Rijksmuseum Amsterdam paintings. What to see at the Amsterdam State Museum (Reichmuseum)? Arts and Crafts Wing

This museum is often compared to the Louvre, it is constantly being rebuilt, the most amazing collection of Dutch painters of the Golden Age is collected here, and only here you can see the legendary painting “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt. This is the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The history of the museum began in 1800, it was then that the financier Alexander Khorel came up with the idea of creating a museum similar to the Louvre in Amsterdam. A gallery was created in The Hague, which included paintings and rarities belonging to the Habsburg dynasty. When Louis, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, became king of the Netherlands, he categorically declared that the national museum would be located in Amsterdam. The collection was initially placed in the king's palace and added valuable exhibits belonging to the royal dynasty.

The collection expanded and in 1863 there was talk of the need for a separate building for the museum. The best architects propose their projects, but for almost six years a picky commission cannot give preference to one or another option. Finally, in 1876, Petrus Kuipers won the competition. The architect adhered to progressive views, he was distinguished by the desire to create a new direction in architecture; Kuypers was obsessed with the idea of a new national style. As a result, he builds a magnificent building that combines several architectural styles.

Gothic, elements of the Renaissance, Renaissance... The interior decoration was carried out by the best craftsmen. The walls of the museum are decorated with tiles, painted in the style of classical Dutch art, and stained glass windows depict scenes from history. In general, the museum building fully met the tastes of Catholics. King William, who at that time occupied the Dutch throne, took the new building more than coolly. And since its opening, since 1885, the building of the state museum has not known peace. Changes to its structure were made regularly.

Five years after the opening, an extension was made to the museum building. The fragments of ancient buildings were collected and a whole section was made from them. According to the architects, the building was supposed to show all stages of the development of Dutch architecture. In 1906, a special hall appeared in the Rijksmuseum. This is the Phillips Wing or the One Picture Hall. The central place is occupied by Rembrandt's Night Watch. Beginning in 1942, the interior was changed several times, and the building itself was no longer disturbed.

In the 21st century, the museum underwent a large-scale restoration, the ceilings between the courtyards were removed, and the interior was carefully restored. There is no such collection of Golden Age painters in any museum in the country. Holland, ruled by Protestants in the 17th century, was the personification of morality and Puritanism. The country prospered, the inhabitants grew rich. The main motifs in fine art: family, hardworking townspeople, pastoral pictures of rural life, scenes from the Old Testament.

Real masterpieces known throughout the world are “The Maid Pouring Milk” by Vermeer, “The Jewish Bride” by Rembrandt, “Bridge in Amsterdam” by Breitner. The museum’s foreign collections are also rich. There are artists of the Russian avant-garde school, Italian, Spanish and French painters. In the State Museum of Amsterdam there is “Portrait of Ramon Satué” by Goya, “Cimon and Pero” by Rubens, “Madonna and Child” by Murillo. The pride of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is the sculpture and applied art departments.

The museum contains the original of Falconet's famous statue "The Menacing Cupid". Almost five thousand exhibits, including jewelry, fabrics, weapons, furniture, Meissen porcelain. The museum has halls where the everyday furnishings of the Middle Ages have been completely restored. Petronella Oortman's dollhouse is known throughout the world, where the mansion of a wealthy Dutch family is reproduced in miniature and in the smallest detail. The exhibition even includes a real warship captured by filibusters.

Today the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is the largest in the Netherlands. His collections are priceless.

The largest city in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Amsterdam has no shortage of museums. Their collections are extremely interesting and even unique. Well, where else in the world will you see a sex museum? And in Amsterdam it is. And besides this, a less shocking one is available to the eyes of visitors. The Dutch have very open views in this regard. In this country, prostitutes even have their own trade union. However, this article will talk about quite decent things. We will take a virtual excursion to the State Museum. Amsterdam acquired it at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. This is truly an ancient museum with a rich collection. Below you will find some practical recommendations for visitors and a short list of masterpieces.

Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Holland): history

The Rijksmuseum was founded by Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother) in 1800. It did not remain in the private collection for long. Fifteen years later, its exhibition became open to the public. Initially, the Rijksmuseum was located in the capital of the kingdom, The Hague. The core of the exhibition consisted of two hundred paintings, and occupied a small house. But with the help of patrons, the collection grew steadily. The museum changed its location several times until it finally settled in Amsterdam. In 1885, a new building was built especially for it. Outwardly, it looks more like a fairy-tale princess castle than a museum. The project of the building in the neo-Gothic style was created by the famous Dutch architect Pieter Kuipers.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: address, opening hours, prices

The Rijksmuseum is located in the very center of the city. Its exact address is the corner of Museumstraat and Museumplein. From the main train station it can be easily reached by tram line 2 or 5. Get off at the Hobbemastraat stop. If you arrive in Amsterdam at Sloterdijk station, then from there you can take tram number 12 (Conzerthebouw) to the cultural institution. The closest metro station to the museum is Weissperplein. Next you need to get there by tram number 7 or 10 ("Spichelchracht"). You can also get to Museum Square by bus routes 26, 66, 65, 172 and 170. Shuttle number 197 from (stop "Hobbemastraat") also passes by. If you are traveling to Amsterdam with your own or rented vehicle, you need to take the S109 from the A10 ring road. Below the square there is paid underground parking for those visiting the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam). The opening hours of this cultural institution are from nine to seventeen, daily. Persons under eighteen years of age inclusive can visit the museum absolutely free. Adults will have to fork out seventeen and a half euros.

Modern amenities at the Rijksmuseum

All exhibition halls are available to people. Tickets can be purchased online on the official website. This will not save money, but it will save time standing in long queues, which are a mandatory attribute of the Rijksmuseum, especially in the summer months. At the ticket office you can book excursions on various topics. If you do not speak foreign dialects, you can download a media tour for your mobile device. Audio guides can also be rented at the ticket office. They are available in Russian. These are thematic tours “Masterpieces”, “Drinks and Food of the Golden Age” and “Selected Works of Jeroen Krabbe”. You can join a group excursion to the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam). Photo and video shooting is permitted. The main condition is no flash.

Exhibition diagram of the Rijksmuseum

For ten years, from 2003 to 2013, the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) was closed for reconstruction. Now the updated exhibition consists of several collections. Its core is the “Masterpieces” exhibition. It contains the best paintings by Dutch masters of the Golden Age - Van Dyck, Jan Veermeer, Jan Stein. The art collection presents an interesting selection of decorative arts, including Delft porcelain. A special place is occupied by a pavilion dedicated to Asia. In it you can see bronze Buddha figurines, wooden boxes from Korea and similar artifacts. The historical collection displays objects found during the course. In addition, there are permanent exhibitions of photographs, prints and drawings.

Masterpieces of the Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) is the largest art gallery in the country. Five thousand paintings, 30,000 sculptural compositions, and many historical artifacts are displayed in two hundred and sixty halls. Therefore, if you are short on time, take the Masterpieces audio tour and head to the hall called Nacht wacht zaal. This room was created in 1906 specifically for this painting. The epic painting “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt is a pearl of which the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) is rightly proud. Paintings by other Dutch masters from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century occupy the rooms next door. Must-sees include four paintings by Vermeer, Van Eyck's "Gothic Temple with Figures" and Luke of Leiden's "Sermon in the Church."

Arts and Crafts Wing

Porcelain from the small Dutch town of Delft is another pride of the State Museum. The exhibition represents not only tableware and stove tiles. Of particular interest are two with a full set of furniture and interior items. Boys will be delighted by the weapons exhibition.

On the embankment of one of the canals in Amsterdam, a huge building stretches for an entire block. The traditional Dutch peaked roofs and red brick walls make it similar to the surrounding buildings. The building does not have any special architectural merits, but naturally fits into the general appearance of the city. This The Rijksmuseum is one of the largest art museums in the world.

Already in the middle of the last century, fifty years after the creation of the museum, it was clear that the beautiful old Trippenhuis in which it was located could not accommodate the rapidly growing collections. In 1876 - 1885, the architect Kuipers built a giant brick building. Repeatedly renovated and remodeled inside, it continues to serve to this day.

Amsterdam Rijksmuseum is a museum of art history in the Northern Netherlands. In its halls you can get an unusually broad idea of the artistic development of the country. As already mentioned, little has been preserved here from the Middle Ages. Only starting from the 15th century does our information about the artistic development of these lands become more or less detailed and complete. The museum displays examples of wooden and stone sculpture that once adorned church altars, works of jewelers and gold-embroidered vestments of the clergy.

However, painting is undoubtedly of greatest interest. Already in the 15th century, easel painting was the leading field of art in the Northern Netherlands, and easel works are known to be much better suited for museum display than wall paintings or monumental sculpture created to decorate a specific building. The latter lose some of their artistic expressiveness when they are transferred to a museum, taken out of their original architectural environment. Thanks to the predominance of easel works, Dutch art can be shown more fully in a museum than the art of many other countries.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the culture and art of the Northern and Southern Netherlands (that is, modern Holland and Belgium) constituted more or less a single whole, with local schools in the North being powerfully influenced by the large artistic centers flourishing in the South. Just as we call the Northern Netherlands Holland, the Southern Netherlands is usually referred to as the most significant, advanced of the regions included in them - Flanders. Already in this early era, Dutch painters differed from their Flemish counterparts in the greater intimacy, everyday simplicity and spontaneity of their works.

