Latest news with #StedelijkMuseum
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amsterdam being booked up by Canadians in June: Skyscanner trending travel destination
A European summer is very much on the horizon for Canadians and in June, Amsterdam has proven to be a particularly popular travel destination. Information provided to Yahoo Canada from Skyscanner revealed that there has been a 73 per cent increase in flight bookings from Canadian cities to the destination over the last month. According to the 2025 Skyscanner Travel Trends report, 34 per cent of Canadian travellers seeking out immersive art experiences are specifically attracted to the shared, communal aspect of those moments. And Amsterdam is a great destination for those travellers. Search for your next vacation on Skyscanner For art lovers specifically, June is the perfect time to travel to Amsterdam. The Holland Festival takes place in June, the Netherlands' oldest and largest performing arts festival, and the sculpture exhibition ArtZuid is also taking place, transforming areas of the city into an open-air museum. "Amsterdam's commitment to accessible art is evident in venues like the Stedelijk Museum, which offers cutting-edge modern art exhibitions, and the city's numerous independent galleries and street art installations," Laura Lindsay, Skyscanner's travel trends and destinations expert highlighted. Using Skyscanner search data, roundtrip flights from Toronto to Amsterdam in June can currently be found for as low as $513. Flights from Vancouver to Amsterdam start at $695, or $620 from Montreal. Check Skyscanner for up-to-date, live pricing for all flights. Search for your next vacation on Skyscanner If you want to travel like a local in Amsterdam, it's time to get on a bike. "Renting a bike is one of the best ways to see the city. The canal belt is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and riding through it at your own pace gives you a real feel for the rhythm of Amsterdam life," Lindsay said. "Stop along the way for coffee at a canal-side café, or pack a picnic and relax in Vondelpark like the locals do." For visitors looking for the best neighbourhood for a stroll, the Jordaan District is the place to go. "The Jordaan is full of independent galleries, boutiques, and cozy brown cafés," Lindsay highlighted. "It's the kind of neighbourhood where you can wander with no real plan and still stumble on something great." "If you're there on a Saturday, don't miss the Noordermarkt — part flea market, part foodie haven, and all charm." If you want to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather, the Rijksmuseum Garden is a great stop. "Even if you've already visited the Rijksmuseum, the summer gardens are worth a separate trip," Lindsay stated. "They're beautifully maintained and often feature outdoor sculptures or installations." "It's free to enter, and it's a peaceful break in the middle of Museumplein — ideal for art lovers and sun seekers alike." The Hoxton, Amsterdam is located in the heart of the city, in the same neighbourhood as some of the city's best restaurants and stores. The hotel's restaurant Lotti's has a focus on seasonal Dutch ingredients with its "modern European restaurant" cuisine. Located between two historical canals, Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam has an interesting history, from a 15th-century convent to the City Hall of Amsterdam. The rooms feature contemporary French designs, with the property having specifically family-friendly accommodations and experiences. The hotel also has a spa with an indoor pool. Have a particularly luxurious experience at The Dylan, Amsterdam, located in the "9-streets" area on the Keizersgracht canal. It's also home to the two Michelin star awarded Restaurant Vinkeles, in addition to Bar Brasserie OCCO, which has its infamous "High Wine" experience, a play on High Tea. Each room style is unique, and includes one inspired by the Loxura butterfly, to an authentic Amsterdam-style loft. Skyscanner has a number of features to make sure you save as much as possible on your vacation. Take advantage of the "Saved" feature. Start by browsing all the travel deals and when you see something you like, you can save it for later. Step 1: Find your flights and hotel. Step 2: Select the heart icon next to your top picks to save them for later. Make sure you're logged into your Skyscanner account. Pro tip: Download the Skyscanner app to create separate Saved lists for all the different trips you're planning. If flight costs are getting you down, there are a few things Canadian travellers can do to ensure they're getting the best deal possible for their next vacation, both on the Skyscanner platform specifically and when looking for flights more generally. Beat the crowds: For flights that are filling up fast, you'll want to make sure you're looking at the monthly view on travel search sites like Skyscanner to see the best possible option available for flight dates. Set up alerts: Prices are always changing, so if you're hoping to travel to a specific destination, or on specific dates, set up a price alert so you can be quick if a deal comes up. Skyscanner specifically has a price alerts system for any cost changes. Consider "Everywhere": If you're hoping for a new adventure, or a little rest and relaxation, but you don't have a specific destination in mind, the "Everywhere" search on Skyscanner may be your new best friend to discover the most affordable vacation destination possible. Flexible dates: There may be certain times where you need to travel for specific dates, but the best deals are really revealed when you open yourself up to some flexibility. Even changing your travel dates by a day, or a week, can result in significant savings.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amsterdam being booked up by Canadians in June: Skyscanner trending travel destination
