The first stop today was the Stedelijk, Amsterdam's museum of modern art. I found it much more interesting than the Hermitage. There were four main sections - "Design," "Pre-1950" and "Post-1950" are the permanent collections, with a visiting collection from Mike Kelly, an American artist who died last year. I liked the pre-1950 and post-1950 collections best. You can only look at typography and furniture (and toasters and spoons and such) for so long before thinking "this is insane" - but the Design exhibit did a good job of linking the works into Dutch culture and what was going on in history. The Mike Kelly exhibit was just weird - he was a rather crass and strange artist who I just don't appreciate. The other two exhibits were a mix of Dutch artists and more famous ones (a few Picasos, a Wharhol, some Matisse, and a Pollock). The audio tour also made it slightly more interesting to look at a white canvas with two black lines painted on it. I still think I could have done some of them!!
The building was also very nice (picture below) - old architecture with new twists both outside and in.
From there I went to the Diamond museum, then to the flower market, then to the Museum Het Grachtenhuis which is the canal museum. More on these in later posts - but the canal museum might be my most favourite of all!
I'm now back on the executive floor where they have a great selection of canapes (my dinner) and drinks. Just did a bit of work to prepare for the week, will post this, and then will perhaps see if I can find a movie on TV. The English TV here is very bad. Best show I have found so far is one where people refurbish very old cars and another about the Dog Whisperer guy that is on Discovery or something at home. Niet goed as they would say here!
Photos of the Stedelijk:
From across the street:
The entrance area. Lines get really, really big at all tourist attractions:
Looking in the entrance to the first exhibit hall. Not as good a picture as it was in my head :-)
Hi...was having trouble posting comments from my iPhone! I was wondering if the canal water was clean or dirty? And do most people speak English there?
ReplyDeletea.e.
It is too dirty to really swim in, but sometimes people do. See my post for more details on how they clean it!! And yes everyone speaks English - and they have hilariously witty expressions. It's sad that they are funnier than I am in my own language!
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