An Amsterdam Landmark
One of the advantages of living in a city for a few months is the ability to really get to know it. I'm used to mostly summer vacations in Europe where you're in one place for a few days and then quickly move on to another. So, the Fulbright has given me the opportunity to live in Amsterdam for an extended period of time which is a real luxury. One of the things this encourages is allowing you to get to know--really know-- a city's cultural life. I thought I would capitalize on this luxury by starting with the Rijksmuseum. I'd visited it several times in the past usually for a few hours. Typically I'd run to the Night Watch, The Jewish Bride, The Syndics, Jemeriah-- the standard Rembrandt Race. But, a few days ago, I bought what's called a Museum Pass which allows me to make multiple visits to any museum in the Netherlands for a year. It cost around 60 euros (about $75) and it's already allowed me to make a few visits to the Rijksmuseum.
The Rijksmuseum has undergone a pretty major facelift. It looks great-- brighter, airier, and much more user friendly. The crowds are manageable (except in front of the Night Watch but I think that's always gong to happen) and the museum nicely negotiable. It's also February so crowd control isn't that much of a problem. I'd be curious to see the Rijksmuseum around July.
One of the good things that has already happened, culturally speaking, is I've been able to make the closer acquaintance of the Medieval Gallery of the Rijksmuseum. If you take a look in Gallery 2 on the website you'll see some of the art that caught my eye. I was especially taken with The Weepers, a collection of bronze statues from the 15th century that surrouned the tomb of Isabella of Bourbon in the Antwerp cathedral. They are said to represent her ancestors and are strategically placed and lit in the Rijksmuseum for maximum effect.
I also paid a visit to their new Asian collection (or as its called by the Museum, The Asian Pavillion) in an architecturally modern wing of the Museum. Of course they had the requisite Hindu Shiva Nataraja but they also had some impressive temple guardians (take a look at their size in contrast to the person standing next to them), as well as some nicely displayed Buddhist pieces.
You'll see from the Gallery photos (yes, something else to love about the Rijksmusuem--it allows visitors to take no-flash pictures), I did make it up to the second floor where the Rembrandts are all located. Rembrandt and Amsterdam are so closely linked that you can use his paintings to trace the history of seventeenth-century Amsterdam. No matter how many times I look at his paintings, my jaw drops closer and closer to the floor.
But, you know, something funny happened to me when I left the Rijksmuseum and started to walk through the Museumplein where three of Amsterdam's major museums are located-- the Rijksmuseum, the van Gogh Mueum, and the Stedeljik Museum. This last museum was one I hadn't paid close attention to when I visited Amsterdam-- mostly modern and contemporary art, Well, that was a mistake for sure. I wandered in just to take a look at their renovations and was pretty much awed by everything about it.
One of the things about Amsterdam (especially in the area I'm living in, the Jordaan, along with the Canal Belt) is this great design ethic I've been noticing more and more around the city, I'll be walking down the Prinsengracht or the Keizergracht and a renovated office within an histroric canal house will just pop out visually--sleek, modern, and architecturally arresting. And not in A New York way (if you know what I mean-- Amsterdam is about as far away from NYC in a variety of ways as you get). There also seems to be a predilection for the color 'red' in this city and the color pops out at you from all over.
Let me get back to the Stedeljik. They have a terrific exhibit there that features the work of
Marcel Wanders, a Dutch designer born in 1963. He evidently has been influential in designing pieces that are actually usuable by people such as chairs. But his take on something like a chair is pretty innovative. I've included some of the pieces from this exhibition in Gallery 2 so you can take a look and see what you think of this rather startling and original work.