In the North, the first major artist with whose work we are quite familiar was Gertchen tot Sint Jane (that is, “little Gerrit from the monastery of St. John”). Gertchen worked in the 80s of the 15th century in Harlem; there still remains a small, darkened church of the monastery where he was a novice.

Among the first paintings purchased in 1808 by order Louis-Napoleon, there was one curious thing included in the inventory of the museum under the following name: “ Jan van Eyck. Gothic temple with figures" , the great founder of the Dutch school of painting, the author of the Ghent Altarpiece, was at that time perhaps the only Dutch artist of the 15th century whose name was widely known to collectors; Any thing that seemed old enough was attributed to him. This time he was considered the author of “St. families" by Gertchen.

Written on a small wooden board, Gertchen's work reproduces not the canonical text of the Gospel, but an apocryphal legend. According to this legend, St. Anna, Mary's mother, had two more daughters, whose children later became apostles - disciples of Christ.

In the interior of a Gothic church (the church is the “house of God”) the artist places the elderly Anna, her three daughters, their husbands and children. Not only children, but also adults are distinguished by their clear serenity and naivety. Women are nursing babies, old Anna is taking a break from reading, placing her glasses on an open book. On the stone floor of the slender temple, in the very middle of the picture, were three little boys in long warm shirts and woolen stockings with red patches on the heels; but the future apostles Paul, James and John play with their attributes - a sword, a barrel and a cup. They have the charm of funny, lively children. With delightful, simple-minded spontaneity, Gertchen combines reality and fantasy, everyday details and the majestic architecture of the temple into one whole. For him, everything is interesting and attractive - both great and small. Hanging nearby are two more works by Gertchen: “The Root of Jesse” and “The Adoration of the Magi” with its wonderful landscape background.

The work of a major Dutch artist who worked in the last quarter of the 15th century and is known as Master Virgo inter Virgines. The anonymous “name” comes from a painting that was in the National Art Gallery back in 1801 and came from there to the Rijksmuseum. This is “Mary and Child with the Holy Virgins”, or in Latin “Virgo inter Virgines” (“Virgin among virgins”).

Like a retinue of court ladies, the Mother of God is surrounded by luxuriously dressed saints Catherine, Cecilia, Barbara and Ursula. Their attributes (the wheel on which St. Catherine died; the arrow - a symbol of the martyrdom of St. Ursula) were turned into elegant gold jewelry. Slender, gentle women are frozen in reverie, from which even playing with a miniature baby cannot bring them out. The artist repeats his favorite, very unusual type of female face with an excessively large convex forehead, thin eyebrows and half-lowered, slightly swollen eyelids. Pale faces, dull, often grayish colors, among which even the red color loses its sonority - all this gives the viewer a strange feeling of a slightly sad, coldish detachment from everything earthly. In its internal structure, the painting contrasts with the works of Gertchen hanging in the same room.

Fantasy plays a big role in the work of both masters. In the Master of Virgo inter Virgines it is refined and conventional, like a madrigal of a court poet of that time, in Gertchen it is imbued with real impressions and is close to the lively, varied fantasy of a folk tale. In the works of many of Gertchen's compatriots, scenes from Christian legends look as if they took place in an environment that surrounded the artist and was well known to him. The author of a series of paintings depicting the “Seven Works of Mercy” adheres especially consistently to this principle.

The series was performed in 1504 for Church of St. Lawrence in Alkmaar, therefore its author is conventionally called the Master from Alkmaar. Seven paintings make up the frieze. At each of them, pious burghers, fulfilling the commandment of Christ, either give clothes to the poor, or feed the hungry, or bury the dead, etc. All this happens on the clean, cobblestone streets of the Dutch city. Each of the “deeds of mercy,” due to its everyday concreteness, resembles a genre scene. In a crowd of ugly beggars, blind people and cripples, there is one person who does not take part in the action that the rest do not notice. This is Christ. According to the artist and his clients, he is invisibly present here, recalling the religious meaning of what is happening. The dry work of the Master of Alkmaar introduces us to a world of everyday prose and stern moral duty, vaguely anticipating some features of Dutch art of the 17th century.

