Amsterdam, Haarlem, Brussels, Bruges
June, 2009
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This is the art annex... just my own notes about some of the art I looked at during this trip.
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Persistent prologue: I write these travelogues for myself, so that twenty years from now, I will be able to remember as much about these trips as possible. I include as much detail as I can cram in, so as to get it all fixed in writing before the memories fade. I share these with friends, family, and any complete strangers who find them, because people express interest. I know that these writings do ramble on a bit, but I do not require an editor; these writings are here as aids to my own memory, not as attempts at serious travel writing -- although anecdotes from these journals have formed the core of my more formalized and proper travel writings, which have appeared in print and on the web elsewhere.
“Rijksmuseum, The Masterpieces”, Amsterdam
Gallery 14 - New Acquisitions, nothing noteworthy.
Gallery 13 - Etchings.
Gallery 12 - Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (spectacular) and Franz Hals and Pieter Codde’s The Meager Company.
Gallery 11 - Four painting by Jan Steen plus his self portrait. At least three of the four images are of people engaging in revelry. There are symbols in the works indicating that the paintings are warnings, and that the parties are not approved of. But the cautionary elements are subtle enough to be missed completely. Steen was a jokester, painting his self portrait looking pretty cocky, in a bergher’s garb.
Paulus Potter, Orpheus and the Animals (1650). Orpheus is in a pastoral setting, but the animals are from all over the world (monkeys, unicorn, tigers, camels, elephants).
Nicolaus Knupfer, A Brothel Scene (1650). A lot of parties in gallery 11, a lot of spirit. Spirits.
Gallery 10 - Genre scenes from Pieter de Hooch, and three Vermeers (Woman Reading a Letter, The Kitchen Maid - the strongest of the three - and View of Houses in Delft). It is impressive to have three Vermeers here, because there are only thirty-five paintings in existence that are certifiably attributable to the artist.
Moving on: a huge and impressive landscape by Jan Both, from ca. 1650, Italian Landscape with Draftsmen.
An atmospheric landscape by Claude Gellee, Harbor View at Sunrise.
Also some later Rembradnts, The Syndics of the Amsterdam Draper’s Guild, Jewish Bride, and a self portrait.
Jacob van Ruisdale, The Windmill at Wijkbijduurstede (ca. 1670) is considered a quintessential Dutch painting because it has a flat landscape, lots of water, a big sky, and a windmill.
Gallery 9 - no notes...
Gallery 8 - Contains some of the strongest Rembrandts. Jeremiah Lameting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Musical Allegory (aka The Music Lesson), Anna with the Kid, early self portrait, Old Woman Reading (probably the Prophetess Anna), and a half-dozen portraits. I can do without portraits, but the others are among the finest Rembrandts that I have ever seen, no doubt about it. More luminous, less murky that what one sees in most other museums in the world. Probably better maintained.
Plus: Jan van Goyen, Landscape with Two Oaks, atmospheric golden hour landscape with dark skies and a few guys sitting under a dead tree. Even better is Aert van der Neer’s River View by Moonlight (1650), this guy specialized in painting at night. It is a night scene of a Dutch town with a full moon shining above the harbor and some horses pulling a cart along a muddy road.
Gallery 7 - Mostly portraits, mostly from Franz Hals.
Gallery 6 - More scenes of revelry with hidden morals to them by Dirck Hals, and Isaac Elias. Also the winter skating scene by Hendrick Avercamp. Adam Willaerts, Shipwreck Off A Rocky Coast (1614) three ships sinking while a big catfish looking thing swims around. Then some more Delftware.
Gallery 5 - Down the stairs... Mostly Delftware, but also two beautiful cabinets inlaid with wood. Unknown creator.
Gallery 4 - Silver, one or two sculptres.
Gallery 3 - Dollhouses, a few paintings.
Gallery 2 - Historical paintings.
Whale Oil Factory on Spitsbergen by Cornelius de Man (1639), and the rather gory The Bodies of the De Witt Brothers, attributed to Jan De Baen (1672-1675), Prince’s Day by Jan Steen, another scene of revelry by Steen.
Also very interesting and very intricate is Fishing for Souls by Adriean Pietersz van de Venne, a lot of people taking a bath.
Gallery 1 - Impressive model of a battle ship, also an impressive large format painting, Banquet Celebration of the Treaty of Munster by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1648). Quite impressive scene of some men congratulating each other.
Explosion of the Spanish Flagship by C.C. van Wieringen (1621). A bunch of ships, one of them is exploding, throwing people and debris far, far into the air.
