Historical Netherlands giant colouring art at the Zuiderzee Museum

The Zuiderzee was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen gives visitors an impression of the everyday lives of common people who lived around the bay between 1880 and 1930, a time before the construction of the Afsluitdijk, a dam which cut off the sea inlet and turned the large saltwater bay into a smaller freshwater lake.

At the time life was hard around the Zuiderzee, most families made their living fishing, men fishing the bay whilst women and children tended livestock and farmed vegatables. To prepare for times of scarcity, food was preserved by the people using methods like smoking, salting, pickling, and drying.

The Zuiderzee Museum asked us to create a colouring mural illustration that could describe some of these historic themes, empowering people to make a connection with the past in a fun and interactive way.

Maria created a mandala-esque design using intricate illustrations of objects from the Zuiderzee people and objects from their lives including crops, foods, cookery, livestock, fish and boats.

Water is a main theme at the Zuiderzee Museum, two other big themes in focus are craft and community. The colouring mural fit really well with these themes, and we were thrilled to see families connecting with the artwork and the material.

The illustration is now on display at the Zuiderzee Museum until they close for winter, so if you live nearby or you’re planning a visit to the museum, make sure to do some colouring!