Art Talk: The BEST OF TOUR at the Rijksmuseum

I went on many tours of the Rijksmuseum while I was in Amsterdam. I found an amazing museum and went as often as I could and bathed in the glory of the amazing art.

DAY 1- I saw Barbara Hepworth in the gardens Art Talk: Barbara Hepworth at the Rijksmuseum

DAY 2- I did a Rembrandt Tour Art Talk: Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum

DAY 3- I did a Gallery of Honor tour Art Talk: Gallery of Honor Tour at the Rijksmuseum and a Building Tour Art Talk: Rijksmuseum and Gothic Architecture

DAY 4- I went with @jarvie and did the Best of Tour. Here I highlight 15 pieces from Asia to Netherlands, from pottery to painting and from 12th century to 20th.

Great Hall

The tour started in the Great Hall. One of my favorite places in the museum. It was designed by Pierre Cuypers in 1885, when he designed the Rijksmuseum. I did a post on the architecture of the Rijksmuseum that has more details about this beautiful hall and its arched ceilings, stained glass, painted walls and mosaic floors.

Art Talk: Rijksmuseum and Gothic Architecture

From the Great Hall we are going into the Gallery of Honor. This is a hall dedicated to the Golden Age Dutch Painters. So we will see many of the same pictures we saw on the Gallery of Honor tour Art Talk: Gallery of Honor Tour at the Rijksmuseum

Isaac Massa/Beatrix van der Laen

This portrait by Frans Hals, 1622, is located in the Gallery of Honor. I am not sure why it is not on the Art Talk: Gallery of Honor Tour at the Rijksmuseum since Frans Halls is a very famous Golden Age Dutch Artist.

This was painted for their Isaac and Beatrix marriage. He was a wealthy merchant and she the mayor's daughter. It is a very informal painting with the couple smiling and playful.

Feast of St. Nicholas

Jan Steen as born in 1626 in Leiden, Netherlands and is considered one of the Great Dutch artists of the 17th century. He painted "genre painting" or pictures of everyday life. The Feast of St. Nicholas was painted in 1665-1668. It is showing the family celebrating this holiday, which happens on December 5th and the children put their shoes out and St. Nick fills them. Sounds like a precursor to Christmas-a big feast and stocking hung by the chimney with care. (Night Before Christmas)

Milkmaid

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer was one of the most popular paintings in the museum. It often had a crowd in front of it. Vermeer painted this in 1660. On my trip I read The Girl with the Pearl Earring. In it the older maid is described by the main character to be this milkmaid and the main character comments to this maid about how the master did her portrait. It was fun to see this painting around the same time as I was reading a description of it.

Little Street

While the Milkmaid got a lot of attention, the Little Street, which was right next to it hardly had anyone looking at it. Johannes Vermeer painted it in 1658. I really enjoyed it, the figures are not as prominent, it tells fun stories, like the lady in the ally and the children playing right outside the door. It is also a look at what life was like in the mid 1600 in the Netherlands.

Threatened Swan

Jan Asselijn painted the Threatened Swan in 1650. Jan was mostly a landscape painter and yet this animal painting is his most famous piece and the first painting of the Rijksmuseum.

Night Watch

Painted by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1642 the Night Watch is currently in a very large glass case. It is having all types of studies done on it, like x-rays and paint samples. It is the pride and joy of the Rijksmuseum.

Now we are leaving the Gallery of Honor and will see other parts of the museum, including the library, Renaissance, post impressionist, and the Asian Gallery.

Late 1600s

Doll's house

This incredible Doll's house was created by Oortman from 1686-1710. Below I have a picture of a painting of what it looks like and then individual pictures of some of the rooms. To look at the doll house we climbed stairs to a little platform and then down stairs on the other side. The level of detail is incredible and on the tour they said the cost was that of a real house during the time. What?

De Metaale Pot

In this room there are many pieces of the iconic blue and white Delftware. This is a Flower pyramid made in 1692-1700 at the De Metaale Pot Factory. It looks a lot like Chinese pottery. It is also interesting to note that you can put a cut flower in each of the spouts. These flower pots were made popular by Mary, Queen of England.

Golden Bend

Painted in 1671-1672 by Gerrit Berkheyde. Right when I saw this painting I thought of the area of Amsterdam close the train station where I took the picture below. It is called the Herengracht Canal.


1671		2022

1800s

Library

Wow! I really like librarys, The Library of Congress in DC is one of my favorite places in DC. It was so great to have this library in the museum. It was so colorful, quite and organized! Pierre Cuypers designed this in 1885 as part of the Rijksmuseum.

Self Portrait

Of course on a highlight tour of a great Dutch museum we need a painting of Vincent van Gogh. This Self Portrait was done in 1887. I also went to the Van Gogh museum. If you want to see more check out this post Art Talk: Van Gogh Museum Highlight Tour

We are now headed downstairs and back in time to the Renaissance.

Holy Kinship

Geertgen tot Sint-Jans painted Holy Kinship in 1495. This was originally part of an altarpiece. The painting is depicting the extended family of Christ. I got close ups of Mary and Christ and Elizabeth and John. Also shown in the painting are Saint Anne and Joachim, the parents of Mary. In addition to the family members some of the apostles are also in the painting.


Christ and Mary	The Family	Elizabeth and John the Baptist

Now we are leaving the Netherlands and going to the Asian Pavilion. This was a great treat. I really like Asian art and even took a Asian Art class at ASU.

Shiva

This Shiva was made in India during the 12th Century.

Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe

Shiva has many forms. This bronze is of the Dancing Shiva or Nataraja or Lord of the Dance. I have a small one just like this on the bookshelf in my office.

Temple guardians

These wooden Temple guardians are from Japan and made in the 14th century. They have very expressive faces and gestures and are larger than life size at 7.8 feet (239.5cm) tall. They were set at the entrance of the temple to ward off evil.