Rijksmuseum has several works by the largest Dutch artist of the early 16th century - Luke of Leiden (possibly 1489-1533). Among them, “Sermon in Church” is especially interesting. The Renaissance church building fills only two-thirds of the background; on the right in the distance you can see a street where a richly dressed nobleman distributes alms to the poor. In the foreground, the same nobleman with an intelligent, delicate face is depicted standing at the right edge of the picture; Taking off his hat, he listens to a church sermon. It is possible that the artist was commissioned by this man, and the group of people around him consists of portraits of his family and friends. The listeners seated in a semicircle in front of the pulpit are noticeably different from them: there are strange freaks and a lively child; a beautiful young woman looks at the viewer with a smile, not paying attention to the words of the preacher; Finally, another woman is sleeping, and on her head sits a small owl - a symbol of trickery and stupidity in Dutch folklore. This strange genre scene, full of unclear hints, is painted with translucent liquid strokes of light, vague colors; both brushwork and color convey the anxious mood characteristic of the painting of Luke of Leiden.

The largest landscape painter of the first half of the 17th century was Jan van Goyen (1596-1656). In 1641 he wrote his “Far View with Two Oaks.” It is an unremarkable area with sand dunes typical of the Dutch coast. At the top of the dune, at the foot of gnarled old oak trees, two travelers stopped to rest; the retreating figure of a third passer-by leads our gaze into the distance, to the flat coast, where on the horizon, to the left, a glittering strip of water is visible. The clouds cover the expanses of the sky, and a ray of sunlight breaks through them onto the dune and onto the powerful half-withered trunks. The artist seems to be studying them at close range, tracing the unevenness of the bark, the almost humanly expressive, tense bend of the branches. At the same time, the wide expanse of the distance is perceived as their natural environment, and this “kinship” with infinite space helps us feel the grandeur and power of giant trees.

Along with its main sections - old Netherlandish art and the 17th century - The Rijksmuseum has a significant collection of Dutch paintings XVIII, XIX and XX centuries. Among the works of the 18th century, the works of Cornelis Trost (1697-1750), the author of portraits and genre scenes, often reproducing episodes from theatrical performances, are of interest. Following the traditions of the previous century, Trost painted a huge group portrait of the trustees of an orphanage in Amsterdam (1729). However, much more interesting and attractive is a small sketch of one of the trustees, Jan Lepeltak, hanging in the same room. It is written easily and naturally. In it, more than in a large portrait, the influence of the national pictorial tradition is noticeable.

The Rijksmuseum also contains works by foreign masters- Italians, Spaniards, Flemings. There are few of them, but some of them cannot go unnoticed: paired portraits of the Florentine architect Giuliano da Sangallo and his father Francesco Giamberti, works by Piero di Coeimo (1462-1521), “The Crucifixion” by El Greco (1541-1614), a number of portraits by Van Dyck (1599-1641), “Portrait of Don Ramon Satué” (1823), Goya (1746-1828), etc. However, no matter how interesting they are, they constitute only a minor, lateral branch in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

The Rijksmuseum (Dutch Rijksmuseum, State Museum) is the largest in the Netherlands, the most visited and the richest - there are literally hundreds of masterpieces by the best masters of world painting. It is located on Museum Square (Dutch Museumplein).

The State Museum owes its creation to King Louis Bonaparte. In 1808 he moved the Hague National Gallery of Art to Amsterdam, creating a museum in the Royal Palace. In 1817 the collection moved to Trippenhuis, which now houses the Royal Academy of Sciences. Bonaparte actively bought famous paintings and works of art, so the question of building a separate building soon arose. In 1876, a competition was held for the best design, the winner of which was the architect Petrus Cuypers. In 1885, a new museum was opened, designed in the neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance styles. Ten years later, another wing was added to the building. The museum was rebuilt throughout the 20th century, but the work was mainly carried out inside the building.

Nowadays, the Rijksmuseum is a repository of a large number of exhibits: sculptures, paintings, engravings, photographs, medieval weapons, clothing and various archaeological finds. On display here are Rembrandt's The Jewish Bride and The Night Watch, Vermeer's The Street and The Milkmaid, as well as works by Potter, Hals and Steen. Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Jan van Scorel, Meindert Hobbema, Albert Cuyp, Hendrik Averkamp and other masters of the Golden Age of Dutch art are honored here with separate galleries (more than 8000 works!) - this is the largest collection of Dutch masters in the world!

