Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Van Goh Museum in Amsterdam comparing the art of Munch and Van Gogh which shared many stylist themes although they never met. Both artists were inspired by similar artists who had painted traditional themes and both their first famous works, The Potato Eaters for Van Gogh and Morning for Munch drew on this tradition. They were both in Paris at about the same time and it was interesting to see how they each drew on what was happening around them and to see other works that were contemporary to their time there such as a beautiful scene from a balcony by Caillebotte. Both had also worked on the idea of pictures forming a decorative programme, Van Gogh with his pictures for the Yellow House and Munch’s Frieze of Life, and the top floor had AV displays which recreated these and you realised how many of the pictures from them you had seen in the show. There were some interesting hangings of similar pictures together to gently let your eye draw...

Fabulous exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam looking at the import of luxury goods from the Asia into the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age and their impact. This was a visually stunning show with wonderful objects beautifully displayed. There were galleries themed round different trading countries but also on different goods such as porcelain, lacquer work and clothes. There were also sections on how the art of the Netherlands was influenced by the goods which came in such as the classic still lives also called pronks. It is hard to pick out particular objects as they were all so interesting but seeing a piece of imported porcelain with a coat of arms on shown next to a still life with another piece from the same set with the same coat of arms was pretty stunning. I knew very little about the Dutch East India Company (VOC) so the section on its power centre Batvia was really interesting. It emphasised that a lot of the trade was within the VOC itself an...

Thought provoking exhibition at the Old Church, Amsterdam for this international competition for photos about sexual and gender diversity. The pictures seemed to be mainly in sets although there was also an award for a single work. Apologies I didn’t manage to take great notes for this one and it’s a while ago since I saw it but I do remember a series called “Days of Melancholy” by Tatiana Vinogradova about the loves of gay people in Russia. Also pictures of trans gender people by Jean-Francois Bouchard. My favourite though was a picture by Marika Puicher of a little girl with a peacock feather over the eye. She was a girl called Ella who had been born a boy but she identifies as a girl. Her story adds to the interest in and complexity of the photo but whatever the story it was a beautiful picture.    Sorry this exhibition closed on 25 October.

Interesting exhibition at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam looking at Netherlandish prints from over two centuries pulled from three private collections. There were some lovely works in this show but I am not sure I got much sense of progression of style or technique.   I loved Dirck Vellert’s “Vision of St Bernard of Clairvaux” with great classical architecture in the background. Also De Passe’s pictures of the five senses. I was interested in prints which had been made to popularise other art works such as a wonderful picture of a fleet of galleys after a picture by Bruegel the Elder. I was taken by four mannerist roundels by Goltzius who I’ve just realised was the artist who I fell for in the British Museum silverpoint exhibition who did the picture of his pet dog! I just love the connections you make in this art stuff! Closes on 24 January 2016.

Interesting exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam looking at the development of Matisse’s artistic practice with an emphasis on the cut outs of his later years. What was interesting was that I had seen the Matisse cut outs exhibition at Tate Modern last year so it was really good to see how the works were displayed by another museum and put in a different context. The ground floor of the show looked at works by Matisse in dialogue with work from work from the museums own collection and how the cut outs developed from this. This gave the opportunity to see works I didn’t know and to get an oversight of the gallery’s collection. I loved the room on the odalisques which places a Matisse’s with a Picasso and a sculpture by Laurens. It was also interesting to see a Matisse costume for a Diaghilev ballet. Upstairs gave space to some of the large cut out works including “Polynesia, the sea” and “Polynesia, the sky” from 1946. There was a lovely display of chasubles...

Insightful exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam of contemporary artists responses to letters from Van Gogh. The work was scattered around the galleries and provided some useful insights into Van Gogh’s work and life as well as producing interesting new work inspired by it. I must admit I was there to ‘do’ Van Gogh I didn’t pay all the works a lot of attention but some caught my eye and made me try to find out more. It was also a good way of getting more of the letters into the displays. I didn’t realise at the time that an interesting sphere on the wall with a grey middle which was saying something about colour was by Anish Kapoor! I liked Maria Barnes comment on fame, four black dripping trophies, reflecting on the fact Van Gogh wasn’t famous in his life time and yet here we were in a huge museum dedicated to his work. The show also included work by writers imaging a letter to them written by Van Gogh which could be read or listened to. My favourite pi...

Interesting exhibition at the Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam by six contemporary artists taking objects in the museum as a starting point in order to question their impact on our lives. I liked Richtje Reinsma’s formally displayed crumpled paper shown under family portraits which I assume was a comment on photography and Batia Suter’s installation on table tops showing photocopies of wood grain which made you look at the material of the table more closely. I didn’t really understand Rosa Sijben’s orange rectangles which looked like bars of soap which were scattered around the space. I thought this was an interesting idea to make you look at individual objects in the museum rather than just the overall effect however as this was the first time I’d been to the house I did find it slightly distracting.  

Fascinating exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam looking at the relationships between Napoleon Bonaparte, his wife Josephine and Tsar Alexander I. The first room looked at their friendship and the start of Josephine’s collection at Chateau de Malmaison. The main room then looked in detail at Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and his defeat there with the retreat from Moscow. Needless to say it was all very War and Peace. I loved the display of weapons in the centre of the room including some which turned. I find displays of guns and swords dry but his made them into an installation in their own right and yet had all the detail anyone who was really interested might need. I also liked the display of uniforms from both sides against a red background. Upstairs looked at Alexanders entry into Paris and how he won over the Parisians. He formed an unlikely affectionate friendship with Josephine and acquired much of her art collection on her death which is why it is the Hermita...

Stunning exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam looking at group portraits of the Golden Age. This was a beautifully designed show with a centre piece of a huge room full of large 17th century group portraits and an excellent audio visual presentation which picked out themes and individuals with spot lights. The whole thing gave a real feeling of being back in 17th century Amsterdam surrounded by the people of that time. I loved some of the stories such as that of a man who had held a high position in a militia and was shown carrying its flag on the group picture but he went bankrupt and ended up working as a steward for the same company looking at the grand picture of his former triumph every day. The upper floor with windows onto the lower gallery told the story of urban society in Amsterdam at that time looking at what the city looked like and how it operated. It basically gave the background to the people in the pictures and gave an idea of what their professional a...