A European summer is very much on the horizon for Canadians and in June, Amsterdam has proven to be a particularly popular travel destination. Information provided to Yahoo Canada from Skyscanner revealed that there has been a 73 per cent increase in flight bookings from Canadian cities to the destination over the last month. According to the 2025 Skyscanner Travel Trends report, 34 per cent of Canadian travellers seeking out immersive art experiences are specifically attracted to the shared, communal aspect of those moments. And Amsterdam is a great destination for those travellers. Search for your next vacation on Skyscanner For art lovers specifically, June is the perfect time to travel to Amsterdam. The Holland Festival takes place in June, the Netherlands' oldest and largest performing arts festival, and the sculpture exhibition ArtZuid is also taking place, transforming areas of the city into an open-air museum. "Amsterdam's commitment to accessible art is evident in venues like the Stedelijk Museum, which offers cutting-edge modern art exhibitions, and the city's numerous independent galleries and street art installations," Laura Lindsay, Skyscanner's travel trends and destinations expert highlighted. Using Skyscanner search data, roundtrip flights from Toronto to Amsterdam in June can currently be found for as low as $513. Flights from Vancouver to Amsterdam start at $695, or $620 from Montreal. Check Skyscanner for up-to-date, live pricing for all flights. Search for your next vacation on Skyscanner If you want to travel like a local in Amsterdam, it's time to get on a bike. "Renting a bike is one of the best ways to see the city. The canal belt is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and riding through it at your own pace gives you a real feel for the rhythm of Amsterdam life," Lindsay said. "Stop along the way for coffee at a canal-side café, or pack a picnic and relax in Vondelpark like the locals do." For visitors looking for the best neighbourhood for a stroll, the Jordaan District is the place to go. "The Jordaan is full of independent galleries, boutiques, and cozy brown cafés," Lindsay highlighted. "It's the kind of neighbourhood where you can wander with no real plan and still stumble on something great." "If you're there on a Saturday, don't miss the Noordermarkt — part flea market, part foodie haven, and all charm." If you want to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather, the Rijksmuseum Garden is a great stop. "Even if you've already visited the Rijksmuseum, the summer gardens are worth a separate trip," Lindsay stated. "They're beautifully maintained and often feature outdoor sculptures or installations." "It's free to enter, and it's a peaceful break in the middle of Museumplein — ideal for art lovers and sun seekers alike." The Hoxton, Amsterdam is located in the heart of the city, in the same neighbourhood as some of the city's best restaurants and stores. The hotel's restaurant Lotti's has a focus on seasonal Dutch ingredients with its "modern European restaurant" cuisine. Located between two historical canals, Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam has an interesting history, from a 15th-century convent to the City Hall of Amsterdam. The rooms feature contemporary French designs, with the property having specifically family-friendly accommodations and experiences. The hotel also has a spa with an indoor pool. Have a particularly luxurious experience at The Dylan, Amsterdam, located in the "9-streets" area on the Keizersgracht canal. It's also home to the two Michelin star awarded Restaurant Vinkeles, in addition to Bar Brasserie OCCO, which has its infamous "High Wine" experience, a play on High Tea. Each room style is unique, and includes one inspired by the Loxura butterfly, to an authentic Amsterdam-style loft. Skyscanner has a number of features to make sure you save as much as possible on your vacation. Take advantage of the "Saved" feature. Start by browsing all the travel deals and when you see something you like, you can save it for later. Step 1: Find your flights and hotel. Step 2: Select the heart icon next to your top picks to save them for later. Make sure you're logged into your Skyscanner account. Pro tip: Download the Skyscanner app to create separate Saved lists for all the different trips you're planning. If flight costs are getting you down, there are a few things Canadian travellers can do to ensure they're getting the best deal possible for their next vacation, both on the Skyscanner platform specifically and when looking for flights more generally. Beat the crowds: For flights that are filling up fast, you'll want to make sure you're looking at the monthly view on travel search sites like Skyscanner to see the best possible option available for flight dates. Set up alerts: Prices are always changing, so if you're hoping to travel to a specific destination, or on specific dates, set up a price alert so you can be quick if a deal comes up. Skyscanner specifically has a price alerts system for any cost changes. Consider "Everywhere": If you're hoping for a new adventure, or a little rest and relaxation, but you don't have a specific destination in mind, the "Everywhere" search on Skyscanner may be your new best friend to discover the most affordable vacation destination possible. Flexible dates: There may be certain times where you need to travel for specific dates, but the best deals are really revealed when you open yourself up to some flexibility. Even changing your travel dates by a day, or a week, can result in significant savings.
