|
|
Vincent Van Gogh painted this version of “Sunflowers” in 1889.
|
We visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam today. We were alone, as our tour ended last night and most of our fellow birders flew home this morning. We chose to stay to see this one more museum, as we are very fond of Van Gogh. Of course we saw the painting “Sunflowers” — which is one of five sunflower depictions that Van Gogh did. He
considered these paintings to be masterpieces, and they have become icons of
modern art.
|
The museum was fully booked today — only timed tickets are accepted, no
walk-ins.
Quite a few people were viewing “Sunflowers,” though it’s
not painfully crowded.
|
|
|
A sunflower poster on the museum wall.
|
|
|
The shop offers a full selection of sunflower-themed items, including
notebooks, bags, pill boxes, umbrellas, socks, pot holders, tea towels,
scarves, and face masks.
|
|
|
On the street outside the museum we even saw a sunflower-painted car.
|
Special Exhibition at the Musseum: "Golden Boy Gustav Klimt"
“Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is one of the most fascinating artists of western art history. He is world-famous for his golden and decorative paintings and his portraits of strong women.” Klimt was inspired by a number of painters of his time, including Van Gogh, and this exhibit includes a number of works of these artists, showing their influence. We learned that besides his famous golden paintings, Klimt produced a variety of other works, particularly landscape paintings and murals.
 |
| Inside the exhibit: a copy of Klimt’s frieze from the Vienna Sessession. |
 |
| Klimt’s painting of a Golden Knight, which I had never seen. |
A Shopping Street near the Amsterdam Museums
We arrived a little before the time on our tickets, so we walked around the very fancy shopping streets not far from the museum area, which includes the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijks Museum, and others. While I have never owned (or wanted) any of the high-end name brands that appear in shops like these, I liked a brief look into the shop windows.
 |
| A canal near the museums and the shopping streets. |
Blog post © 2022 mae sander
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
You have had a very VanGogh season! I don't blame you -- I'd do exactly the same. And the Klimt -- wow. I adore his work and what luck to have that exhibit going on, too! Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteLove the sunflower painting and the merchandise. Great art work and streets scenes. Have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteOh wow. Two of my favorite artists are Van Gogh and Klimt. Those sunflowers are some of my favorites, but Starry Night and The Starry Night are my favs. The first time I saw Crows Over the Cornfield, I had a violent reaction to it. Now I can't understand what made me so emotional the first I saw it. I bought a full size canvas replication of it after I got over the initial effect.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a wonderful time. Love the photos from the exhibit. Thanks Mae- safe travels
ReplyDeleteFriends of mine just went to Lume to see the Sunflower / Van Gogh exhibition. I'm really longing for Amsterdam right now. Really missing the child!
ReplyDeleteI really like every Klimt I've ever seen--- He's so distinctive!
ReplyDeleteOur kids were there. It is a great city.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is a fabulous post. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt was forty-something years ago, but there was a print of one of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings in the teachers' lounge in my very first school. Yes, iconic. But I always thought the painting was a little scary, with those sharp pointed petals and all that black.
ReplyDelete