Amsterdam

I’m in Amsterdam for a few days. It’s so good to be away, see some great art and feel the open, lively vibe of this great city. I love this city as much as Copenhagen. I love the waterways, bicycles, friendly people and it’s wonky houses are charming We are staying in the Jordaan in top two floors of a Dutch house (below). We have a Vermeer wall too… 💚

Yesterday was a total art binge; we saw Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, an unexpected Dumas at the Rijksmuseum. Then we went on to the Van Gogh Museum, which reminded me how prolific and sensitive this man was. I felt touched by his strong attachment to painting and the sense that he would feel incomplete without it. It resonates strongly, yet I think I’ll keep my ear on. A pleasant surprise was in the vast temporary exhibition of Prints in Paris, which had works of Vuillard, Vallotton, Lautrec & Carriere. I love the free drawing, strange crops and graphic style of many of the lithographic show posters & magazine covers, the use of coloured line for drawing. Research to be done here…

Today was more leisurely, a chilled boat trip and a visit inside the Oude Kerk & a bit of time wandering through the Jordaan before coming back to a sunny window seat, a cold beer and little bit of drawing. Home tomorrow. Shoulda coulda woulda stayed a week.