Friday 5 June 2009

Amsterdam's Rijkmuseum

I have just spent the last couple of days in Amsterdam, helping a friend celebrate his birthday. However I did manage to drag myself away from the festivities for long enough to visit the Rijksmusuem.

They have a splendid web site which gives you plenty of access to the various pieces on display:

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/

It is always revelatory to see images 'in the flesh' that you are only familiar with via reproduction, and this time was no exception. The ability to absorb the whole, then inspect the tiniest part of the image, and to just be in the same space with these paintings is fabulous.

I got a special kick out of seeing the Frans Hals. I was very excited by his ability to mix loose and tight marks to create focus whilst mantaining lot of energy. Plus they all have a certain playfulness to them.

When I stepped out I really felt fired up to get on with some more painting, and to push myself hard. Inspirational :)

Now I had best get on with packing my artwork in preparation for this weekend's GamesExpo.

2 comments:

  1. So, you were off in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum...I don't think I have the words to articulate my jealousy. Indeed, I burn with it! :) That and a new sallet...jeez! I would love to have a suit of Gothic Armor...just love those folds and creases, especially on some of the pauldrons.

    Oh, and in case your curious, here's a link to my post linking to your site: http://artofmu.blogspot.com/2009/06/self-made-artists-instructions-not.html

    I hope you'll forgive the clumsiness of my prose, but then again, that's probably why I'm not a writer.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,

    Yeah, it was a good trip, and great to see all that fabulous artwork.

    Thanks very much for the link.

    Cheers,

    Ralph
    ======

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.