On my last full day in Holland, we toodled over to the Van Gogh museum to check out some of his works. I had no idea the man was so into self portraits. It seems he wanted to practice painting people, so he found himself to be a handy model. He painted between 35-40 of them in his rather short artistic career and there was an entire room in the museum dedicated to Vincent's visage.
Poor Vincent was plagued with emotional issues, bouncing in and out of a psychiatric hospital during the final years of his life. Painting was recommended as therapy, which he took to heart, producing quite prolifically. It was during this time that he painted his "Pieta" below, so appropriate to this Lenten season. Unfortunately, Vincent committed suicide in France at the age of 37.
His famous "Sunflowers" was on display, along with "Irises". I especially enjoyed seeing his more light filled paintings of the Dutch or French countryside.
I found the crab painting below to be more of a one-off, certainly not something typical of his usual style. And yet I was drawn to the rather charming and whimsical quality of it.
Below are some pics of colorfully painted and floral bedecked bikes we spied around the city center. Of course, my eye was also drawn to some of the interesting old architecture, too. Alas, so much history, and certainly not enough time to discover it all, even on my third trip.
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