SwissMissMeg

This city always brings a smile to my face. I’ve been lucky to visit a few times over the years and every time I discover something new to love. In April, I was joined by my friend (and former middle school art teacher) Nancy Deveno. No surprise, we came for the art 🙂

We started with the Rijksmuseum, which has always been on my wishlist. From Vermeer to Rembrandt, the museum showcases works by the most well-known Dutch artists.

Next up was the exhibition we came for. We planned our trip in order to see a dual exhibition of Anselm Kiefer’s work. Hosted at both the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, the show displayed his greatest hits and most recents works respectively.

Anselm Kiefer was born in Germany in the months preceeding the end of WWII. This timing had a powerful impact upon Kiefer’s artistic subject matter, inspiring his themes of German history, the horrors of the Holocaust, and spiritual concepts of Kabbalah.

Fascinated by the conceptual depth and media exploration within his work, Nancy first brought Kiefer to my attention about a decade ago. While not everyone sees his genius, I dare say he will be one for the history books – a modern master. What a gift to have the chance to enjoy Kiefer’s work together.

Of course, no trip to Amsterdam would be complete without enjoying the diverse delicious eats. Esh Pitabar did not disappoint. Good people-watching, too. And the street art is always on point.

Wandering around the canals, we managed to successfully avoid all the bikes (yay!). We wondered aloud where Amsterdam fell within the designation of the Netherlands vs. Holland. For those wondering, I found the following explanation:

Holland is not a country but rather a region made up of two provinces: North Holland and South Holland. Historically, Holland was the most powerful and economically prosperous part of the Dutch Republic during the 17th century, including major cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. As a result, people started using “Holland” as shorthand for the entire country. By 2020, the Dutch government decided to retire the use of “Holland” and promote the entire country (the Netherlands), not just two of its 12 provinces.

On the last day of our trip, we took an afternoon trip to Utrecht. An easy half hour train ride southeast of Amsterdam, Utrecht is a university town with its own lovely canals. A bastion of art during the Dutch Golden Age, the artistic vibes are still going strong four centuries. We joined the fray, hitting up Swaak 1892 for art supplies and soaking in the canal views.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Utrecht. Nancy gamely tried Korean barbecue and we watched the colors start to fade into those beautiful muted pastels of a Dutch landscape painting.

Our time together had drawn to a close but I was about to hop a plane to a country that has been on my bucket list since birth – Ireland!