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  • #470098
    TomMather
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        My wife and I will be visiting Amsterdam for about five days in June. I hope to visit the Van Gogh and Vermeer museums while there. Any recommendations for visiting them or other museums or sights we should take in?

        #793365
        Anonymous

            Don’t forget “The Year of Rembrandt
            :)

            #793366
            maryinasia
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                Enjoy! Yes, the Rijksmuseum! My sister gave me a museum pass for my birthday for several museums, including Van Gogh if I remember…that way I could stop by more than once.

                #793367
                RCTent
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                    https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/i-am/i-amsterdam-city-card

                    https://www.viator.com/Amsterdam-attractions/Van-Gogh-Museum/d525-a775

                    Enjoy – get a pass.

                    It is busy – we had trouble finding this Homo Monument – because it was underneath the queue for Anne Frank’s house !

                    You will not have trouble with the two places you want actually being under a queue for something else, but you will still save a lot of time with pre paid fast access and a tram pass.

                    Mmmm Holland apple pie :heart: .

                    #793370
                    TomMather
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                        Thanks for the suggestions. Ann Frank House is a great idea I hadn’t considered, also the pass.

                        #793364

                        The Rjiksmuseum has 4 paintings by Vermeer: The Milkmaid, The Little House, The Love Letter, The Little Street and the Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.
                        https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/artists/johannes-vermeer

                        If you want to see “The Girl with a Pearl Earring”, “A view of Delft” , or “Diana and her Nymphs”, you’ll have to get a train ticket down to The Hague to the Mauritshuis Museum. It’s definitely worth the trip as the Mauritshuis also has many other famous Dutch masters’ paintings:
                        https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/vermeer/

                        Don’t bother visiting the Vermeer Centrum in Delft to see any paintings there (you’d also have to take a train trip), as it’s just reproductions of his works. However, Delft is a beautiful city to visit and the Vermeer Centrum is the old St. Lucas Guild building, where Vermeer was Dean of the painters for many years.
                        https://www.vermeerdelft.nl/en/

                        I’d also recommend the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, which is on the Museumplein (where the Rijks & Van Gogh museums are) if you like Modern/Contemporary Art.
                        https://www.stedelijk.nl/en?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1NGU5eSG4QIVlM13Ch1odwAsEAAYASAAEgIYk_D_BwE

                        Enjoy your trip!

                        Judy

                        Judy - Moderator: Art History Forum and Reference Image Library

                        #793369
                        TomMather
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                            Good suggestions, Judy. I saw many Vermeer paintings when the National Gallery in DC had an exhibit years ago, but I would to see them again. The same with Van Gogh. Our main issue right now is deciding on lodging, hopefully in a location where it will be relatively easy to use public transportation.

                            #793363

                            Public transportation isn’t really a problem in Amsterdam, but you do need a temp OV chip card.
                            edit to add: Just remember bicyclists & trams rule the roads in A’dam. I’m not kidding.

                            Read through this link on iamsterdam’s site regarding public transport, etc.

                            https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/plan-your-trip/getting-around/public-transport

                            There’s also a link on that page for a downloadable pdf file of a Amsterdam Area Map, of all the attractions and sights within an hour of the city by public transport.

                            You can send me a PM for more info, if you want to.
                            I live in NL. :)

                            Judy

                            Judy - Moderator: Art History Forum and Reference Image Library

                            #793371
                            TomMather
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                                Our plans are set! We’ll have 4 full days in Amsterdam and hopefully will get to see some originals by Vermeer, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and many other great artists. Thanks for all of the suggestions. We’ll also try to visit the Anne Frank house as well as some gardens and parks.

                                #793368
                                RCTent
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                                    Bon Voyage :heart: .

                                    #793372
                                    TomMather
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                                        We just got back from Amsterdam and had a great time. Due to time constraints, we only visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. They were both incredible. We also got a transit pass and made excellent use of the city’s incredible transportation system. We were unable to tour the Ann Frank house because you apparently need to make reservations months in advance, but we walked by the outside. We did a lot of walking every day, and Amsterdam is a very pleasant city to walk in.

                                        Seeing Van Gogh’s paintings in real life is always eye opening. The colors and textures are much more vivid than in reproductions. At the museum you also gain more appreciation of how his work changed and progressed over the years. He was such a hard worker that it humbles me. The effort that he put into his drawings and paintings really shows.

                                        The Rijksmuseum only had a couple of Vermeers on display. The Milk Maid is startling in person. It is much smaller than I expected, making the level of detail even more impressive. However, Vermeer’s capturing of light is always what amazes me the most.

                                        We really enjoyed seeing the range of works by other artists at the Rijks. I still don’t understand the hoopla over the Night Watch, but was really impressed by other Rembrandt paintings at the museum. Dutch painters were absolute masters of portraiture, and if I ever decide to focus on portraits rather than landscapes, I will study Dutch paintings in more depth.

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