Van Gogh Museum

I really wanted to see the Van Gogh museum because Van Gogh is my favorite painter of all times. I really admire his work, all of it, but not so much the flowers and stuff, rather the sceneries and self portraits, which are wonderful. I don't know if the museum is that interesting for someone who doesn't like Van Gogh. Let's say, if you know his work and it doesn't interest you at all, it is obvious that this museum is not for you. But if you don't know what Van Gogh is like I think this is the perfect place to learn more about it. And if you know some but like to know more there is no better museum in the world to do so.

What I really liked here is the way the paintings are related to stories about the personal life of Van Gogh. As you might now he doesn't have the most cheerful biography, and the ups and downs of his life are pretty well reflected in his work. That is why the overview of paintings, ranged chronologically and introduced by a text about this period in Van Gogh's life, is so interesting.

I think that this museum is free of entrance with the I Amsterdam card. If you haven't got one, it is rather expensive though. We paid 12,50 EUR as an entrance fee, which I think is pretty much, as you won't spend hours and hours in this museum. It isn't small, but it definitely isn't that big either. Non the less, you'll find the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world here, and some wonderful additional temporary exhibitions to.

Afterwards I was sad to read that I missed out on the exhibition "colors of the night", which will be held in February 2009. It will show some of my favorite works, like "Café du nuit" and "Starnight", that weren't exhibited when we were there now. But anyways I was so glad that I got to see this museum and all these wonderful paintings. I think I will even visit again a second time, whenever I'm in Amsterdam again :)

The Van Gogh museum is a must see in Amsterdam. The museum is home to the largest collection of Van Gogh's in the world. It contains 200 of Van Gogh's paintings, 500 of his drawings and 700 letters written by and to him. The museum is structured on four floors, dividing in galleries the periods of his life. The museum also holds art from other well known artists such as Picasso, Monet, Manet, Gauguin, and Bernard.

By all means don't skip visiting this museum!!

A new exhibition at the Van Goghs. Time for me to bring a visit. You can find the museum at the Museum square in Amsterdam.
Please keep in mind that this exhibition ends on 7’th of june.

If you are planning to go to this exhibition please book your tickets online. The price I paid was 18.50 euro (on-line). On your ticket there is a timeframe mentioned. You are not allowed to get in earlier!
Ofcourse you can buy your tickets at the museum, but there is a line. Not so handy when it rains.

About the exhibition self... woh!!! IF YOU WANT TO SEE AL HIS MASTERPIECES... VISIT NOW! A free audio tour is included. The whole tour takes about an hour. After that you can visited the permanent collection.

A MUST SEE!!!!

Beneath some additional info from the museum itself.


Van Gogh and the colours of the night

13 February 2009 - 7 June 2009

Van Gogh and the colours of the night is a unique exhibition of paintings by Vincent van Gogh evoking the atmosphere of the evening and night

Van Gogh and the colours of the night is the first exhibition to be devoted to Van Gogh’s representations of the evening and night, a theme which recurs throughout his oeuvre. Famous works from international collections in the exhibition include The starry night (MoMA), Eugène Boch (Musée d’Orsay), a series of three sowers against a setting sun (of which one from the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection) and The potato eaters (Van Gogh Museum). Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), The starry night, 1889, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss bequest


Admission fees and opening hours
During Van Gogh and the colours of the night an extra charge of € 2.50 applies. There is no extra charge for children from 0 to 17 years. The admission fees include a free audiotour of the exhibition. Extended opening hours until 22.00 apply from Thursday to Saturday. Advance ticket sales via www.vangoghmuseumtickets.com (€ 3,50 booking fee applies per ticket). The tickets will be sold per time slot and are also valid for the museum’s permanent collection.


Audio tour
The audio tour for Van Gogh and the colours of the night is included in the entry price and available in six languages: English, Dutch, German, French, Italian and Spanish. The audio tour will introduce you to Van Gogh's paintings of the evening and night.

The greatest collection of Van Gogh Paintings. Vincent died never selling one painting! Now his collection is worth untold millions.

He tried so desperately to make an impact in his life. He did not succeed as a minister so he committed himself to evangelize the greatness of God in paint. He died feeling he was a total failure, but only now is his message appreciated. In his confusion and fear there is a transcendent beauty.

Its on 3 floors. Best to get tickets at other locations in city before you go.

There is an area adjacent that houses temporary exhibits also.

I like art so i like to go to museum. And i know i can expect the Van Gogh museum can be very very crowded on a Sunday afternoon when the weather is awefull. But this was definately even too crowded for me. For that reason i only visited the temporary exhibtion of the 125 loves. Most of these artworks were paintings but there were also other works of art with the theme love. To see the permanent collection of the museum, you had to get in line and move very very slowly together with all the other people to see every painting for a few seconds. There was no way you could really look to a painting of Van Gogh and enjoy it for a while. So i decided to go back here another time and i will, because it is really worth it of course.

This is a relatively small museum, compared to all the "monsters" museums of Western Europe.

As the name implies, it's mostly about Van Gogh. The works are sorted chronologically and it was very interesting to see how his style has developed over the years.

Worth a visit even if you're not generally into museums (like myself).

I would recommend to make a reservation. The queue wasn't very long, but still, having a ticket saved me about twenty minutes of my life.

Cheers!

The Van Gogh museum is big. When I went, there was also a special exhibition on Barcelona at the turn of the century, which was quite interesting too.

The Van Gogh museum has some of Van Gogh's best known works, including Sunflowers, the Potato Eaters, the irises and the two self portraits that you get copies of everywher, although not Starry Night when we were there. The collection of Van Gogh takes up the main floor, with a smaller permanent exhibition of his predecessors on the ground floor to set the context, and an exhibition of Japanese books on the second floor and more Van Gogh, peers and followers at the top.

As well as Van Gogh, there are works by Picasso, Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Bernard (quite a lot of these - apparently he was quite pally with Van Gogh), and a version of Degas' "in the tub" or however that's usually translated. The Picassos are blue period which is my favorite - a lot of the art appears to be on loan so I'd expect that these displays change fairly frequently.

The building itself is large and airy, and the extension where the Barcelona exhibit was is very modern. The museum was relatively crowded, but it was a sunday and the crowds were - predictably enough - in front of the sunflowers and the other well known paintings. You could get a pretty good look at everything else.

The museum does have a short queue but if you have a museumkaart you get to go straight to the front to go in. The staff are friendly, and there are cloakrooms and a big shop.