Acoustically pleasing concert halls! Van Gogh!

April 20

Every Wednesday, the Concertgebouw, a famous concert hall downtown, holds a free concert in the middle of the day. Being fans of music and all things free, some of the people from the calvin group had been planning on attending one of the concerts for a while, but had not been able to because it clashed with one of our classes. That class ended for the semester, so we were able to attend.  The concert hall is world famous because it has great acoustics (I learned that offa wikipedia), and because its so great it has hosted famous musicians and composers such as Debussy, Bach, and Beethoven.

Panorama of the concertgebouw.

The concert wasn't very long (less than an hour), but just getting the chance to sit in the building and listen to music was a worthwhile opportunity.  Afterwards, most of the group headed off to go grab some ice cream, while I left to explore the Van Gogh museum.  For any art-loving fans of van gogh who are looking to visit: do not go in the early afternoon on a wednesday.  I had to wait in line for probably around 45 minutes, which wasn't unbearable but still a longer wait than anything else around here that I've been to thus far.

I didn't know too much about van gogh other than the fact that he painted a few sunflowers and a starry night at one point, so I learned a lot at the museum. One of the things I found really interesting was that van gogh didn't start painting till his mid/late 20's.  That seems really late for a world-renowned painter to begin his career.  In addition to having a wide selection of paintings by Van Gogh (but not Starry Night), the museum had other paintings by artists that influenced van gogh or were from the same school of art.  While this might have just been an attempt to fill up a museum with more paintings, it added another level of context to his work.  The museum was both interesting and educational, and more importantly, allowed me to check another museum off of my museum list!

I found a print of one of van gogh's painting
on the side of the street and stuck it on top of my fridge.  
That's pretty much the extent of my art connoisseurship.

I mentioned in my post about things i still oughta do while still in europe that I wanted to go to most of the major museums in amsterdam before I left.  Here's the list of museums in Amsterdam that I can access for free:


attended!
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Rijksmuseum, FOAM Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam.

not yet attended!
Allard Pierson Museum / Archeologisch Museum Der Universiteit Van Amsterdam,  Bijbels Museum, De Appel , De Burcht / Vakbondsmuseum, De Nieuwe Kerk, EnergeticA, Filmmuseum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Huis Marseille, Stichting voor Fotografie, Joods Historisch Museum, Tropenmuseum, Max Euwe-Centrum, Museum Amstelkring, Museum Geelvinck-Hinlopen, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Museum Het Schip, Museum Van Loon, Willet-Holthuysen Museum, Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, Oude Kerk, Persmuseum, Stedelijk Museum CS, Theatermuseum / Theater Instituut Nederland, Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam

As you can see, the second list is a lot longer than the first.  Even though I'm not planning on attending all of them, I still have my work cut out for me.