Hermitage Amsterdam. Bonus: Exploring the Neighborhood

[Post published by Liviu on Liviu's [in Netherlands] Blog]


25th of April 2010: nice, sunny & cloudy day, with a few showers in the evening.


Hermitage Amsterdam

• Official website - English version
• Description on www.amsterdam.info

The Matisse to Malevich exhibition

This is piece de resistance of the Hermitage Amsterdam for the 6th of March - 17th of September 2010 time interval.

Great artists have some of their works displayed here - just check out the:

• Hightlights of the exhibition
• Artist biographies
• Terminology

Pretty cool, isn't it?


The regular exhibition (i.e. the rest of the museum) = zero interesting things

The rest of the museum is beating around the bush by showing nothing of interest in my opinion:

1. some facts about the Hermitage in Sankt Petersburg
2. royal connections (i.e. alliances by marriage) between the royal families from The Netherlands and Russia
3. the former function of the Amstelhof building, i.e. retirement home, plus its old kitchen; the church hall with the pipe organ etc.

Question: do I really want to see all these? I say not; ok, maybe the former function of the building deserves a room full of exhibits.
The bottom line is I consider most of all these second hand exhibits.



Bonus: Exploring the Neighborhood

First, the area delimited by Amstel, Mauritskade, Weesperstraat and Nieuwe Herengracht:
Nothing interesting: it's a combination of new and old buildings.
Very noisy at times. On some streets one can see legions of tourists wandering on the streets. On other streets, there's nobody, but there still is a huge background noise.

Second, the area delimited by Weesperstraat, Mauritskade, Nieuwe Herengracht and the canal west of Plantage Muidergracht:
Nice area overall: it's mostly quiet; mostly with nice buildings etc.
Spinozastraat and Spinozahof: very nice; peace and quiet; very nice view.
The canal east of Hortusplantsoen: very nice, very intimate.



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Conclusions

Yes, go visit Hermitage Amsterdam, but only if you can see a cool temporary exhibition. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

Should you be able to make it in time for the Matisse to Malevich exhibition, then do your best to go see it! If you're an art fan, you'll thank me for that tip!(and maybe even drop me a comment below)

Should you want to visit the neighborhood, first go on Spinozastraat and Spinozahof, second on the canal east of Hortusplantsoen. These are really nice and quiet places.