Lente 2021: nog even aftellen en we mogen weer! Wij staan te trappelen met onze museale bucket list. We beginnen met wat voorproefjes. Luit loop zich alvast warm voor de sprookjesachtige schoenenverzameling die Jan Janssen in zijn zestigjarige carrière heeft ontworpen. Deze Dutch Designer avant-la-lettre is een meester in experimentele en innovatieve ontwerpen. Ontwerpen met een […]
Hélène Kröller-Müllers country residence
Once the richest woman in the country, with a keen interest in art and architecture, Hélène Kröller-Müller asked renown architect H.P. Berlage to design a country home. Jachthuis Sint Hubertus is nothing short of a masterpiece inside and outside. Although designing it may have felt like a nail in his coffin to the architect at […]
Lita and the Black Tulip
On a cold December afternoon painter Lita Cabellut lured us to Lisse at the heart of the famous Dutch flower fields. The small but ever so cute museum The Black Tulip was exhibiting her portraits of 17th century Dutch men and women. The rich tulip merchants and their families in the huge portraits could have been dressed […]
Kardahsians of the 17th Century Showing Off
A Rolex watch, a Ferrari, designer clothes, your own indoor swimming pool… For centuries people have used their wardrobes and homes to show off their status in society. ‘The 17th century had its own rules,’ says historian Luitgard Maassen in a lecture given in a magnificent historic house in Leiden. Looking at Johannes Vermeer paintings […]
US Embassy – A Brutal Beauty Opens Up
For as long as we can remember, the US Embassy in The Hague was a heavily guarded building, hidden by fences, barred windows and guardhouses filled with police and military. What happened inside, stayed inside, and made us curious of course, Giving way to all kinds of fantasies about espionage in James Bond-like woodpaneled offices. […]
Sparkling ‘Painters of Light’ at Singer Laren
It was a beautiful day in Laren. We had no trouble understanding why painters have loved the place for over 100 years. We came to see the exhibition Painters of the Light. But we decided to go for the full package: coffee & apple pie in Singer’s sunny sculpture garden, a glimpse of the Singer […]
Estelle, the impossible love of Edgar Degas
Hearing the name of Edgar Degas, we all think of paintings of Parisian ballet dancers. But in the recently published novel ‘Mrs Degas’ Edgar comes to life as a person. As the son of a wealthy French businessman and his American wife. And as a young painter who lost his one and only love Estelle […]
Walking a Financial Mile (and beyond)
Once upon a time, it was no more than a single railway track just south of Amsterdam. Fast forward some 40 years, this former wasteland is transformed into the Zuidas (The Financial Mile) and looks like Manhattan. Taking a guided tour around the Zuidas – just around the corner from my home – is a […]
Drive-thru Art in Rotterdam
How a drive thru museum was born: the famous Rotterdam Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum closed for renovations. Ahoy concert hall had to cancel all concerts and exhibitions due to Covid 19. They decided to join forces and create a unique drive thru museum in a 10.000 m2 darkened hall displaying over 50 works of art. […]
Oorlogsmode in Verzetsmuseum: ‘Mode Op De Bon’
Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog ontstond er al snel een gebrek aan kledingstof. Vrouwen gebruiken van alles om kleding te maken: van jutezakken tot de parachutes van gedropte geallieerde soldaten. Door het stoffentekort werden de rokken korter. En vrouwen gingen zelfs broeken dragen. Dit tot grote schrik van weekblad Libelle. Gebrek aan stoffen Net als […]