Another day, another amazing museum...Rijksmuseum.

17.05.2015

On a 12 degree cold showery morning in Amsterdam I took a tram that dropped me off infront of the Rijksmuseum (State museum). It was 10am and I expected to have to do some queueing to get inside, but I got lucky and chose a morning when the two hour queues slept in. This was my first museum for the year and I paid my 17.5 euros ( $26 ) for a ticket knowing that they had just spent 10 years and 375 million euro renovating the place for my visit. The other factor that influenced my choice of museum to visit was that they allowed photos to be taken inside. I would have been mad if I'd have paid the same to visit the Van Gogh museum up the road and been told that taking photographs was forbidden ( as it was I got a photo of a Van Gogh self portrait in the Rijksmuseum, although I think he moved when I shot it because it came out blurry). Anyway It pays to do your homework. I loved the long line of Miffys in the courtyard of the Museum, and was intrigued by the pair of 10 foot black children? standing in the pond that is used as a skating rink in winter. I tried to find out more about them but couldn't find any information except that the pond is used for temporary installations. The iconic I AMSTERDAM sign was fun too, and not as easy to climb onto as it looked. I watched a couple of people try to get ontop of it for a photoshoot but gave up when it was too high to climb. The museum is a good one and showcases 900 years of Dutch historical artifacts from 1100 to 2000 on four floors of a grand old building. It took me 3 hours to check it out and I was glad of the couches and benchseats scattered throughout the building. You could as you walked through spot a celebrity piece of artwork by the crowds of people that surrounded it. Both the Vermeer Milkmaid and the Van Gogh self portrait were only small paintings, but exuded that star quality. It was like walking into a room and spotting a famous celebrity in amongst all the others. You just knew it had to be the real thing. Rembrandts works were not as appealing to me. Apart from the shear size and brashness of the artworks, it was obvious he was such a prolific masterful painter that he could turn out dozens of well executed paintings, to order. For me real art happens when someone creates something that moves me emotionally or aesthetically in a way that is unique to that person and that piece of work. I haven't yet seen a Rembrandt that did that for me. Mind you they are beautiful big paintings which contain lots and lots of details ( but no 'Where's Wally', I looked )

Iconic I amsterdam sign