we imprison what we admire?
What does our treatment of birds reveal about our relationship with the natural world?
The journey ends in a powerful contrast: opposite the chained Goldfinch shines Brancusi’s Bird in Space — a radiant, abstract vision of pure movement, light and freedom.
### After the exhibition
We’ll continue the conversation at KOMPAAN, one of The Hague’s best-known and most interesting breweries. With around 20 beers on tap, it’s the perfect place to relax, taste their creations, and talk about what we’ve just seen.
Art. Birds. Freedom.
And a well-earned beer afterwards. 🍺🕊️