Dutch Miscellany

Amsterdam is so complex it resists being put together in a tidy little narrative, so I'm not going to try.

What follows are some illustrative shots of Amsterdam. Where it may not be obvious, I try to explain why I took the photo or explain what's in it.

Hipsters 17th C Amsterdam style, Detail from a painting in the Rijksmuseum.

Lift bridge with graffiti

400-year old colossus at the Amsterdam museum.
He looks brand new (I imagine the sash is new),
and his moving parts - his eyes and his head - still move.

Many fine old buildings and some of the most charming spaces in Amsterdam evolved in a similar manner: they started as Catholic edifices (churches, monasteries, convents), and when Catholicism was criminalized, were transitioned to a charitable use such as an orphanage or a refuge for destitute old people (displaced nuns, say) and then, after the last old lady died, were made into a museum. So, the Hermitage Amsterdam used to be a home for women, the Amsterdam Museum used to be an orphanage. This is a photo of the entrance to the Amsterdam Museum off of Kalverstraat. The motto over the door is a request for alms for the benefit of the poor orphans within.

    Two propaganda posters on display at the Resistance Museum. On the left: a young boy asks his dead mother if this is the "second front" he had heard his father talk about, a warning against resistance fighting in the occupied Netherlands. On the right: a happy, secure, well fed family demonstrates the benefits of the man of the house working in Germany. I see the emotional impact of the picture's emphasis on the key in the door; I don't know what to make of the picture's treatment of the young girl.

  

Two Amsterdam houses. On the left: just about every house in the old part of the city has a hook attached to an I-beam extending from its top gable, for the very practical purpose of hauling stuff up to the upper stories. Even more practical is what is shown in this shot, where the facade has been cantilevered out about five degrees to give more room to the goods. On the right: This is Rembrandt's house. None of the reviews made it seem worth the bother to go in. We made the same choice for the Anne Frank house, which was too crowded and too sad. And everything in it was treated better at the Resistance Museum. In retrospect, we feel like we made the right choice.

This man spends his day in Dam Square, making bubbles for the amusement of tourists. On our tour on the 18th, we had a forehead-slapping moment when our guide explained that the name Amsterdam comes, in practical Dutch fashion, from the name of this place, which was where there was a dam on the Amstel river. Duh.

 

Two works by Banksy: Christ with shopping bags is strongly reminiscent of a woman's reproductive organs. The little guy painted under the window is in a lane just off of the Flower Market. We couldn't be sure, but we think there was actually a guard stationed nearby to make sure someone didn't make off with it.

 

Oddly over the top for the Dutch: one the left, a detail of iron fencing on the exterior on the Amrath Hotel - the gaudy showpiece of the Amsterdam School of architecture. On the right, a porcelain flower tower, one of only 35 left in existence and one of the four in the Rijksmuseum. 

 

Affection for animals: on the left, a parrot signalling the location of a secret Catholic church. On the right, a monkey with a telescope, just because.

 

The Dutch sense of humour: On the left: a poster for a family-friendly stage production called "Clean Your Plate", or, more literally, "Eat Your Plate Clean." We were charmed by the grotesque pile of brussell sprouts and the little girl's green face. On the right: an inexplicable poster in the middle of a construction zone.

 

Detail shots from a modern group portrait: on the left: a man up to his shins in potatoes with fish; on the right, two men make plucking a pheasant look disturbing. The full photo - on display at the Amsterdam Museum - showed all the members of a market guild.

 

Two images of children: On the left, at the MOCO, a photo of an art installation on the US/Mexico border. On the right, Cupid being stung by a bee at the Rijksmuseum.

 



Eye-catching: top photo, graffiti around the corner from the handbag and purse museum. Bottom photo: a "coffee" shop, unusual not just because of its decal-clad exterior, but also because of its location, which is far from where most of the rest of the shops are.

Getting really miscellaneous now: On the left, a Dutch "no junk mail" sign; on the right, a desperately precious chair designed by Piet Mondrian.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen