Winter Tip: An Afternoon in a Museum

What better place to spend a cold winter’s day than in a museum? Amsterdam counts more than fifty museums so you may find it difficult to decide which to visit. Without hesitation, I would head straight to Rijksmuseum and the museum’s permanent exhibition; The Highlights of the Golden Age, showing works of art from one of the most glorious periods in Dutch painting. The exhibition includes Rembrandt’s best-known work: the Night Watch, or Nachtwacht in Dutch.

Rembrandt was the most famous painter of this period, closely followed by Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer. The previous generation of painters was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church to paint religious scenes. The seventeenth century was the time of the Reformation, and the Protestants kept their churches bare and austere. Religious scenes were no longer in demand and artists had a bad time. They became entrepreneurs in a free market economy and prospered. Painters worked in factory-like studios and churned out mass-produced masterworks and copies. Even today it is sometimes difficult to determine if a work of art was painted by the master himself or by one of his pupils.

Rembrandt Night Watch

The new bourgeois society of shopkeepers and artisans had money to spend on brightening up their homes, shops and workplaces. They desired family portraits or still lifes, not religious paintings on their walls. But family portraits were expensive and only the wealthiest merchants could afford them. Group portraits became popular because they had the advantage of costing less per head. A very famous group portrait is Rembrandt’s Nachtwacht, Night Watch. Paintings depicted domestic life were also popular. Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer were the two masters of this genre.

Hendrick Avercamp Fun on the Ice

Another favourite subject was still lifes; snow-laden trees, frozen-over canals and people skating on them. The Rijksmuseum’s current temporary exhibition is; The Little Ice Age, Dutch Winter Landscapes by Hendrick Avercamp.

Once you have absorbed the beauty of this era and relaxed in the museum cafe over scrumptious apple pie and hot chocolate, catch the train to Haarlem for your second destination: Judith Leyster, the First Woman Master Painter exhibition in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem

Judith Leyster was the only female member of the Haarlem painters’ guild. The few women artists in the 17th century painted mainly flowers and insects and never competed with the male painters. Judith Leyster did. She often chose bold subjects like drinking bouts and evocative night scenes. It is highly likely that she was a pupil of Frans Hals, because her works show the same robust brushstrokes.

Judith Leyster Self Portrait

Although Leyster was talented and ambitious, she produced only forty-eight paintings. (Rembrandt’s work consists of 400 paintings, 300 etchings and 1200 drawings) It is thought that she gave up painting after her marriage to artist Jan Miense Molenaer and assisted him in his studio. After her death in 1660 she was forgotten. Her works were attributed to Frans Hals. With the rise of the feminist movement, her name and works were brought to public attention again.

My last stop after soaking up culture all day is always an Eetcafé. Eetcafé translates as eating café. Eat that is exactly what I will do in Eetcafé de Linde in Haarlem because it is the perfect place for an informal meal.

What about Carpaccio made up of sliced fillet of beef marinated with pesto and pine nuts covered in old Amsterdam cheese? My favourite main course is chicken satay smothered in spicy peanut sauce and accompanied by prawn crackers. I washed it down with a glass of fruity chardonnay. I will have to come back another time for the Dame Blanche; vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream. 

WHAT: The Masterpieces and The Little Ice Age
WHEN: Masterpieces permanent collection, Little Ice Age until 15 February 2010
WHERE: Rijksmuseum, Jan Luijkenstraat 1, Amsterdam
Opening hours: Daily 09.00-18.00, Friday 09.00-20.30
Admission fee: €12,50, free for museum card holders.
Tram 2 and 5 from Amsterdam Centraal Station.

WHAT: Judith Leyster, the First Woman Master Painter
WHEN: until 9 May 2010
WHERE: Frans Hals Museum, Groot Heiligland 62, Haarlem
Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11.00-17.00, Sundays 12.00-17.00
Admission fee: €7,50, free for museum card holders.
HOW TO GET TO HAARLEM: 5 trains per hour from Amsterdam Centraal Station, journey time 15 mins. The museum is a fifteen-minute walk from Haarlem Central Station, or take bus 73 from the station to Frans Hals Museum stop.

WHAT: Café de Linde
WHERE: Botermarkt 221, Haarlem
OPENENING HOURS: daily from 11.00 – 2 am

Bad News and Good News: A large part of The Rijksmuseum is closed for renovations. Reopening is scheduled for 2012 /2013.  The Philips Wings stayed open with the exhibition of The Masterpieces.

photo credit: wikipedia