Amsterdam 2023: Moco Museum and Huis Vasari
We were a little early for our timed tickets to Moco Museum so strolled Museumplein and the surrounding streets for a while. The house in the gallery below is dated above the door “Anno 1907” and the statue is of Descartes who lived in the Netherlands for 20 years. However, it was the Women of Ravensbrück 1939-1945 memorial that I spent most time looking at. The full set of inscriptions (not all shown) translate as:
Women of Ravensbrück 1940-1945
To those who persevered to the utmost in saying NO to fascism
In memory of the women, men, and children who lost their lives in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, 1939-1945
Moco displays a wide range of modern, contemporary, and street art. The ground floor is taken up with a Banksy exhibition, Laugh now, though the museum is at pains to point out that it is not authorised by Banksy nor it is curated by the artist. However, all exhibited works have been provided with a certificate of authenticity from Pest Control – the only official entity that verifies the artist’s work. Unlike the exhibition we went to in Glasgow last year, which was curated by Banksy, photography was allowed – a few impressions below (titles are in the captions).
Exhibits of modern and contemporary artists filled the upper floors. Again, a few impressions. I particularly liked the two oil paintings by The Kid, The future is old, which were inspired by the words of Coretta Scott King, “Freedom is never really won … you win it in every generation”. Still so true.
Just before the exit was the Digital Immersive Art exhibition by Studio Irma. It reminded me very much of Nxt Museum which we’d visited the day before. You can spot the photographer(s), sometimes multiple times!
In the same section was Arcadia by Andrés Reisinger, a narrated, graphic film in collaboration with musician RAC and poet Arch Hades. It pays tribute to philosophers, poets, artists and authors who have shaped human psychology and culture. I just liked the flying books!
From here we exited to the sculpture garden, which I wrote about in an earlier post, and continued our wandering. We stopped for lunch at De Spiegel – another café we know well from previous visits. They do wonderful pancakes!
Our destination was Haus Vasari, another opportunity to see inside a grand canal house. Built in the 17th century, it was renovated in 2021 and is now home to the Vrije Academie; the largest arts and cultural education organisation in the Netherlands.
It was worth a look just to see the interior and the garden. However, as luck would have it, a new exhibition had just been installed and one of the artists was there doing a meet and greet. We were introduced to Daan Zuijderwijk and he urged us to come to his talk in a few minutes.
One of his works had already intrigued us because of the title: Scotland. However, we didn’t think we’d understand any of his talk because it would be in Dutch. Oh, I’ll do it in English he said! And so he did – it was announced at the beginning and no-one demurred. We felt quite guilty, but very glad because it was fascinating.
Daan and Maaike Vergouwe, who is both his life and business partner, travel Europe with their three daughters in a self-built house on wheels, returning to Amsterdam from time to time to sell his work which is all about the relationship between humankind and nature. He uses artificial light on the spot in the natural landscape and his images are not manipulated in post-production. For example, the Scottish mountain scene shown was created by tracing outlines with a laser pen. I know there is more to it than that – I was just in awe at how he got the idea and could then keep his hand steady enough to execute it. And give a talk in English at the drop of a hat which all his audience could follow. We felt guilty and inadequate.
From Haus Vasari there was more wandering towards home. We also visited the photography museum, Foam, but I don’t have many photos or notes from that. You can read more about each of the images below in the captions.
We visited a Greek restaurant that night to add to our global cuisine experiences. The following day we decided to take a trip outside the city and were torn between tulips and windmills. The windmills won out – coming soon!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
What a great museum! And I love the leaning houses in Amsterdam. There really is no other city quite like it!
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it’s certainly special!
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You do make a Great Amsterdam Tour Guide. Will definitely refer back to your posts if I ever get back there!
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Always glad to be useful!
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This is such provocative art work, Anabel. Thank you for taking us along with you. I wish that you could have literally taken us to that Greek restaurant as well. I LOVE Greek food!
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So do I, though this wasn’t the best I’ve had. Up till then we had been able to walk in to restaurants but this was Thursday and things were getting busy as the weekend approached, so we took what we could get. We made sure to book for our last two nights!
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The Moco museum looks so interesting ☺️.
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We loved it, a great discovery.
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The digital immersive art exhibition looks like so much fun! It’s stunning. And it was very nice of Daan Zuijderwijk to do his talk in English so you could follow along. I’m always in awe at how so many continental Europeans can switch languages at the drop of a hat.
