I spent four days in Amsterdam the first week of April. My main purpose was to see the Vermeer Exhibit at the Rijksmuseum. And while I was there I also went to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, the Moco Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum... and went on a canal cruise.
The weather was fantastic and I walked everywhere. I think I must have walked at least 10km a day - from the train station to my hotel; from my hotel to the museums and back; and walking around the museums all day.
Unfortunately, most of the photos I took are not very good - combination of my poor vision, dim lighting in the galleries, no flash photography permitted, and probably a slight shake holding the camera. I'm pretty disappointed - I used to be able to take excellent photos, even in bad light. But I used to be able to SEE the display screen on my camera. I figure about 3/4 of the photos are crap. The photos outdoors all turned out - enough light for me, and the camera, to see.
I spent the entire day on Monday at the Rijksmuseum. My entry ticket was for 9 a.m. so I was in line for the doors opening. I explored ALL the open galleries. What a wonderful place! The museum exists to collect and exhibit Dutch history through art and craft. So many things to see and appreciate. It was busy but not a crush so I was able to get a good look at pretty much everything... well, except for The Night Watch. But it is so big you can't not see it.
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The Rijksmuseum
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The following are photos from inside the Rijksmuseum - I was taking shots of the plaques beside the items too, but they are not in focus so I'm not able to label these shots... yet.
This marble statue was amazing...
...Just look at that detail.
My ticket for the Vermeer Exhibit was for 4 p.m. so I had to exit to go in another entrance, show my ticket and get a wristband which would let me in to the separate gallery. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with this part of my experience.
The paintings were amazing... what I could actually see of them. There were so many people in the small gallery that it was near impossible to get close enough to get a good look. All of Vermeer's paintings are small... really small. When people are crowded around six deep, it is really difficult to get close. And some were extremely annoying - planting themselves direction in front of the painting and staying there for a solid five minutes so no one was able to get a straight on look.
What I was able to get a good look at really blew me away - the light just glowed in the paintings. Imperceptible brushstrokes. Amazing.
I roamed around to try to get a good look at the works without a big crowd, but that was practically impossible. On top of the crowding, the lighting was very dim so practically every photo is flat and out of focus - there is ONE that isn't awful, but it is at an angle. I purchased the boxed set of postcards of the entire exhibit to make sure I had something to show for the visit.
These are the photos, unedited, as I didn't think there was much I could do to fix them... sigh. I only took 14 photos as I knew it was a lost cause. There were 36 paintings on display (there had been a total of 37 but Girl with a Pearl Earring had gone home before I arrived.)
Pretty awful photos aren't they? But they are proof I saw them in person!
The next day I had a 9 a.m. ticket for the Van Gogh Museum. I love Van Gogh. Even though the lighting in there was worse than the Vermeer Exhibit's, I was able to get close and have time to really appreciate the works. Being early works best, it got a bit more crowded as the morning progressed but I managed to see everything. Photos are a bit hit an miss because of the lighting - but I, again, bought a boxed set of 50 postcards so have a collection of great images of the work I saw.
I didn't take as many photos as I bought the postcards. So just took these five. The Potato Eaters was in a really dark spot - I'm actually surprized so much shows in the photo because it looked like a black canvas in person.
I really enjoyed being able to see the brushwork in Van Gogh's paintings. I wish I could paint so freely.
When I was done at the Van Gogh Museum I went across the path to the Stedelijk Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design. I hadn't planned to (didn't even know about it) but it wasn't busy at all... or maybe it was that it was really spacious? No, I think it wasn't busy AND really spacious. The building consisted of a large old palace (looked like a palace) and a new modern part facing the common park.
The lighting was WAY better here! I was able to get the descriptions in focus for the most part too. I enjoyed this museum as I could actually identify a large portion of the modern art without having to read the card on the wall!
Matisse:
Picasso:
Mondraan:
Delaunay (I did my second year final painting project based on Orphism and the Delaunay's work):
Sluijters (This artist's name I didn't recognize, but I loved the painting!):
Chagall:
I really enjoyed being able to recognize artists, even when the paintings themselves I hadn't seen before.
The first galleries I went through were Contemporary installation art... Some bits were interesting, but most of it, while I can appreciate the actual physical work that went into construction...
After I bought a couple of postcards in the shop I left and bought a coffee, sat on a bench away from people to drink it with my mask off.
Then I decided to go to the Moco Museum as well, which was between the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. This is also modern and contemporary art - with an emphasis on Contemporary. The artists here I recognized, as would most people: Banksy, Basquiat, Haring, Warhol, Koons, Kusama, Hirst, etc.
They had a gallery of NFTs too. And several rooms that were essentially kaleidoscopes... they were fun, but hard to get photos in!
The next day I visited the Rembrandt House Museum. They bought the building next door, I assume, as it was the entrance, shop, offices, etc. Then you entered the actual house in the basement level.
After that I walked through town and decided to go on a canal cruise.
It was a great short trip, learned things, saw amazing art, ate some excellent pickles (I can't find proper sour pickles in the UK) and bought some socks. Doesn't get much better than that.
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