We started our day with a visit to the Rijksmuseum which first opened its doors to the public in 1800. One could spend the entire day exploring the four floors of the beautiful building which contains masterpieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and many of their contemporaries, along with a truly exceptional collection of antique objects and a vast collection of prints and drawings. The Rijksmuseum houses art from 1100 up to 1950. We were surprised when we looked at the time as we approached the exit as we realized that we spent almost four hours at the Rijksmuseum.
After a late lunch we headed for the Van Gogh Museum. Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum maintains the world’s largest collection of the works of one of the world’s most popular artists- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his paintings, drawings and letters, along with the art of his contemporaries. The museum houses more than 200 Van Gogh paintings and 500 of his drawings. The material is organized chronologically into five periods, each representing a different period of his life and work. Vincent painted for a mere 10 years. Plagued with mental illness, he cut off a piece of his ear, suffered several breakdowns, checked himself in to a mental institution and died because of a self inflicted gunshot wound. We spent over three hours at Vincent's and came away with, "Wow, that was awesome"!
Tomorrow we board the Jelmar and begin our 8 day bike and barge tour of Holland.
1 comment:
What adventure! What beautiful and important things you are seeing! I travel through your eyes, there I am looking forward to the boat and bike part of your excellent adventures.
-j
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