Experience the Mauritshuis with all your senses. Writers Unlimited, the Mauritshuis and deBuren joined forces and invited Dutch and Flemish writers and performers to a special encounter between literature, the body and visual art. Under the motto and festival theme Let’s get physical, contemporary artists responded to masterpieces from the past and took you on a surprising, sensory journey of discovery through the museum.

Writers Roan Kasanmonadi, Lucas Rijneveld, Tuly Salumu and Lize Spit took up the challenge of exploring physicality in the broadest sense of the word and writing about art with all their senses – art that you are not allowed to touch. They each wrote a powerful new text or poem and bring it to life in front of the painting that inspired them. Lucas Rijneveld had to cancel his participation but his text was read nonetheless.

In the Gouden Zaal, dancer and choreographer Melisa Diktaş's movement language was given free rein. She drew inspiration for her performance from this unique museum space.

And what is the body or the imagination without nourishment? Together with culinary journalist Hiske Versprille, we delved into a painting full of food and tasted Clara Peeters' Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels, painted around 1615, in a unique way.

This evening, we built bridges: between painting and literature, between the Netherlands and Flanders, and between the past and the present. Everything entered into dialogue with each other. A literary view of visual art not only deepened the meaning of a work, but also opened up new ways of engaging with it. By looking beyond boundaries, we encountered the other and, at the same time, more of ourselves. And those who understand the past can better see where they stand.

Practical information
*Visitors were divided into groups, which followed the various programme components in parallel. This way, everyone experienced all the performances.

*Drinks were available in the Foyer during the interval and after the performance.

*Tip: this programme was followed by Mensen Zeggen Dingen x Writers Unlimited Festival in GR8 (starting at 10 p.m., Prinsengracht 8, about a 15-minute walk), the literary afterparty with poetry and spoken word recitals. For tickets, see the Paard website here.

From 22 to 25 January 2026, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague was to be found in theatres, museums, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, GR8 to Theater and Filmhuis Dakota, Mauritshuis, Curaçaohuis, the Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries, the Institute of Social Studies and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 100 writers, poets, spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.