Art Is Therapy - Part 1

I finally went to France! Yes, France and Amsterdam and Belgium! Not only was this trip absolutely amazing, it was one that was therapeutic! I learnt that Art can be therapeutic and I visited museums 5 days out of the 9 days that I was there! I am cured!

A is on a project in Amsterdam. We decided to live our dream of walking the streets of Paris, of Europe. So off I went to Amsterdam. I landed sometime around afternoon and after getting to the hotel and all that, decided to walk around a bit.

Amsterdam is a city of lots of bicycles, canals, boats and rain. It rains a lot in Amsterdam - but not your pour it all out kinda rain - its more the slight drizzle. Only the uninitiated carry an umbrella. For the locals, they have rain coats to help them be oblivious of this slight change of scene. Even their bicycles have rain covers for the baby-seats and carriages attached to them.


Turned out my first day in Amsterdam was some National Music concert and that was to be held right outside our hotel. This in Amsterdam means they put up a stage right next to river, between two canals. Music and sound system and the works! Hotels and big establishments and sponsors have chairs put up along the river on either side of the stage and on both sides of the river. For the rest of the people who are lucky enough to own a boat- they just row their boat all the way next to the stage and sit tight. A few hours before the concert was to begin, lots of boats had already been parked next to the stage. Once the concert began, people sat on chairs, sat in boats and sipped their wine, some people stood along the river, and the absolutely lucky ones just leaned over their balconies and windows.
Some of the best musicians gathered to perform there. I remember a seemingly famous lady played Bach on the violin and it was absolutely brilliant. What more could one ask for on their first day in Europe.

The second day we visited the Rijksmuseum. This is a National Dutch Museum. So most of the collection was Dutch art and heritage. Given my limited understanding of art and love for paintings, this trip to Europe was focused on paintings in all museums I went to. Rijksmuseum was recently renovated and opened again the beginning of the year. I must say they have the best website in terms of information on their collection. Not only do they list art works in their collection - which is something a lot of museums seemingly don't do- they have very good audio tours and multi-media guides available online to download on laptops, iPads, phones and the likes. This was A's third visit to the museum in that month, so I took his advice and started with his recommended tour - 'Art is Therapy'.

Rijksmuseum had a special tour/exhibition going on then called 'Art is Therapy' based on a book called 'Art as therapy' by De Botton. Here they have described what art can mean to ordinary people like you and me, people not so knowledgeable about art and artists. Without stressing out about when the painting was painted, or who the artist is, what paintings he is famous for , De Botton wants you to focus on what thoughts/emotions it evokes in you.

Rijsmuseum has some of the best Dutch works of arts. It would be very very hard for me to choose one that I loved. But the few that totally top the list would be -

The Jewish Bride

- Rembrandt's 'The Jewish Bride' - This painting though simple has a very unique quality to attract attention. This is a couple painted in the portrait of the biblical couple Issac and Rebecca. The debate about it is that its the painting of a father giving away his daughter or maybe its two lovers or two newly weds. Its the loving look in their eyes or maybe the intimate way in which the groom or the man has his hand on the bride or the woman's bosom.

- The milk maid - by Johannes Vermeer
 This painting and the subject to me is so ordinary and yet this painting is one that immediately comes to my head when I think of this museum. It almost seems like you can hear her pour the milk into the utensil. It is said that Vermeer knew how to show and use light and its reflections in his paintings.

- Rembrandts 'The warden of the Amsterdam' - I have no idea what is it about this painting. I liked it more than the 'Night watch'.

The warden of the Amsterdam

- Paintings by Steen - I find it very interesting how he adds his own portrait in the paintings and the jestful manner and theme of his paintings.
- Van Djicks still arts or paintings by Hooch

As you can see, I can't narrow down my list. I will do a detailed post on the paintings here later. But, the Rijskmuseum is a treasure worth exploring!

I had to skip 'Ann Frank's house' and a visit to the Mauritshuis gallery ( or what I like to call Vermeer's collection) in Hague. The Mauritshuis has on display the world famous - Girl with the pearl earring by Vermeer and then some. But I knew I would come back soon for a visit to the Van Gogh Museum of art. And the fun continued. So did the Therapy!