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Published: September 29th 2018
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September 16, 2018
Amsterdam
Today was our first day to explore the city. After a leisurely breakfast, our destination was the Van Gogh Museum. We walked south to the “Museum Quarter”. It was a sunny Sunday and the first thing we encountered was a huge Sunday marketplace with thousands of visitors milling about. We wandered the arts and crafts aisles, then we proceeded to locate the museum ticket office. We soon discovered that this museum is very popular and on Sundays all tickets were already pre-sold on-line. We decided to try the Rijksmuseum which is about a block away. We were able to purchase Van Gogh tickets for Monday morning.
The Rijksmuseum is a familiar Amsterdam landmark and possesses an unrivaled collection of Dutch art. The museum opened in 1885 to criticism, most vehemently from the Amsterdam’s Protestant community for its Catholic Neo-Renaissance style. The museum went through a total renovation between 2003 and 2013.
To say the Rijksmuseum is big is an understatement. Its 8000 pieces of artwork are housed in 80 galleries. It is famous for owning the best collection of Dutch art in the world, from early religious worked to the Masterpieces of the
Golden Age
We signed up for a Rembrandt tour that started at 3:00 PM. The museum has three floors, each dedicated to a century of art. The 17
th century was known as the “Golden Age “. During that time the Netherlands developed into a wealthy and powerful nation, with the arts profiting from prosperous climate. Amsterdam became the Protestant capital of an infant Dutch Republic and art moved away completely from religious to secular themes. Artist turned to the realistic portraiture, landscapes, still life, seascapes, domestic interiors, and animal portraits. Rembrandt is one of the most famous artists who lived and worked around Amsterdam at this time.
With about an hour to wander, we decided to visit the special Kwab Exhibit. This was the last day of the exhibit. Fantastic sea creatures, monstrous beasts, whimsical body shapes, and fluid contours that seem to drip like syrup from a spoon: all are manifestations of the ornament style known as Kwab, ‘auricular’ or ‘lobate’ - with the English denominations referring to the organic forms of the ear. In the 17th century, Their almost molten form was to be found on Dutch luxury items such as ewers, dishes, furniture, wall-hangings and
frames in the most stylish interiors of the elite.
The K
wab style is the most sensational and important Dutch contribution to the development of decorative art in Europe. Its originators – the Dutch silversmiths Paulus and Adam van Vianen and Johannes Lutma – enjoyed unprecedented fame in their day. Their work was also an inspiration for artists such as Rembrandt and the cabinetmaker Herman Doomer. The exhibition space featured a spectacular design by theatre and lighting designer Keso Dekker, renowned for his ballet sets. It seems a shame the design of halls of the exhibit will be destroyed. The exhibit included 130 auricular masterpieces. A selection of the finest silverware, alongside paintings by Rembrandt and Metsu, prints and drawings, tables, cabinets, gilt-leather wall hangings and brass church decorations, to tell the story of this spectacular Dutch Design of the Golden Age.
Our Rembrandt guide took us to the 2
nd floor. She asked if we would all be interested in comments about other artists also. We did, Rembrandt was the Dutch Master.
We enjoyed our walk back to our neighborhood. We stopped at a canal side bar for a glass of wine and we ordered some “bitters”, a
fried concoction of butter, meat and flour, breaded and deep fried. It is apparently a local delicacy and one of the neighborhood patrons said this establishment made the best!
We found an excellent Indian restaurant a few blocks from our houseboat. Our neighborhood is rich with small ethnic restaurant.
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