Traveling Outside France: Amsterdam (Part 2 of 2)

Our visit to Amsterdam continues. 

The impetus for traveling to Amsterdam was to visit the Van Gogh Museum there.  During Year 4, we have learned a lot about Vincent Van Gogh's like and artwork.  We wanted to learn more.  So, we went to Amsterdam to see the world's largest collection of Van Gogh's works.  

Opened in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum is located near the Rijksmuseum and is home to some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings.  The bulk of the collection was donated by his descendants who worked hard to promote and preserve his legacy.  

The museum today consists of two large modern buildings connected by an underground passage.  the circular building on the left is a visitor center and exhibition hall, while the building on the right has many galleries displaying Van Gogh's paintings, drawings and letters.  

Taking photographs in the museum was not allowed, with one exception.  Photos were allowed at the "selfie walls".  Below, Jean-Claude and Marie-Chantal pose in front of an image of Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms (1890) and Sunflowers (1889).

Fortunately, the fine folks at the Van Gogh Museum allow visitors to use photos from the museum's website.  So, here is a sampling of some of our favorite paintings at the museum.  Enjoy.  

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn (1884)

Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (1887)

Path in the Woods (1887)

The Yellow House (The Street) (1888)

The Bedroom (1888) (first version)

The Pink Orchard (1888)

The Pink Peach Tree (1888)

The White Orchard (1888)

Field with Irises near Arles (1888)

Garden of the Asylum (1889)

Undergrowth (1889)

The Siesta (after Millet) (1889-1890)

Irises (1890)

Almond Blossoms (1890)

Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)

Daubigny's Garden (1890)

Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

Wheatfield under Thunderclouds (1890)

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Van Gogh Museum.  Our visit reinforced some things we had learned about Van Gogh.  His painting was transformed once he moved to France in 1886 and discovered how French artists were painting.  In the Netherlands, his paintings were relatively dark and foreboding, while his paintings in France were vibrant, filled with bright colors.  

In addition, Van Gogh, while living in France, produced a large number of paintings in a relatively short amount of time (about 4 years).  Nevertheless, Van Gogh did not paint quickly or carelessly.  Instead, Van Gogh approached each painting with care, always taking time to improve both his technique and use of color.    

We were happy to see more of Van Gogh's paintings in Amsterdam.  We look forward to seeing even more during future years of the 10 Year Plan.

Thanks for visiting Amsterdam with us.  

Traveling Outside France: Amsterdam (Part 1 of 2)

Our recent trip outside France also took us to Amsterdam.  There, we enjoyed a canal boat ride and visited the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House.  

The canal voyage was especially fun because we rode at night and saw a lot of holiday decorations.  During the holiday season, Amsterdam hosts a Light Festival, with all sorts of displays on the canals and bridges of the city.   

Below is one of the light displays we saw during our voyage, Atlantis by the artist Utskottet.

According to AmsterdamLightFestival.com, "You may identify the image of an international metropolis plagued by floods and other natural disasters from blockbuster films like Deep Impact (1998) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). With the sinking city, Atlantis, Utskottet demonstrates how this menacing scene can become a frightening reality."

You can view more of the light displays by clicking here.  

While strolling, we spotted another light display.  We guessed someone has a sense of humor.  

During the day, we visited the Rijksmusem.  The building that houses the museum is large and ornate.  

The front facade of the Rijksmuseum

The back of the Rijksmuseum

We assumed that it was once a palace or something similar.  We learned, however, that the building was constructed in the 1880's as a museum building to house the country's extensive collection of artwork and historical artifacts.  

The museum has an amazing art collection, including masterpieces by the Old Dutch Masters, including Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt Van Rijn.  

While touring the museum, Marie-Chantal explained to Jean-Charles that the painting below won a competition to decorate a cigar box.  Who knew?

While strolling around Amsterdam, we spotted noteworthy architecture and artwork.  Below is a photo of the bell tower of the Westerkerk, built in the 1630's.  The tower, called the Westertoren, is the highest church tower in Amsterdam, about 285 feet tall.

We also spotted a Zadkine sculpture.  Marie-Chantal identified the artist from a distance.  The sculpture was commissioned for the large bank building behind the sculpture.  

Le Demeure Humaine ("the Human Dwelling")  by Ossip Zadkine (third version)

Our visit to the Anne Frank House was a sobering reminder and warning about inhumanity in the world.  The house has been transformed into a museum.  We passed through the secret passage behind a bookcase and entered the secret annex where the Frank family and four other Jews lived, hidden for two years during the Nazi's WWII occupation of the Netherlands, before they were discovered and sent to the death camps.  Photos were not allowed.  However, you can you visit the secret annex virtually by clicking here.  

From AnneFrank.org

Next Up:  Modern art in Amsterdam

Traveling Outside France: Brussels (Part 3 of 3), Addendum

While strolling in Paris one day, we passed by Delvaux, a Belgian-based leather goods shop.

Something in the window caught our attention.

We investigated further and saw more clues--green apples, a bowler hat, a pipe,a crescent moon and a cloudy blue sky.

It turns out that Delvaux has created a line of products based on René Magritte's artwork.  (Magritte was a logical choice since he is one of Belgium's most famous artists.)

The products incorporate images and symbols from Magritte's paintings, like the famous Magritte painting pictured below.  

Le fils de l'homme (The Son of Man) by René Magritte (1964)

It is another example of art and fashion colliding.

P.S.  In another window of Delvaux, we spotted a large birthday cake celebrating the 190 year anniversary of Delvaux's founding.  Atop the cake is manneken pis doing his thing on the cake.   

Traveling Outside France: Brussels (Part 3 of 3)

Our visit to Brussels continues.

The primary impetus to travel to Brussels was not eating Brussels sprouts.  Instead, we wanted to visit the Musée Magritte, which opened in 2009.  The museum features a large collection of the paintings of Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte (1898-1967).  

We enjoyed viewing the collection, which spanned Magritte's entire career and featured a few of his best known paintings.  

Understanding the Surrealist paintings was a challenge.  The imagery and symbols in the paintings were disjointed, conventional perspective was ignored and the titles of paintings added to the mystery rather than solving it.  We also noticed that many of the same images appeared in different paintings over the decades, like the blue sky with clouds, the green apple, and the jingle bell.  

 

(1927)

Sheherazade (1948)

The Flame Rekindled (or The Return of the Flame) (1943) (from Magritte's Impressionist period)

(The French word rêve means dream.)

Blood Will Tell (1961)

The Listening Room (1952)

(In the painting above, the sun reflecting on the water might be an homage to Claude Monet.)

The Curse (1960)

The Empire of Lights (1961)

We especially liked the version of Empire of Lights pictured below.

The Empire of Lights (1954)

The effect of the lamplight reflecting on the water was amazing.

One of the works featured in the museum was a recreation of Magritte's painting Threatening Weather (1929), painted after Magritte attended a gathering of other Surrealists, like Salvador Dali, Luis Buñuel and Joan Miró.  The painting was recreated as a video with animation.

Below is a photo of three images that materialized in the sky at the end of the video.

Jean-Claude is fascinated by staircases leading nowhere.  So, he enjoyed the Magritte painting pictured below.  Jean-Claude hopes to live in a house with a stairway to nowhere.   

Some of the mystery surrounding Magritte's artwork was solved when we discovered a Rosetta Stone of sorts.  Magritte, early in his career, described principles of his Surrealist paintings in a work called Words and Images (1929).  The next photo below offers a translation of some of the principles.  

 

In case you want to own a Magritte reproduction, one option is the well-known Son of Man on a skateboard (pictured below).

Thanks for visiting Brussels with us.