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels
Ground floor:
Gustaf Wappers - huge 1830 history painting.
Constant Montald - Symbolist canvases, mythology.
South Netherland school, early 16th century, Paysage Anthopomorphie Portrait d’Homme -- pre pre pre Dali Abe Lincoln + also La Femme.
First (second in US) Floor:
Dirk Bouts, Justice of Emperor Otto, 1475
Maitre De, Tryptich of Jan de Witte, ca.1473. Currin-like faces.
Bosch - replica of triptych of The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1516.
Jan Massys, two pics.
Cranach the Elder and The Younger
South Netherland school: Le Judgement Dernier, 15th century hell.
Jacob Jordaens, ten paintings.
Brughel-o-rama, six big and three small, also other small ones in other rooms, including same image by Pieter I and II, painted 44 years apart.
A huge Reubens, eh...
Matthieu Kessels, Scene of the Deluge, (sculpture - made a movie walking around it)
Pieter Breghel II, Le Bon Pasteur
Peiter Brughel I Le Vin de St. Martin
Tobias Verhaecht, Paysage Montagneux Avec Riviere. Rich colors.
similar:
Gillis von Coninxloo III - Paysage
Jan Breughel II - Aeneas In Hell. check-plus
Also Enee aux Euferns (sp). check.Down an escalator, through some tunnels, quite a walk, to the -2nd floor, and then a series of three small basements with balconies on each, bringing the visitor to the -8th floor when all is said and done.
-2nd to -8th
Fritz van den Berghe, L'Homme des Nuages, 1927
De Chirico, La Melancholie d’une Belle Journees, 1913.
Miro, Dansuese Espagnole, 1924.
Dali, Temptaton of St Anthony, 1946. check plus
Wifredo Lam, Les Enfants Sans Ame(sp), 1964
Bacon Pope with Owl, 1958
A Masson, Femme Dans Jardin, 1925
Ernst, Fleurs Aretes, 1928
Ernst, L’Armee Celeste, 1925-1926 photo
Delvaux, In The Spitzner Museum, 1943
Delvaux, Nocturnes, 1939
Delvaux, The Night Train, 1957Works on paper including nice photo collage by Marcel LeFrancq, ca. 1939 to 1945
Charles Hermans - Dawn
Charles de Groux, The Drunkard, 1853
Jean Delville, Satan and Ophelia
A lot of Ensor and Khnopff(sp)
Felicien Rops
Van Rysselburghe - Arabian Fantasy, 1884. Orientalist, ok
Groening Museum, Bruges
Gallery 2:
Temptation of St. Anthony by Jan Mandijn (1500-1558 or 1559). This is a very cool painting evocative of Bosch showing all manner of crazy demons.
Gallery 4:
Three very large and very impressive mythology paintings by Cornelius Van Harlem, and three large paintings of mythological heroes (Hercules, Mercury, and Minerva) by Hendrick Goltuzius.
Gallery ?:
Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Compsition with Monkeys (1665). Who could have predicted that monkeys would be a theme for this trip? There are monkeys everywhere, and even in this museum.
Gallery 8 (hallway):
Abraham Storck, View of Haarlem in Winter (ca.1700). People ice skating and repairing ships. A small and neglected little painting in a hallway gallery, but I like it.
Gallery 12:
Here is the main event, a large gallery with five gigantic paintings by Hals. All life-sized or larger groups of wealthy Dutch men posing proudly. There is also one similar image with some older women, and four solo portraits. The Hall of Hals. The motherlode for Halsophiles. I can respect this man’s work, both as a master craftsman and as a (perhaps unwitting) important historian, but I am not thinking of myself as a huge fan. Portrait artists, no matter how talented they may be, don’t usually move me much; they’re more like skilled laborers than someone pouring their heart out onto canvas.
Gallery 16:
The (George and Ilone) Kremer Collection begins here. They collected old masters and are now showing their collection to the public at the Hals Museum. Their treasures include fifty-one works, including Pieter de Hooch - Man Reading a Letter to a Woman,
Gerrit van Honthorst - Old Woman Examining a Coin By a Lantern,
Theodoor Rombouts - Company Making Music with a Bacchanite,
Abraham Bloemaert - Cottage with Peasant Milking Goats (this is just a genre scene, but I like the way it is painted, there is a presence and an immediacy to it),
Paulus Moreelese - Shephardess (a girl with a staff over her shoulder giving a coy look to the viewer),
Isack van Ostade - Ice Scene Near an Inn (1643; some people skating on a frozen lake next to an old inn),
Benjamin Gerritsz van Cuyt - Oriental Writer Cutting His Pen, to be contrasted with Rembrandt van Rijn - Tronie of an Old Man Wearing a Turban (this was thought to be by a student of Rembrandt’s, but has since been verified as a work by the mater).
