Museums at long last!

I had the good fortune to be able to spend many hours savouring the delights museums have to offer on a recent trip to the Netherlands. Star of the show: the Rijksmuseum.

It contained a refreshing diversity of ‘stuff’. Many of the big UK galleries are more specialised – they do art, or design, or objects, or more general human art and culture. The Rijksmuseum had it all! However, I particularly enjoyed some of the perhaps more ‘Dutch’ items. De rigueur, of course, was Delft pottery. There were also several galleries dedicated to miniatures (essentially super fancy dolls houses). And then lots of naval and boat related galleries, surprisingly engaging and beautiful.

A special call out for items that demonstrated diverse emotional registers: a porcelain piece with a sense of humour (how silly were those hair do’s?!);

and rings containing locks of hair or a tooth, both one assumes to act as souvenirs of deceased children (what gruesome choices!).

And finally the ‘biggies’. Some drawings from an artist who is guaranteed to draw in the crowds.

And then the artwork that inspired my desire to go to Amsterdam over 12 months ago – the Night Watch – but turned out not to be on display! Luckily, by the time we got to this gallery, I was also already sated with pictures, stories and ideas. You can have too much of a good thing.