The Dutch Golden Age is a refreshing change
Amsterdam is probably on your travel bucket list for many reasons, and art may not be so prominent on your itinerary. If you can pull yourself away from some of the city’s other attractions, the Rijksmuseum is a must-see (and is a tad more family friendly). Here’s what to seek out in the national museum and art gallery.
 |
| Rembrandt's The Night Watch, 1642 |
Dutch Golden Age
Like many people, you may be bored of endless British
museums dedicated to the Renaissance, nativity scenes or uninspiring portraits
of monarchs. The Dutch Golden Age was a period in the 17th century
that provides a refreshing change from this. Rembrandt is the big name here and
his 1642 painting, The Night Watch, is
one of the most famous pieces in the museum. But, some of the other paintings
from this era are just as fascinating and entertaining, with many focussing on
daily home life. Dutch artists loved a good raucous scene, such as Jan Steen’s Two Kinds of Games, where a gross old
man basically gropes the landlady whilst the other men play blackjack. Look out
for Steen’s other paintings, including The
Merry Family, where he manages to convey a really noisy scene just using
oil on canvas.
 |
| Jan Steen, Two Kinds Of Game, 1660s |
Deeper Meaning
Most artists would claim their paintings have deeper
meanings, but Dutch art became particularly famous for its symbolism. A good
way to suss them out is to go in with the mind of a teenage boy, basically look
out for sexual connotations everywhere. The guy holding a baguette? The
soldier’s fingers clasping a limp glove? The man holding a recorder between his
legs? The operative word here is ‘phallic’. Even a feathered hat has been
linked with excessive lust. It’s not just sexual innuendo, though, as symbolism
associated with death was another important theme. This was a category called
‘vanitas’ and is where still life symbolises death. Look out for limp flowers
and skulls, like in Mignon’s 1660 piece Stilleven
met bloemen en een horloge, where the addition of a watch adds more layers
of metaphor about fleeting time and end of life.
 |
| Abraham Mignon, Stilleven met Bloemen en een Horlage, 1660 |
Houses
This links to the interest in everyday scenes, as well as to
important symbolism. This is another category though, as you’ll notice loads
and loads of scenes of homelife, but with very few men around. Vermeer is the
big name in this theme, with pieces including The Milkmaid, Woman Reading a Letter, and The Little Street. They’re famous predominantly because of their
skill, the milk being poured is done in intricate and intimate detail, but there
are deeper meanings here too, with often moral implications where women were
left alone and then courted by men. Questions of fidelity are implied with
portraits of the man of the house looking over the scene.
 |
| Johannes Vermeer, The Little Street, 1657 |
Tulips
Well, obviously. You’ll probably see these in tourist shops
all over the country, but you may not know why they became so important. Tulip
bulbs became really popular in the 1630s, and thus reached extraordinarily high
prices. In February 1637, the Dutch stock market crashed when many people went
bankrupt over tulip bulbs. Bollongier’s Tulips in A Vase, painted in 1639, relates to how fleeting earthly beauty is.
 |
| Hans Bollongier, Tulips in A Vase, 1639 |
Modern Art
Yes, I’ve spent most of this going on about the Dutch Golden
Age, because it is so different from what you may find in an Italian gallery
for instance. However, there is loads more to see in the museum. Of course,
being in the Netherlands, you can’t miss Van Gogh and his fellow
impressionists, although actually, the best place to see his work is probably
the Van Gogh Museum down the road, which of course, has a larger collection.
Conceptual Art
There is also a whole floor dedicated to later works which
are a lot more complex and conceptual. They’re not to everyone’s taste but
Ferdi’s 1968 Womb Tomb is worth a
visit, if only so you can say you stood next to a giant hairy womb sofa.
 |
| Ferdi, Womb Tomb, 1968 |
Dodgy Imperialism?
This is a room that is quite challenging, as everything in
it is now officially ‘Dutch property’, but is all the result of imperialistic
wars and colonisation. The Banjarmasin Diamond, for instance, was taken from
round the neck of Sultan Panembahan Adam Van Banjarmasin of South Borneo in
1875. It has been declared state property and now sits on display. It’s
important to go to displays like this and think about the morals of these
issues, and whether we can learn more about Java and Bornean communities this
way, or whether these objects should be on display at all.
 |
| One of the dolls houses on display |
Dolls Houses
On a lighter subject is this room filled with two huge dolls
houses. They weren’t built for kids but for wealthy women who dedicated a lot
of time and money to making them as realistic as possible. Petronella Oortman’s
dolls’ houses, which you can see here, are unusual as the pieces were made
entirely in the same way and using the same materials as their regular
counterparts. Her dolls’ house cost as much as an actual house on the canal in
Amsterdam, which is pretty mind blowing. They will definitely make you either
want to crawl inside and live there, or go out and start collecting Playmobil.
So, there you have it, a rough guide of some major
attractions in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Of course, there’s always more to
see, but this should give you a good start…
Let me know in the comments what your favourite piece is in
the museum.
You May Also Like...
What to Read to Seem Arty
A Museum Lover's Guide to Bristol
You May Also Like...
What to Read to Seem Arty
A Museum Lover's Guide to Bristol
