Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [193]
Postwar Dutch art began with CoBrA: a loose grouping of like-minded painters from Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands, whose name derives from the initial letters of their respective capital cities. Their first exhibition at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 1949 provoked a furore, at the centre of which was Karel Appel (1921–2006), whose brutal Abstract Expressionist pieces, plastered with paint inches thick, were, he maintained, necessary for the era – indeed, inevitable reflections of it. “I paint like a barbarian in a barbarous age,” he claimed. In the graphic arts, the most famous twentieth-century Dutch figure was Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972), whose Surrealistic illusions and allusions were underpinned by his fascination with mathematics.
As for today, a vibrant contemporary art scene sustains an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions, most notably at De Appel (see "Leidsestraat and the Spiegelkwartier"), and nourishes about a dozen premier private/commercial art galleries (see "Leidsestraat and the Spiegelkwartier"). Among modern Dutch artists, look out for the abstract work of Edgar Fernhout (1912–74) and Ad Dekkers (1938–74); the reliefs of Jan Schoonhoven (1914–94); the multimedia productions of Jan Dibbets (b.1941); the imprecisely coloured geometric designs of Rob van Koningsbruggen (b.1948); the smeary Expressionism of Toon Verhoef (b.1946); the exuberant figures of Rene Daniels (b.1950); the exquisite realism of Karel Buskes (b.1962) and Joke Frima (b.1952); and the witty, hip furniture designs of Piet Hein Eek (b.1967) – to name just ten of the more important figures.
Dutch art | The twentieth century – De Stijl | From De Stijl to the present day |
Amsterdam galleries: a hit list
Of the galleries in Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum owns a fabulous and wonderfully comprehensive collection of Dutch/Low Countries art, but much of it is out of sight during a major refurbishment, which is scheduled to last until 2013. In the meantime, one wing of the museum remains open and features the major artists of the Golden Age, most memorably Rembrandt. The Van Gogh Museum is best for the Impressionists and, of course, van Gogh, while for contemporary Dutch art there’s both the inventive De Appel(see "Leidsestraat and the Spiegelkwartier") and the Stedelijk Museum, which will reopen after an extensive refit in 2010. Contemporary photographers, on the other hand, are featured at the Huis Marseille and FOAM(see "Amsterdam’s commercial art galleries"). In the city’s southern suburbs, the CoBrA Museum is dedicated to the CoBrA art movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and the neighbouring town of Haarlem possesses the excellent Frans Hals Museum, which holds some of the best work of Hals, his predecessors and successors. For commercial art galleries, see "Amsterdam’s commercial art galleries".
Books
Most of the books listed below are in print and in paperback, and those that are out of print (o/p) should be easy to track down either in second-hand bookshops or online. Note also that while we recommend all the books we’ve listed below, we do have favourites – and these have been marked with .
Books |
History, politics and general
Leo Akveld et al The Colourful World of the VOC. Beautifully illustrated, coffee-table sized book on the VOC – the East India Company. The subject is dealt with in a series of intriguing essays on the likes of the uses of Eastern spices, Indonesian fashion and furniture, rituals and beliefs. The only problem is that it is hard to get hold of outside Amsterdam.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Infidel: My Life. This powerful and moving autobiography, written by one of the Netherlands’s most controversial figures,