Ye Olde Adventure: February 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Museums in Amsterdam!

While in Amsterdam we saw gobs of art! Here are some of the images seen during the Valentine's Day weekend.

The Rijksmuseum

Rembrandt van Rijn "Self Portrait as a Young Man"

Rembrandt van Rijn "Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul"

Rembrandt van Rijn "The Night Watch"

Jacob van Ruisdael "View of Haarlem"

Johannes Vermeer "Milkmaid"

Johannes Vermeer "Little Street"

Johannes Vermeer "The Love Letter"

Rembrandt House Museum
Mostly a historical site; however, they did have a nice collection of his prints. Here is my favorite.

Rembrandt van Rijn "Self-Portrait, open mouthed" (only 51x46cm)

Van Gogh Museum
Lucky us! We were in Amsterdam for the openning of the exhibition Van Gogh and the colours of the night . We were able to see Starry Night :)

Vincent van Gogh "Room at Arles"

Vincent van Gogh "Starry Night"

Vincent van Gogh "Cypresses"

Vincent van Gogh "Wheat field with crows"

aaaaaaand ....we've seen some art ;)

In addition to the hisotric sites, we've been to countless museums. I'm amazed at the number of artworks that we have seen since arriving in England. We've studied and lived with many of them for years; finally we can see them with our own eyes!

So here are some web-images, none of which are mine, of works we've seen, in British museums!! :)

The National Portrait Gallery

Portraits by Master John
Portrait of Catharine of Aragon (first wife of Henry VIII)

Portrait of Mary Tudor, aka "Bloody Mary", and one of my favorite portraits of all time!

The National Gallery, London
Incredible Musuem. However, many of their hallmark works were on loan, but we plan to see them our next trip in.

"The execution of Lady Jane Grey" by Paul Delaroche

"The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist" by Leonardo da Vinci (Madonna on the Rocks was out for happy hour)

Diego Velazquez "Venus at her mirror"

The Tate Britian

Sir John Everett Millais, "Ophelia"
(A breathtaking work that entranced everyone in the room, and one of Leslie's favorite works!)

The Tate Modern

Incredible! While in London, the Tate Modern had one of my favorite painters on display. It was the first time Mark Rothko's Seagrams works were seen together in one room. They didn't look like much at the beginning, but after our eyes adjusted to the dim lighting we marvelled at the rich layers and subtleties. I was particularly impressed by the built up darks, and especially his black which he used in both glossy and matte. His way of toggling between the two created deep dark passages that chill the bones. The effect is impossible to reproduce photographically so I won't even try! So no black paintings on this blog :) However, my caryatid drawing was hughly influenced after seeing them.

Here are some warm Rothko's.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Amsterdam!!!

Amsterdam's identity is informal and very bike friendly. Every corner is a picturesque canal scene.

Can you imagine a Van Gogh painting inspired by this scene?

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Albert Cuypmarkt, the street and market are named for Albert Cuyp, a 17th century painter. Many street names and squares pay homage to painters, how lovely! We were told that attendance at visual art exhibitions and events are highly attended and regarded with enthusiastic support by locals.

Here we are, busting a pose in front of De Waag, one of Amsterdam's oldest landmarks. A plaque attached to its front wall is the earliest in the entire city, and identifies the house as erected in 1488. De Waag is the remaining part of the original city walls in Amsterdam. Constructed as part of the fortification system, it originally served as one of the city gates. When the city walls were disassembled, a market square was created around it and weighing scales were placed inside the former gate.