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It’s nice but shaming at the same time!
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The kaleidoscopic colored lights looked fun! I confess I’ve never figured out how to see the captions on your pictures. Maybe it’s because I read blogs on my phone.
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Possibly because I still use classic galleries and the captions come up underneath each picture as you scroll through the gallery? On a phone screen they might be too far down to see with the whole picture, I sometimes have to fiddle about on my iPad with some blogs to see the captions underneath.
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Wow! I’m ready to book a flight there!
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Highly recommended!
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Loads of things to do there. Saw the completed head of the S.J. serpent on the news tonight and they are going to put a new skin on the body, with added ceramics, which should be very good once its finished.
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Yes, they had obviously done press in the afternoon so I saw a picture too before the unveiling which spoilt the surprise a bit!
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Anabel, you have shown me another side of Amsterdam with places we didn’t go to so it’s wonderful to see them via your trip. The art is stunning, “Love in the Air” street art, we first saw in Lisbon.
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Glad to hear I am taking you to new places!
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Always Anabel, I am really enjoying reading them and of course viewing John’s photos.
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I liked the feminist re-naming.
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So did I! Well spotted.
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There are a lot of powerful artworks in this post. And I love immersive art like the one you experienced.
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Yes, it was all very stimulating. I can’t believe we didn’t get museumed-out, though we did flag a bit by the end of the week.
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Yes, there’s only so much I can look at too.
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The canal side houses are so distinctive, aren’t they? I’d love to see inside a few.
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That’s the beauty of these small museums – they get you in to look at the fabulous (usually) interiors.
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The Moco Museum looks a lovely building, it reminds me very much of a hotel not far from me, sadly now demolished after being closed for several years. I’m afraid I’ve no time for Banksy’s stuff, his/her work is very overrated, but I love the digital immersive art and the Balloon Venus – if I were ever to buy one piece of art it would be that one 🙂
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Might set you back a few bob, Eunice!
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Well I can always dream 😀
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I keep admiring your stamina! Another excellent tour of interesting places in Amsterdam. I particularly like the Haus Vasari, with its stunning staircase, ceiling and garden ornaments.
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Yes, it was a lovely house. I think it used to be the Bible Museum and we visited it then too.
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A great virtual tour of the city – I am really enjoying this series from your trip.
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Thank you so much!
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If we do ever go back to Amsterdam I’ll come to you to help plan our itinerary! The Moco museum sounds completely up our street and I know you’ll be able to recommend some great places to eat! How wonderful, but slightly embarrassing, that the artist gave his talk in English just for you and none of the other attendees complained at all! I always reckon the Dutch and the Scandinavians are the best speakers of English as a foreign language (and many better than a lot of native speakers!)
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You’ve largely taken the words out of my mouth Sarah. When you and Anabel go walkabout in Amsterdam, can I come too please?
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That sounds like a great idea!
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Amsterdam here we come! But will Amsterdam be ready for us?
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Any chance of me joining you?
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Of course! The more the merrier.
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What Anabel said 😀 It would be fun to actually do this some time!
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It actually would!
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😃❤
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A bloggers’ expedition! Though you might make the embarrassing (to me) discovery that I get lost very quickly without John to compensate for my terrible sense of direction.
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Getting lost is part of the fun (although I do have a pretty good sense of direction)
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I agree about Dutch and Scandinavian people being very good at English, possibly because their first languages are rarely learned by anyone else. I find my school girl German allows me to understand a bit of written Dutch, though I have learned to my cost that the pronunciation is not so similar! I do indeed know some very good places to eat.
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The Moco Museum looks and sounds amazing. And how lovely that you were able to attend that talk. It has been my experience that the most multilingual people I have ever met have been Dutch. I suspect they must start language learning at a young age. I remain embarrassingly monolingual. Thank you once again for sharing your wanderings and experiences with us.
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It was great to be able to attend the talk. I suppose if very few people learn your language you have to learn theirs. It makes those of us with English as a first language a bit lazy! I had schoolgirl French and German but it has mostly wasted away.
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The Studio Irma pics reminded me of my childhood kaleidoscope.
I felt inadequate the moment you mentioned the artist (and audience) happily switching to English. Not for the first time!
Always love a Banksy. 🙂
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Yes, I used to love those kaleidoscopes! It was a lot like being in the middle of one.
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