Don't miss Dinomakers, the exhibition of dinosaur imagery for young and old at Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the oldest museum in the Netherlands. Dinomakers, suitable for young and old, can be seen until August 23, 2020.

Dinosaur imagery for young and old at Teylers Museum

Who knows what a T. rex or triceratops looked like 66 million years ago? The only evidence we have are fossils. Often no more than a femur, a tooth, a skull. Sometimes a footprint in the ground or the faint impressions of feathers. How have we been able to have full models and drawings of dinosaurs from this evidence?

Meet the dinosaur makers: artists and scientists who bring extinct plants and animals to life. While scientists puzzle entire species and timelines from fossilised remains, "paleo artists" translate this technical knowledge into the powerful images that we know so well from books and films.

Dinomakers at Teylers Museum

Dinomakers is the ever first exhibition about paleo art in the Netherlands. The subject, at the intersection of nature, art and culture, fits beautifully with Teylers Museum, as a renowned museum of art and science and one of the most interesting buildings in Haarlem.

Two centuries of the portrayal of the primal time show how ideas about it are constantly changing. Discover the most beautiful and striking creations at the intersection of art and science at Dinomakers.

Exhibits from home and abroad

Exceptional material from home and abroad is brought together. Loans come from the Natural History Museum in London, the Moravian Museum in Brno, Czech Republic, the Museon in The Hague and private collectors. There is also work by contemporary dinosaur makers: drawings and models by the famous Dutch paleo artists Kennis & Kennis and digital art by the British artist Mark Witton.

Also, visitors are challenged to think about species that may become extinct in the not-too-distant future. The exhibition thus establishes a link with the current influence of climate change and humans on the development of animals and plants.

New artefacts get a permanent home at Teylers Museum

In 2019, Teylers Museum acquired two large watercolours of a megatherium and an ichthyosaurus, which date back to the early days of the visual presentation of prehistoric life. Although they are skeletons, they seem almost alive through their pose and display in a realistic environment.

The works were made around 1856 as part of a set of eight, commissioned by Archduke Stephan Franz Victor of Austria for his mineralogical museum in Schaumburg palace. They will be on display for the first time during the exhibition, after which they will have a permanent place in Teyler's First Fossil Hall.

Get your tickets

Tickets are available on the Teylers Museum website at 14 euros for standard adult entry and just two euros for children aged 6-17. Children under six get to go for free! Get your tickets and enjoy the dinosaurs!

Thumb image: illustration by Mark Witton, courtesy of Teylers Museum