If you’re going to be in Amsterdam for more than 3 days, get yourself the Museum Card. For one fee, you can drop in on several of the best museums for one price and for as long as you like. It’s brilliant and makes art and history more easily attainable.

Today I had some errands to run in the city. I rode my bike in because I love riding now, especially since it was warm and sunny. I had an extra hour and was passing by the Stedelijk Museum, that is shaped like a gigantic bathtub from the outside. At first, I was just going to stop in the museum store to look for another gift to bring back to the states. But they didn’t have what I needed, and since I have a museum card, I figured I should take a quick stroll through. I’ll share a few pictures and a few thoughts.

First of all, the SM is a moden museum and I don’t typically appreciate modern ar.  But I like to learn about things I know nothing about, and not that I would learn a lot in an hour, but I did learn that I was more curious and intrigued and wanted to know more. That’s always good.

What I noticed was that the museum wasn’t crowded, not with people and not with art. The space was open and uncrowded and minimalist. I think this fits with the look and feel of modern art in general. Some pieces were curiosities and others I couldn’t understand. Some made me think and wonder, and some I just walked right by. When I read the little poster boards describing the different are pieces, I gained more insights and wanted to know more about the artists and their thinking. I especially liked the photography art work on the beach, showing the innocence of the children staring directly at the camera, from all over the world, by Rineke Dijkstra. Vincent Van Gogh’s work always catches my eye too. I love his brash brush strokes that define his work and makes it readily identifiable.

The other weird experience was “walking” into a bar, called the Beanery by Edward Kienholz. This was represented with strange artifacts from a bar from West LA, where the patrons’ faces are all made from clock faces. “The entire work symbolizs the switch from real time… the the surrealist time inside the bar, where people waste time, kill time, forget time, and ignore time,” Kienholz explained. Only one person could walk in the exhibit at a time and had to leave your bag outside. It was tight and dark, and there were recordings playing that made you feel like you were in the local bar. Very weird!

All in all, I’m glad I went to see it and now I want to learn more. I don’t think I’ll ever be bored!! I have so much to learn. Modern art, here I come!

Adriana