Amsterdam loves its artists. There are several famous artist from the Netherlands, not the least of which is Van Gogh. Caleb and I are not art experts, but we are maybe what you’d call “casual appreciators”. We spent a couple hours at the Rijksmuseum and a couple hours at the Van Gogh museum.
Rijksmuseum
We heard a great tip from someone to not pay for the audio tour for the Rijksmuseum because it is the same thing as what is on the free app. That worked wonderfully. It gave us a highlights tour so we could see the famous things, take a minute to appreciate them and then move on.
The great hall
Stain glass windows in the great hall
This was the one painting I knew about. It is called “The Milkmaid” and is Vermeer. He is the same artist that painted “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”. I read a book about him and learned that he specifically painted regular people doing regular, everyday things. Until him, most painters only painted portraits of rich paying clients, or Biblical scenes, etc. His paintings opened up a new subject area and have given historians important information about life in those times and places. I really like this painting.
This is called “Issac and Rebecca” but is also known as “The Jewish Bride”. I thought it was very loving.
This is the main hall where the most popular paintings are located. Notice how big many of them are.
The museum’s most famous paintings is called “Night Watch”. I’d never heard of it. But it is huge, taking up an entire wall. The crowd around it was big. It was in a room all walled off with glass. We figured out from observation and from some documentation in another place that it is in the process of being restored.
On the side you can see the difference between the part that has already been restored and what hasn’t.
I’m not an art expert, but here are some photos of things I found interesting.
This was a favorite. This library was massive and so impressive. The crowds were allowed to view from the balcony and had doors around to keep out other noise. They had signs all over asking you to be quiet, because this is a working library. People are doing research here every day.
I tried to get a photo of the spiral iron staircase in the corner.
This painting was just HUGE.
One interesting part were these very elaborate, fancy dollhouses that belonged to a young girl from a very wealthy family.
The Rijksmuseum did have a few Van Gogh pieces.
Caleb really liked this one.
These were statues from Japan that were bigger than life size. They were guarding a temple door, or something like that. I would not have gone in.
The museum had this road going right through the middle of it! Cars, bikes, and other small vehicles drove right through!
Van Gogh Museum
This is a great museum. It goes through Van Gogh’s life chronologically. I really did not know anything about this artist, other than the ear thing and a few famous paintings. Like many people, I love “Starry Night.” I learned that Van Gogh had one sibling, a brother who he was very, very close to. They exchanged letters frequently - sometimes multiple letters a day. His brother was a big fan of Van Gogh’s work and supported him financially, emotionally and in many other ways. The brother got married and had one son. The wife was also a big fan of Van Gogh’s work and his work. The museum did a nice job of honestly portraying the mental illness struggle of Van Gogh. It didn’t gloss over it, yet talked about lot about how he tried to work through it and cope. It gave resources for guests that might be experiencing similar symptoms to get help.
Ultimately, Van Gogh, shot himself and died a few days later from his wounds. His brother was by his side when he died and was devastated. Only months after Van Gogh died, the brother also died. The implication was that he died of a broken heart. The wife was the one who collected and organized all their correspondence. It really was a kind of diary and record of his life. She had many paintings of his and gathered others. I guess at the time of his death, Van Gogh was gaining some popularity, but she and her son (Van Gogh’s nephew) were the ones who really pushed and organized to have him recognized. Ultimately their work resulted in this museum.
I learned that Van Gogh did so many self portraits because he was saving money. He didn’t have the funds to hire real models. His self portraits use all sorts of different techniques that he was experimenting with.
I mean…I have to prove I was RIGHT THERE!
This was Van Gogh’s yarn box. He used yarn to experiment with different colors.
This is a painting by one of Van Gogh’s colleagues of him painting the painting of Sunflowers.
Van Gogh’s writing desk where he wrote letters to his brother.
Letter from Theo Van Gogh to Vincent Van Gogh.
This was the cabinet Theo Van Gogh kept all his brother’s letters in. When he died, his wife went here to retrieve all the letters.
This was the final painting in the exhibit. It is not the last one that Van Gogh made. It was made for his brother and sister in law as a gift when their son was born. Van Gogh liked Japanese art and this has echoes of that in it. It has little pink blossoms on it that are supposed to represent hope. It was really pretty and I loved it. I also thought it was a great way to end the exhibit.
Comments
Post a Comment