Mavis Glover: Amsterdam

I have been able to return quite unexpectedly to my blog today as I thought I would be fully tied up with 2 lovely, but boisterous, grandchildren aged 1and 3 years old who have moved in while mum and dad go off with friends to see the Stone Roses in Manchester. Fortunately "Uncle Matthew" has paid us a visit and, along with grandad, they have gone off to see the owls at Kirkleatham Old Hall.

Well on our last day we decided to revisit the Van Gogh Museum that we had last visited nearly 40 years ago. Since it was just around the corner from our hotel we knew that we had plenty of time to take in a few more sites and this time we chose to do it by way of a canal cruise. The first leg of the journey we sailed the canals that we had walked along on our first day passing under the now familiar bridges.

A new view point from which to admire the bridges

Wester Kerk

It also meant that we got to see many of the houseboats that line the canals.

Houseboats moored along the canals

It was a very liesurely way to get to see the port area that we didn't manage on foot.

The harbour area north of Central Station including the
EYE Film Institute, Science Centre NEMO and The National
Maritime Museum

On returning from our trip with the Blue Boat Company we enjoyed a spot of lunch in the open space near the Rijkmuseum before setting off to "what no visit to Amsterdam is complete without" i.e. the Van Gogh Museum.
It dawned on us that when we first visited this museum it couldn't have been open for very long as it was built in 1973 and we went on a camping holiday to Holland around that time and one of the highlights was visiting it. We were not disappointed this time either as the route through allowed you to follow the short (he was only an artist from 1880 - 1890) but very productive (800 paintings, 1000 drawings and a large number of watercolours,lithographs and sketches) career.
What also helped set every thing in context was the many letters to his brother Theo and some of his friends, including Paul Gaugin, which you can read here.
Van Gogh was largely self-taught with only a few classes at academies in Brussels and Anterp and as a result he developed a very unique style. I hope that the images of his work, which represent the different phases of his working life, inspire you as they have many artists over the years.