The city of tulips, canals, bicycles, windmills, arts and artist s and many other charms has a square, which, as it boasts three of the great Dutch museums, in addition to other impressive buildings, was given the name Museumplein, or Museum Square.
While Amsterdam bustles with tourists eager to soak up the city, we stop off at the Van Gogh Museum, equally busy with onlookers, fascinated by The Sunflowers and other masterpieces by the painter and other artists who inspired or were inspired by him, such as Paul Gauguin, his great friend. Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, in the Netherlands, in 1853, and was a post-impressionist painter whose work had a huge impact on 20th-century art. In life, he enjoyed little recognition, selling just one single painting, but his illness and his life cut short too early (he committed suicide two days before his 37th birthday) would not have given him great opportunities.
Today the Van Gogh Museum, housed in a modern and interactive four-storey building, attracts about a million and a half visitors a year.
While Amsterdam bustles with tourists eager to soak up the city, we stop off at the Van Gogh Museum, equally busy with onlookers, fascinated by The Sunflowers and other masterpieces by the painter and other artists who inspired or were inspired by him, such as Paul Gauguin, his great friend. Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, in the Netherlands, in 1853, and was a post-impressionist painter whose work had a huge impact on 20th-century art. In life, he enjoyed little recognition, selling just one single painting, but his illness and his life cut short too early (he committed suicide two days before his 37th birthday) would not have given him great opportunities.
Today the Van Gogh Museum, housed in a modern and interactive four-storey building, attracts about a million and a half visitors a year.
Today the Van Gogh Museum, housed in a modern and interactive four-storey building, attracts about a million and a half visitors a year. Nowhere else in the world can you find so many Vincent van Gogh paintings under one roof. The collection contains more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 750 written documents, which, together, give a valuable and fascinating overview of his tortuous life and brilliant work. On the first floor, the works are organised chronologically, allowing visitors to easily observe the evolution of the artist, from the countryside scenes of his initial phase, all the way to the works of the tempestuous end to his life. On the second floor, among other works, there are some works on display that, without certainty, are attributed to the artist. The third floor houses a collection of paintings from the 19th century, which relates the contemporary artists of Van Gogh to his work.
Among the many masterpieces on show in the museum are his self-portraits, The Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters, The Sower, Bedroom in Arles, Irises and Almond Blossom. But the tormented, brilliant, almost hallucinated artist, who saw neither fortune, nor much happiness in life, painted more than 2100 works of art and, after a posthumous exhibition in Paris, in 1901, became one of the most well-known faces in the country’s rich artistic scene and an inspiring symbol of the Netherlands.
Among the many masterpieces on show in the museum are his self-portraits, The Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters, The Sower, Bedroom in Arles, Irises and Almond Blossom. But the tormented, brilliant, almost hallucinated artist, who saw neither fortune, nor much happiness in life, painted more than 2100 works of art and, after a posthumous exhibition in Paris, in 1901, became one of the most well-known faces in the country’s rich artistic scene and an inspiring symbol of the Netherlands.