There are about 150 rooms in total, which also house an extensive art collection, a collection of sculpture, antique furniture, silver, porcelain, arts and crafts, Asian art (including about 500 Buddha statues!), an archaeological collection, plus a rich collection of drawings , prints and photographs. In the park behind the northern wing (in the triangle of Hobbemastraat and Luijkenstraat) there is an open collection of sculpture; within the complex there is an interactive system ARIA (Amsterdam Rijksmuseum Inter-Active), which allows you to independently familiarize yourself with 1250 objects of the exhibition; it also takes an active part in various artistic events, including the already incredibly popular “Night of Museums”. In the spring of 2013, after a 12-year renovation, the Rijksmuseum reopened its doors and now receives more than 4 million visitors a year.

The famous letters "I amsterdam" in front of the museum building

"Night Watch" by Rembrandt

Opening hours: daily from 9.00 to 17.00. Ticket price: €15 for adults, free for children under 18 years old. How to get there: the Rijksmuseum stop is nearby (buses 145, 170, 174, 197, 358, N97, trams 2, 5) Address: Museumstraat 1 1071 XX Amsterdam Website:

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in terms of the value of its collections, is rightfully equated with the Louvre in Paris or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The collection that laid the foundation for the Rijksmuseum was located in The Hague until 1800 and consisted of art objects collected by the Stathauders, governors of the Habsburgs. In 1808, Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, transported it to Amsterdam and placed it in the palace, replenishing it with valuable exhibits that belonged to the royal dynasty.
In 1863, the question arose about the construction of a separate museum building. Only in 1876, from the many works submitted to the competition, the commission chose the author of the project - Petrus Kuipers. In an effort to create a new national style in architecture, he mixes neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance, adds a few touches, and the result is still amazing.
But for contemporaries the project turned out to be quite bold. At the end of the 19th century, Puritan morals reigned in the Netherlands, and the ruling William III reacted coolly to him.
The museum was regularly rebuilt and completed, and its collection is still being replenished.
From 2003 to 2013, restoration work was carried out in the building. The museum has been transformed, becoming more modern and interesting for visitors.

Masterpieces

One day is not enough to carefully study all the masterpieces of the Rijksmuseum. Therefore, you need to decide what you should pay attention to first. Everyone has their own preferences, but there are recognized world masterpieces that are worth seeing at least once in your life:

The famous "Night Watch" by Rembandt. The real title of the painting is “Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock.” The painting, salt, is so popular that in 1906 a redevelopment had to be done to display it. The hall of one masterpiece is always full of visitors.
A unique collection of representatives of the Golden (XVII) century of Dutch painting is represented by works by Vanmeer, Hals, Jan Steen and other famous authors.
The famous Delft porcelain, which is represented by the most luxurious royal services, elegant miniature figurines, vases and other utensils.
Models of ships, which can be used to trace the history of the development of shipbuilding in Holland. Do not forget that for many centuries, the Netherlands, along with England, were the kings of the sea.
Hall of doll houses. The oldest model was made in 1676.
For connoisseurs of Eastern culture, several halls present an exhibition of art objects from Asian countries.
It's worth paying attention to the library. Visitors can walk along the observation deck and look at the ancient tomes. This is the quietest room of the museum, as silence is required, like in any other library.

The museum presents a unique exhibition dedicated to the history of the Netherlands, starting from 1100. The entire story is divided into 4 parts and presented in chronological order and covered in international content. Traveling through the floors and halls - you smoothly move from one era to another

Helpful information

Address

Museumplein/Museumstraat, 1
1071 CJ Amsterdam

Opening hours

Every day from 9.00 to 17.00

Ticket price

Adult = 17.5 euros
Child (under 18 years old) = free.
The I Amsterdam card has a discount = 2.5 euros.
With a museum card, admission is free, which allows you to quickly skip the line and enter the building itself.

How to get there

From the central station you can take tram no. 2 or no. 5 (stop Hobbemastraat)
From the hotel or other points in the city, routes must be clarified.
There is a water taxi stop near the Rijksmuseum. If you want to use such an exotic means of transport, then you can get there by it.

In the museum lobby (on the ground floor) there is a round counter on which there is a large number of guides to the Rijksmuseum in different languages. They are free and will help you see the most important sights and masterpieces.
Famous works by masters also have racks with brochures in Dutch and English. They will help you understand and see the nuances of a masterpiece.
Photography is allowed in the museum, but no flash, tripod or selfie stick.
You can use an audio guide. The price of such an excursion is 5 euros.
You can book a tour of the museum. Alas, the official register of excursions in Russian is not provided.
If your phone or camera equipment is dead, there is a special place for recharging on the ground floor.

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