Friday, September 26, 2014

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam - I'd not recommend it.

I was at the wonderful, renovated Rijksmuseum only a few months ago, and I've can't remember how many lovely visits I've made to the van Gogh, so a change seemed a good idea. The Stedelijk was not a good choice - I'd recommend against going, actually.

They've a big exhibition of pictures by Marlene Dumas. I'd never heard of her, not that surprising. I looked her up and she's a South African, based in Amsterdam. Clearly she's very good at marketing.

There were two or three good pictures - this portrait, on a vast scale, was one I thought OK:





Mostly, though, they were large, messy, monochrome scribbles with much emphasis on genitalia, for no reason I could see. Stuff that'd be find for student practice work, but not the sort of thing you'd want to pay 75€ to see when on your hols with excellent art only a few hundred metres away.

The rest of the gallery was variable. There is a nice van Gogh, an interesting Kandinski, a few walls with vivid blocks of colour and lots of indifferent messes. 

There are lots of 'found' objects - the main question they raise is why they weren't just left there when found.

There are a few rooms of furniture and household goods - the furniture can't be sat on, it's in glass cases, so you can't tell if it is as uncomfortable and impractical as it, mostly, looks.

I liked the kettles, but I've a particular interest in the evolution of the kettle. I liked a few porcelain pieces, below.

The highlights (pretty well all of them):


Can you see the magnificent cockroach?





A most unpleasant woman

I didn't want to listen to her at all. At Citizen M, you breakfast at long refectory tables, sadly not under the rule of St. Benedict. So I had no choice, she sat opposite me.

I don't agree entirely with the St. Benedict, 'Scurrilitates vero vel verba otiosa et risum moventia æterna clusura in omnibus locis damnamus et ad talia eloquia aperire os non permittimus.' goes too far, certainly. I'd hope that even Trappists were allowed the occasional joke. He was right about silence at breakfast though.

After a long, loud discussion with her neighbour about some business they're doing in Amsterdam (she's away from home, leaving her husband to look after the two children - I had much, too much information!), she mentioned that it was their tenth wedding anniversary - and she had heard nothing from her husband.

One of her companions (pan au chocolat - so a genuine companion) suggested that he might have some nice secret surprise in store for them.. 'No! I know him and he's not like that - not like that at all'   the harpy replied, with no thought required.

A few minutes later a message came through on her 'phone. He's sent me a message, the disappointment at her anger coming to an end was evident, obviously his mother has reminded him.

It seemed completely beyond her ken that it was not her wedding anniversary, but their, shared, wedding anniversary. She hadn't any notion that, being away, on the anniversary, was her failing and the least she should be doing was getting in touch with him first, and early, to reassure him that all was well and she'd remembered.

In fact she seemed to think that the only reason for the event at all was for her to get presents, the most sought-after being a metaphorical knife to dig into her husband's ribs, as she goaded him for his forgetfulness of the anniversary.
It's possible that the chap in question is also a nasty piece of work - an estate agent, serial or mass murderer (soldier or free-lance), or a prison warder or framer of laws against victimless crimes - who knows. If he's a decent human being, he certainly doesn't deserver that treatment.
I hope he's rid of her soon, poor fellow. I know nothing about his qualities or achievements - only hat he has a very poor taste in women and, in at least one area, an inability to make sound judgements.

She listened in to our quiet chat about the day, and interrupted us to advise going to the Stedelijk museum Foolishly, I ignored the evidence in front of me and went. I wish I hadn't, what on earth made me ignore the obvious - how could such a woman have any aesthetic taste?

Harpy - Matthew Lewis - http://mattstewartartblog.blogspot.nl/2013/09/insatiable-harpy.html