Welcome to Day 15 of my travels. It's my 3rd (sort of) day in Amsterdam. The weather is still not great although the rain has passed us by but it's overcast and cloudy. The temperature is still fairly mild but getting chillier.
When I decided to have Amsterdam as part of my Grand Tour, I knew that there were three places that I must visit while in Amsterdam: The Anne Frank Huis, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. Yesterday, as you know, I saw the first two. Today, it was time for the Van Gogh. The real tragedy of this visit is that no photography was allowed! ARGH! Which means that I cannot share with you photos of the amazing artwork that I witnessed today.
Of all the painters in history, Van Gogh is my second favorite (Claude Monet is my first), therefore it was with complete giddiness I walked toward the museum... a mere 10 minutes from my hotel. Being the smart gal that I am, I booked my visit ahead of time knowing that this museum fills up quickly. My entrance time was for 10am, but I was too excited so I got there at 9:30. Fortunately, they did not make me wait for 30 minutes before entering. I walked out of the building 90 minutes later feeling like I had witnessed some of the most exquisite artwork in the world...and I did!
As most people know, Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist, who was an extremely prolific artist - having created 21,000 artworks in the mere 10 years that he was an artist. Vincent decided at the age of 27 to pursue a career as an artist, having worked as a art dealer before becoming a painter. He died at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, having sold only 1 painting during his lifetime (The Red Vineyard). His brother, Theo, who was the sole financial and emotional supporter of Vincent, inherited all of Vincent's unsold paintings. Sadly, Theo died six months after Vincent, which left all of Vincent's artwork to his sister-in-law, Johanna. Johanna was the key player in the growth of Vincent's fame. It was she who worked tirelessly to promote Vincent's paintings. Upon her death, all the artwork went to her son and Vincent's nephew, Vincent Willem. It was V.M. who created the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.
The museum, which opened in 1973, houses works of art not only completed by Vincent Van Gogh, but also artists that were influences of, contemporaries of, and/or influenced by Vincent. It is an incredible museum. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's work: 200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters. The museum is set up chronologically, thereby allowing the visitors to witness the burgeoning of Vincent's creative genius. Interestingly enough, in a letter to his brother toward the end of his life, Vincent indicated that he thought he had lost his creativity and the work wasn't as good as his earlier work. Yet, most believe that some of Vincent's best work was completed in the last year of his life. Creative geniuses are just too critical of their work.
Here is a list of just some of the amazing artwork I saw today: The Potato Eaters, Bedroom in Arles, The Yellow House, Sunflowers, Wheatfield with Crows, plus nine of his self portraits, which are probably my favorites. Additionally, the museum features artwork from Auguste Rodin, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oh, my goodness. It was a visual feast!
Everything that I did after the museum was a bore. Mostly, I just walked around the city, went to check out the library (a huge 7 story structure), walked through Begijnhof courtyard (a pretty oasis in the city, hidden behind a wooden door), and such. Seriously, my highlight of the day was completed by 11am. It makes for a very long day. In fact, I have most of tomorrow to kill in Amsterdam and have zero idea on what to do with it. My train to Berlin leaves at 7pm so that's a lot of hours with not much to do.
As always, you can check out my Day 15 photos on my GToE photo site.
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| Wheatfield with Crows - one of Vincent's final paintings |
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