Artmag | Travel | Dutch Treat

Dutch Treat

Until mid-2011, ten museums in Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Amsterdam are joining forces to present a large scale art programme, writes Ian Sclater

Claimed to be the highest concentration of art and cultural activities per square kilometre anywhere in the world, some of Holland's top museums are collaborating in 'Holland Art Cities', a major marketing campaign spearheaded by the Netherlands Board of Tourism.

The four participating cities - Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Amsterdam - are a short train or car ride apart through classic pastoral landscapes often depicted in the Golden Age of Dutch painting.

ROTTERDAM

Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

Kees van Dongen, The Dresser, 1907, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

With world class collections of old masters, modern and contemporary art, applied and decorative arts and design, the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen essentially tells the history of art from the Middle Ages to the 21st century in a series of chronological displays.

Centrepiece works include Bruegel the Elder's The Tower of Babel, Dali's The Face of War and Magritte's On the Threshold of Liberty. Other featured artists include Rembrandt, Rubens, Dürer, Monet, Degas, Picasso, van Gogh, De Kooning and many more.

Displays from the permanent collection are supplemented by around 25 temporary exhibitions a year.

Until Jan 23, 2011: 'All Eyes on Kees van Dongen'. www.boijmans.nl

Kunsthal Rotterdam

Edvard Munch, Madonna, 1896-1902

The Kunsthal Rotterdam is as well known for its controversial design (by Rotterdam-born Rem Koolhaas, now Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard University) as for the exhibitions in it.

A ramp runs through the building, bridging the height differences between the roadside embankment on which it stands and the pleasant, lower lying park behind it.

The Kunsthal has no permanent collection, but organises a wide range of around 25 exhibitions a year presenting culture in the broadest sense of the word. (When Artmag was there, there was an entire floor dedicated to the Tour de France!)

Until Feb 20, 2011: 'Edvard Munch'. www.kunsthal.nl

THE HAGUE

Mauritshuis Museum

Willem van Haecht, Apelles painting Campaspo (Mauritshuis Museum)

For a combination of location, building and collection, it's hard to trump the Mauritshuis.

Inside this 17th century urban palace standing directly on a small lake (The Pond) is a 'must see' display of some 800 classic Dutch and Flemish paintings, including many examples of the most decisive genre to form foreign impressions of the Netherlands, landscapes.

These are joined by portraits, seascapes, still lifes, domestic scenes and religious tableaux to form one of the finest collections from the Golden Age.

Highlights include Vermeer's Girl with a pearl earring and Rembrandt's The anatomy lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Other artists represented include Rubens, van Dyck, Bruegel and Holbein. www.mauritshuis.nl

Gemeentemuseum

For a building which is a work of art in itself (it has been described as the most beautiful in Holland), look no further than H.P. Berlage's magnificent 1935 example of rationalism and forerunner of modern architecture, the Gemeentemuseum.

This is not your average municipal gallery (as the name translates), but a world class comprising 300 works by Mondrian (the biggest collection in the world) and examples from The Hague School, the Dutch Zero Movement, German Expressionism, French graphic art and much more.

Featured artists include Egon Schiele, van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Cézanne, Kandinksy and Francis Bacon. There is also ceramics, glass, furniture, antique and modern Delft pottery and rare Hague silverware. Until Nov 14: 'Changing times - New worlds'. In presenting art as the child of its time, each room is devoted to a different movement.

Until Jan 16, 2011: Hans Bellmer & Louise Bourgeois - 'Double Sexus'. www.gemeentemuseum.nl

UTRECHT

Aboriginal Art Museum

Wakartu Cory Surprise, Pitmarlu, 2009, acrylic on canvas

Unique in Europe, the Aboriginal Art Museum (AMUU) specialises in a genre not discovered by the outside world until the 1970s. Although Aboriginal art springs from a 50,000-year tradition, it was not until a few decades ago that it caught the world's attention, when artists began to use western materials such as canvas and acrylic paint and an explosion of art took place.

These artists required no formal training. Like native cultures elsewhere in the world, art is in their blood. They have an intuitive sense of composition, knowing exactly where to place horizons or natural features. They use local pigments to represent the true colours of the landscape and as a spiritual connection with their ancestors, such as red ochre for the stolen blood of their forebears.

A 'western' viewer is struck by the similarities between Aboriginal art and modern abstract art. However, unlike abstract art, these are paintings with stories behind them.

Until Oct 31: 'Aboriginal art today!' www.aamu.nl

Museum Catharijneconvent

Gold mask of Michael Jackson, André Lassen, 1999

Housed in a beautiful Middle Ages monastery, the Museum Catharijneconvent traces the history of Christianity in the Netherlands with a surprisingly contemporary-looking collection of statues, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, richly adorned ecclesiastical vestments, jewelled book bindings, relics, altar pieces and even video art.

Until Jan 6, 2011: 'Goud' (Gold).

Curated by the Dutch fashion designer/artist Aziz Bekkaoui, 'Gold' explores how this precious metal relates to religion and philosophy of life. www.catharijneconvent.nl

Centraalmuseum

Founded in 1838, the Centraalmuseum is Holland's oldest municipal museum with a modern, glass-encased entrance, it has an extensive collection of old masters, contemporary and applied art and fashion.

Oct 20-Jan 30, 2011: 'Rietveld's Universe' Utrecht-born architect and furniture maker Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964), most famous for his classic red and blue chair (pictured), made a significant contribution to 20th century architecture and design, with over 100 buildings and many pieces of furniture.

The Centraalmuseum has the world's largest collection of Rietveld's international modernism designs. www.centraalmuseum.nl

AMSTERDAM

Four Amsterdam museums are participating in Holland Art Cities. They are:the Hermitage Amsterdam (www.hermitage.nl), the Rijksmuseum (www.rijksmuseum.nl), the Stedelijk Museum (www.stedelijk.nl) and the Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl).

Further info www.hollandartcities.com