Amsterdam is home to some of the best museums in Europe. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Vincent van Gogh are just some of the very famous painters who lived there. Rijksmuseum, Hermitage or Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam are the places to go to see some of their very famous paintings.
However, visiting these large museums can often be overwhelming. It’s quite hard to understand the exhibits when you don’t know their context. And sometimes there are just so many rooms and paintings there, you can easily get lost.
Special intimate art tours for internationals living in the Netherlands
That’s why an art historian Tea Gudek Snajdar started organizing special Saturday Art Tours (LINK: http://culturetourist.com/tours/tours-workshops/art-tours/) for internationals living in the Netherlands. ‘My idea is that art is here for all of us to enjoy. It shouldn’t be exclusive or understandable to only a small group of art critics. Everyone should be able to appreciate it. That’s why I started to organize these small intimate art tours in some of the famous museums in Amsterdam’.
These tours are not an art lectures, they are quite interactive, as well. So, often visitors are drawing the details from the paintings in a museum, or listening what some of the painters wrote in their journals or letters. There is a maximum of five people in groups which allows you to ask all the questions you have.
Tea’s four favourite museums in Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum, the Royal Museum of the Netherlands is a home to some of the finest work of Dutch artists. The building was quiet controversial when it was built, because of the many elements that looked like they were taken from the Catholic church. However, today is one of the most beautiful buildings in Amsterdam and the best place to see some of the Dutch masters of the Golden Age. Paintings created for the rich middle class are truly reflecting every-day life of their commissioners: stroopwafels, pancakes, Sinterklaas, you can find all of them there.
Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is a home to the biggest collection of Vincent’s art work in the world. Painter who painted for only ten years made around 1,800 paintings and drawings. He developed a unique art style during that time and became one of the most influential painters for the generations of artist that came after him. Vincent’s life is exceptionally reflected in his paintings. And together with the letters he wrote to his brother Theo you’ll get to know one of the most touching stories in art history so well.
Rembrandthuis Museum
Rembrandt van Rijn, the most famous Dutch Golden Age’s painter lived and worked almost his whole life in Amsterdam. He became very famous already in his 20’s as the most important portraitist in Amsterdam. The house he bought and in which he lived is now the Rembrandthuis Museum. It’s lovely to see his kitchen, living room or his studio as they looked while he was living there. The whole neighbourhood around the museum is filled with places important to Rembrandt during his life. De Waag is where he joined ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’ and made one of his most famous paintings after it. And Oude Kerk is where his loved wife Saskia was buried.
There are so many more places in Amsterdam where you can learn about his life. If you would like to learn more about them, take a look here:
Hermitage Museum
The other museum with a great exhibitions dedicated to the Dutch Golden Ages is the Hermitage Museum. Its ‘Portrait gallery of the Golden Age’ is a place to learn about Amsterdam during the 17th century, life in the city and some famous buildings that are still standing in a city today. However, it’s also wonderful to see there that the international and liberal spirit of Amsterdam has its roots in the Golden Ages when Dutch people started to travel and foreigners started to come to the city.
Learning about art is a great way to understand Dutch culture and history. There are so many great museums in Amsterdam with some of the most famous world’s paintings. So, why not spend one of the following Saturday mornings exploring them?
Would you like to learn more about a special art tours for internationals Tea is organising? Take a look at the link here: http://culturetourist.com/tours/tours-workshops/
Dutch Australian 