Three small landscape paintings in a row, all very impressive: Adam Colonia - Village Fire at Night (ca. 1660), Leonaert Bramer - Herds By a Fire (1625; an interesting scene, very dark, delicate uses of light where a small camp fire illuminates people and animals near a body of water), Egbert van der Poel - Fire at Night (1658; this and the Colonia feature similar subjects).
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
3rd floor:
Exhibition about the collector Andries Bonger. Mostly Emile Bernard and Odilon Redon.
Redon has always been hit and miss for me, there are a few of his works that I really like, but most of it leaves me indifferent.
Among the better Redons here: The Boat (1898), a small work in brilliant cobalt blue with a mysterious figure standing in the titular vessel, The Buddha (1904), The Red Tree (1905).
I can do without the Bernards entirely.Also on this floor are Highlights from the Collection. Maybe fifteen paintings, by artists other than Van Gough.
Jules Breton: Young Peasant Girl with a Hoe (1882), this is typical of Breton’s always stunning work.
Jean Francois Millet, The Hamlet of Gruchy (1886), a likable genre scene.
Pisarro, Route de Versailles Roccquencourt (1887), I can take it or leave it, but they’re claiming that this is the first impressionist painting.
A couple of Gaugins, and then it ends up with Kees von Dongen, Portrait of Guus Preitinger, The Artist’s Wife (1911), a Fauvist painting with the wife in a bright blue dress playing with her pearls, almost the same blue as in the Redon painting. A large striking painting, but atypical of Fauves. Rebecca compared it to Toulouse-Lautrec, but I didn’t see that myself.2nd floor:
Continuation of Bonger collection.
Redon prints, many with a dark, dreamy, atmospheric feel to them.
Profile of Light (1886), the rather tiny Fear (1866), Serpent Halo (1890), Obsession (1894), the almost Pre-decoish The Wing (1893).
Also a collection of prints that look ahead towards Surrealism by more than 40 years, In Dreams (1879): a guy walking through the woods carrying a giant die on his back, a woman’s head on a table, or maybe it is an apple, a giant eyeball floating between two Roman columns with people looking at it, etc.After getting a look at the property and the workspace and the home of Bonger, we have the graphic work of Bernard, none of which does a whole lot for me. Next is a display of how Van Gough’s work can be authenticated. Shows a few works which may or may not be by Van Gough and shows how they use microscopes to determine if they are authentic.
1st floor:
Almost exclusively Van Gough, but also some Gaugins and a few others.
The layout isn’t clear. The path you’re supposed to take isn’t obvious.
This is what I learned about Vincent Van Gough:
Theo died six months later.
Vincent shot himself in the chest.
Theo married the sister of Bonger.
There are only three photos of Van Gough known to exist; one is from the back, talking to Emile Bernard.
Vince and Theo were heavily influenced by Japanese woodblock prints. Two of his paintings here are basically woodblock print recreations, but gooey. The Courtesan (after Eisen) 1887, and The Flowering Plum Tree, after Hiroshige, who I love so much, 1887.
I like Van Gough best when he is painting big gooey strokes.
The Potato Eaters, 1885.
There are self-portraits by Leavall(sp), Bernard, and Gaugin, which were traded amongst the artists, I wonder who got Van Gough’s.
Then we get into the later works, leading up to his death, this are the gooier ones that I prefer.
Sunflowers (1889),
La Berceuse Portrait of Madame Roulin (1888-1889),
Sower (1888), also said to be influenced by woodblock prints, but not a blatant recreation of one, like the others.
Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (1890) after Millet.
Other references to Van Gough being influenced by Millet.
Sheep-Shearer after Millet (1889), and next to it a reproduction of Shearing Sheep by Millet (1852), showing that the van Gough was basically a cover version if I may.
Also, The Raising Of Lazarus after Rembrandt (1890), another take on Van Gough drawing on one of his favorites.
Into his final works he gets super gooey.
Wheatfield with a Reaper (1889), Undergrowth (1889), Gardens of St. Paul’s Hospital (1889), he spent some time here later in life due to his epilepsy, and then wheat Field with Crows which is rumored but not confirmed to be his last painting (1890). Right next to it is Wheat Field Under Thunder Clouds (1890). Those are the ones that I prefer the most, but I am still not thinking of myself as a fan.
His brushwork and his use of color are what I take away from this.
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