Arty Amsterdam

Apologies to disappointed readers for lack of a post yesterday, but – well, we got back from a hard day of culture rather hot and exhausted, and I convinced myself that it would be unkind to subject you to two days of culture posts, so I would put it all together today. That’s the story, anyway.

We set off yesterday morning eager to join the fray, but our enthusiasm was tempered slightly when we saw the immensely long queue for the Van Gogh museum from the tram - reminded us of the queue for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. A little discouraged, we decided to visit the Stedelijk Museum next door first. This proved an excellent choice. They had a terrific Matisse exhibition on, about to finish, showing his development through his career, and his relationships with contemporary artists - with good examples of their work alongside his -  and how they influenced each other, and later diverged. There were splendid examples of his work, such as this pair – sea and air:

We were also lucky enough to catch an hour-long documentary telling the story of his relationship with a young (then) nun, who persuaded him to design, build and decorate a chapel for her convent at Vence.

Here is Sister Jacque Marie at the time of the film, about 10 or 15 years ago. She was interviewed at length in the film:

And here is a portrait Matisse painted of her as a young women who he met when she took a job nursing him after an operation:

.

After Matisse, we grabbed a bite of lunch to gather strength for Van Gogh. The queue was still very long:

Either an hour and a half for people arriving on spec, or 45 minutes for those with some advantage, which included our Citycard, we were told. In fact we got in after about 30 minutes. Once in, the paintings were, of course, fabulous, but the crowds of people taking photographs of them, rather than actually looking at them, made the experience somewhat claustrophobic. The trend today seems to be to provide the audio guide via a tablet that shows a picture of the picture being discussed: the result was that many people were standing in front of a painting, looking intently at the tablet.

After those two experiences we decided we had done culture for the day, and cut through the flower market on our way back to base: not only flowers on sale, this being Holland:

We had hoped to watch the meteor storm from the aft deck, but a massive thunderstorm intervened, and it was a very wet night. But fortunately no serious leaks. So this morning it was off again, to the Rijks Museum, the National Gallery.  Here the highlights are, of course, Rembrandt: The Night Watch

And a touching portraint of his son Titus:

Several Franz Hals paintings, and also a couple of wonderful Verneers

 – if you manage to get close enough to see them:

Then it was lunch again, mixed hot Dutch snacks were delicious:

After lunch we took a tram and walked a fair way to the Resistance Museum, which tells the story of Holland’s occupation during WWII, and the various ways in which people dealt with the situation: some collaborating, some just keeping their heads down, and some actively resisting. And then what happened to the resisters, and to the country’s Jewish population. Some of it was quite harrowing, but very well presented, and important for each generation.

Next we dropped in on Rembrandt’s house: interesting, but not a great deal to see. After that it was on through the Red Light district …

… with scantily glad ladies in glass windows and doorways, to the Oude Kerk, the oldest surviving building in the city, dating from the 14^th century.

One of those gavestones on the floor - there are apparently about 2,500 - is that of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, for whom our Saskia is named. We located it, number 29, but it is a plain slab without inscription. Rather disappointing.

After all of that, it was time to wend our way wearily back to the ferry, and to the boat, feeling we had done the city well, and made full use of our Citycard.