The story of Anne Frank, a young girl who journaled her way through two years spent hiding from the Nazis, is a powerful one. After Hitler gained control of The Netherlands in 1940, Amsterdam was no longer safe for Jewish families like the Franks. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, arranged for them to go into hiding in the house behind his former office. Otto’s employees, who were Dutch, risked their lives to keep the Frank family safely concealed there for two years. An anonymous tip led to the discovery of the family by the Nazi’s in 1944, and they were subsequently sent to concentration camps where all but Otto Frank died. Anne died just a few weeks before the end of the war.
The experience of walking through this house, the one where Anne kept a diary that changed the world, is one that resonates with anyone who has ever felt the sting of prejudice. The rooms are left empty at Otto Frank’s choosing to remind visitors of the void left behind by the Holocaust. Seeing Anne’s hopes and dreams written out in her red checkered diary reminds us all to live while we have the chance. The line to get into this museum is incredibly long, so it’s best to get there at least a half-hour before the 9am opening time.
2. Rijksmuseum
Located beside the ubiquitous “I Amsterdam” sign, the Rijksmuseum is the official museum of The Netherlands, dedicated to showcasing the country’s rich art and history. It is home to countless Dutch masterpieces, including Rembrandt’s Nightwatch and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid and The Little Street. With 8,000 pieces in over a hundred rooms, there is so much to look at in this museum. Even the ceilings are works of art. The one painting that I couldn’t take my eyes off of was entitled Still Life with Asparagus by Adriaen Coorte. You don’t have to particularly like vegetables to appreciate the haunting simplicity of this oil painting. Also worth checking out are the grand dollhouses and Delft pottery room. Just make sure not to linger too long, the Rijksmuseum closes fairly early at 5pm.
I was hesitant to pay the €15 entrance fee for the Vincent Van Gogh museum. First of all, Starry Night isn’t inside. And, more importantly, I could buy three and half beers with that amount of money. But, in the end I caved because the story of Vincent Van Gogh, the crazy artist who cut part of his ear off, has always intrigued me.
The 200 paintings displayed in the Van Gogh Museum are a visual representation of his life, depicting his descent into madness. The first room houses his formative pieces, the ones from his early days at art school. Peasants and laborers are the subjects of many of these paintings, as Van Gogh was fascinated with manual workers. One of his most famous from this time is The Potato Eaters.
An interesting feature of the museum was the interactive display they had describing how the color in Van Gogh’s paintings has faded with time. What we see as blue pigment today actually was purple at the time Van Gogh painted it. This is exemplified in the painting The Bedroom.
Going on through the museum, you see Van Gogh grow stylistically with famous paintings of flowers like Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers and Almond Blossom. Upon reaching the 4th and final floor, you get to a room that has a timeline laid out on the wall describing Vincent’s final years. No one knows what condition he suffered from, but he had terrible, violent fits of rage that he himself feared. Due to these episodes, he voluntarily committed himself to an asylum, where he painted the surreal Tree Roots, believed by some to be his last work. Shortly afterwards, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest during one of his episodes and died two days later from the wounds.
I am glad that I spent the €15 to see his beautiful paintings. There is something so intriguing about a man who in life sold only one painting, but in death has museums dedicated to him, his works worth millions.
