JvH XL, Le zoo (500 pcs)

From the very first glance, this jigsaw drops you right into the middle of a chaotic day at the zoo. Under a clear sky strung with colorful bunting and tall trees, a dense crowd jostles around the enclosures: a huge elephant scratches its back against a tree trunk while a pink piglet takes advantage of the chaos to slip out of its pen, a carousel spins at top speed next to a big pool where a hippo, a rhino and a few penguins all seem to have dived in at once, and a lion watches the whole scene, comfortably settled at the entrance of its fake-rock den. Further back, a marching band in red uniforms parades under the trees near a statue, while a zebra and a giraffe watch the commotion from their fenced enclosure and a group of visitors lingers by the petting-zoo goats. Every corner of the illustration hides another bit of mischief, true to the funny, richly detailed style of Jan van Haasteren.

This puzzle belongs to Jan van Haasteren's XL collection, known for its extra-large pieces, about twice the size of a classic jigsaw piece: easier to grip and to spot, they let you complete, with only 500 pieces, an image as large as a standard 1000-piece puzzle. A reference poster is included in the box to help you place every character in the crowd. The Zoo is part of the long-running series of busy, comic crowd scenes Jan van Haasteren has been drawing since the 1980s, a family jigsaw classic that never gets old.

Behind this bustling scene is Jan van Haasteren, the Dutch illustrator who became a jigsaw legend thanks to his colorful crowds where every character seems to be living out a tiny adventure of their own. Fans of his offbeat worlds will find that same energy in his other signature puzzles, all built on the same idea: the longer you look, the more hidden details you find.

DIMENSIONS: 68 x 49 cm once completed.