I went to the Rijksmuseum! So beautiful and wonderful and amazing and huge and big and with all these masterpieces, many of which were plucked from my Art History book! Where do I begin? Well a big part of the building is under construction, so we couldn't go into most of it. That is okay though, the masterworks available to behold were more than enough stimulation.
Right off the bat, the first painting to be seen is Bartholomeus van der Helst's Banquet in Celebration of the Treaty of Munster. It is 232x547cm huge. It is impossible to take it all in really. There was a model ship and bits of old ships in the room. The bottom floor was organized by history and eras, while the top was groupings of artists and those who studied and took after them. Willem van de Velde's Battle of Terheide is a large canvas depicting an image of Dutch ships battling. It was rendered with intricate ink work with fine little crosshatched lines. Perfect lines really. Adrian Pietersz van de Venne has never seen a rainbow before in his life. A work by Dirck van Delen featured a little flap which when moved changed a part of the scene in the painting. Dad seemed to really enjoy the nautical focus. There were over elaborate dollhouses, fine porcelain and delftware, exquisite flower vases, cabinets with inlaid wood work that must have taken years to do, and the gaudiest and shinest silver work I have ever seen. Okay it wasn't really gaudy but considering it was made with silver doesn't help the bass relief’s any.
Upstairs were the textbook masterpieces. Avercamp's humorous Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters, Dirck Hals' The Fete Champetre, Judith Leyster's The Serenade, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Willem Kalf, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Steen, and so on. It is a long list of masterwork. To see them in person just blows away any printed work. Vermeer and Rembrandt have such a knack for texture that you can't see otherwise. All the subtle differences in the styles and modeling. Hardly anyone, or no one at all, paints like this anymore.
The Night Watch has its own room. It has a whole wall devoted to just it (and it needs a whole wall). Parallel to it is Frans Hals and Pieter Codde's The Company of Captain Reynier Reael. Also big but more of a portrait of a group of people than a scene like the Night Watch. And oh what a scene! The painting seems to have always been printed in books very dark so I always thought it was a group of people outdoors. Seeing it in full, it is actually a group in a large hall. They also appear to be illuminated by daylight and just stand in a dark hall (it was recently cleaned, revealing the full scope of it). It was noted that the title was given to it some years after its completion, when it was darkened by time. With the painting was a reproduction someone did. A smaller version by Gerrit Lundens. It was painted before Night Watch was cropped so we can get a general idea of what the huge piece looked like before it was shortened to fit on a wall.
The rooms were painted in a way that best complimented the work. They clearly had time to perfect the layout and collection. There will be no changes to this exhibit anytime soon. And rightly so. I could come back an infinite many times and there will still be things I haven't seen or noticed. Like any well known museum, there were hoards of people on headsets standing in the way. I like to get nose to nose to art and it is hard to do that when people stand observant, but distanced. There were two tours on the second level going and they hogged up a lot of space.
I picked up a guide book to the museum and some postcards in the giftshop. After that we got something to drink on the Museumplein and decided our next moves.
We rented some bikes from Mac Bike and rode on towards Amsterdam Centraal. It is harder than it looks. The maps do not indicate which direction the roads go and making ones way around in unfamiliar area via way of the street is a pain. Sometimes I felt I was in the wrong lane, othertimes it was hard to figure out where the crossing was. Ohh very frustrating. Parking was also near impossible near the station. The bikes go on for eternity. Thousands of bikes chained to one another. We found a pipe to chain on to. Tickets to Belgium were acquired. I had to pay to use the toilet at the station. I got a hamburger from an Automat in the station. It was okay for very fast food.
After the station we went to the recreation of the boat the Amsterdam. The NEMO place where be bought the tickets reminded me of the Seattle Sciene Center and OMSI in Portland. I think it was the same sort of place. Lots of little kids running around shouting. We went on the boat right behind a whole hoard of kids. They shot the cannon and everyone went ohhh. The recreation had little papers pinned up describing things. It was nifty. Lady Washington is better though. It shoots more stuff and actually sails about.
We bought some ice cream and went to go on a biking excursion along the Amstel river. We stopped at the Waterlooplein to check out the streetmarket going on. Lots of cheesy tourist things, a couple bike accessories stalls, vintage shops, flea market places, cheap shirts, etc. I found a lovely elephant patterned scarf for 5 euro. There was a mannequin head with a beard that I wanted really badly but it would have been a challenge to haul home.
We continued down the Amstel river. After passing the houseboats, the path went away from the river and we never quite got back on it. We looped around and tried to find our way back but no such luck. Eventually we went along another river for a bit, checked out a small park, saw some large Raptor sculptures, went through a roundabout, and decided to head back. Biking in Amsterdam is great as long as it is a designated road, far removed from traffic. Once in the city it becomes the territory for those who know what they are doing and where they are going. Sure you see more of the city this way, but it goes by so fast.
I kept up with dad on my bike no problem, but I lost him a couple times and had to stop.
We got a quick snack at the market but I was overwhelmed by exhaustion and fell asleep as soon as I laid down. By the time I woke up it was too late to go out (well not really but I was still tired and groggy). It is a shame we haven't really eaten out much in the city. Also a shame the Amsterdam leg of our trip is cut a little short due to scheduling only three nights in the hotel, instead of four.
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