New European
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
The flowering of Anselm Kiefer
Now, more than 60 years on, two exhibitions in Amsterdam and one in Oxford are showing the work of Anselm Kiefer, covering his early, mature and most recent output. Arguably the most significant living artist, Kiefer's work is constantly arresting and alarming, while often consoling and unashamedly beautiful. Kiefer calls history an artist's material, 'just as clay is to a sculptor and paint is to a painter'. At 18, a serious-minded young German from Donaueschingen, a town in the Black Forest near the Swiss border, set out across France, Belgium and the Netherlands. He had been born in 1945, the year those lands were beginning to emerge from the nightmare of Nazi occupation. The first recipient of a new travel scholarship for young artists, the young Anselm Kiefer may have travelled light, but he carried with him what he would often refer to in later life as the weight of history. The Amsterdam exhibitions take their title from the 1956 song by Pete Seeger, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? The written text – 'Where have all the soldiers gone?'; 'Where have all the graves gone?' – sprawls across the works that surround the top of the great staircase in the Stedelijk Museum. The five floor-to-ceiling pieces that tower over the visitor are on a monumental scale, typical of Kiefer's latest and greatest works. Images from Sag mir wo die Blumen sind at the Stedelijk Museum and Van Gogh Museum Images from Sag mir wo die Blumen sind at the Stedelijk Museum and Van Gogh Museum Images from Sag mir wo die Blumen sind at the Stedelijk Museum and Van Gogh Museum Technically these are canvases, thick with verdigris paint and made sculptural with applied objects, stuck to the canvases like giant collages. Ranks of spattered, degraded uniforms hang from rusting hangers, and some of them would only fit a child. Rein Wolfs, director of the Stedelijk, introduced the artist and his work, with its 'weight of the past and uncertainties of the future', two days before Kiefer's 80th birthday. 'When the world order seems to be unstable it's important to think about other unstable world orders,' said Wolfs. 'It's important to use history to explain what's happening today.' What's happening today wasn't happening when the exhibitions were in the making – not all of it, anyway. But Kiefer's practice is rooted in the trauma of a childhood in postwar Germany. The burden of his father, in particular – an officer in the Wehrmacht – was always present in his art. Threat, decay and destruction burn from the vast canvases, but glowing in the embers is always the promise of regeneration. The young Kiefer's European journey followed in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh. There are obvious synergies between the two artists, notably in the paradox of the sunflower: at its most glorious and spectacular the sun-seeking flower head is on the point of corruption and collapse. Kiefer depicts the sunflowers in paint and has also stuck withered flowers to the canvases. Dull, dark seeds will fall to the ground from bowed and blackened heads – but each enfolds a drop of precious oil, and carries the promise of a new crop of breathtaking beauty, mobile, radiant and strong. The flowers of the joint exhibitions' title, however, are interpreted by the artist as roses. Pink and crimson petals are scattered on the floor around the Stedelijk installation, some with just the ghost of a fragrance, but all drained of their former voluptuousness, as they crackle under the feet of heedless gallery-goers. Curators are realistic about human nature. Petals will disappear in pockets and bags, to be replaced by patient gallery staff. Everyone wants a piece of Anselm Kiefer. 'Only these are not Anselm Kiefer,' says Wolfs. After his youthful Van Gogh pilgrimage, Kiefer confronted his country's – and his own family's – past by posing in his father's old uniform, giving the same stiff-armed salute that has become newly and distastefully fashionable among certain ultra right wing Americans. Some of the resulting images can be seen in a third Kiefer exhibition, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. These acts of contrition – atoning for the sins of the fathers – seem to liberate Kiefer, not from his share of Germany's collective memory, but from its negative force. From now on, his images will defer to nature's positive energy. 'My personal history did not start in the Third Reich,' he says, 'it stretches back much further… I don't view history in a linear way: it repeats itself and we find the same structures and patterns in other cultures, too, such as the Incas. History seems to me instead to be something that widens the further back we go.' Like his sunflowers, in Kiefer's early work lie the seeds of what is to come over the ensuing six decades. Certain leitmotifs will recur over and over. Meanwhile the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam juxtaposes Kiefer's works with those of their own man, and this emphasises the fact that Kiefer seldom strays far from landscape in its broadest sense. Drawings of rural scenes that date from the 18-year-old's expedition demonstrate that, notwithstanding the sheer scale and abundance of his later works, in some ways he is a landscape artist at heart. For decades, in works that are loaded with meaning and symbolism, the sky is always up there, the land down there, and the natural order goes undisturbed and unimproved upon. In 1992, having worked for 20 years in Odenwald, latterly in a former brickworks, Kiefer left Germany and set up a colossal new studio in a disused silk factory in Barjac, Provence. Here he creates installations on an industrial scale, but also cultivates sunflowers using seed brought back from Japan during two years of extensive travels across Asia – during which, he says, he did no painting. The experience also led to a rethink: 'I needed a change for my work, and it is easier to change if you go away,' he told Das Kunstmagazin in 2001. 'The horizon has disappeared and the materials are clearer.' Kiefer has no time for abstract art, he writes in the catalogue for the Amsterdam shows. 'I find completely abstract art, for example by Wassily Kandinsky, boring and vacuous. I prefer abstract art that retains a hint of representation, like those paintings by Kandinsky in which the transition to abstraction is still discernible, where the struggle is still visible.' There is no doubt that the later artist appreciates a good struggle, especially if it is natural forces that are at work. In Hemlock Cup (2019), the life has been bleached out of fertile land by the toxic plant that gives German its own version of 'poisoned chalice' – Schierlingsbecher or beaker of hemlock. Farmland under attack is a common motif. The birds that wheel over Die Krähen (The Crows, 2024) resemble a squadron of fighter jets, their outstretched talons like landing gear. You settle into the luxurious gold leaf in the skyline of Under the Lime Tree on the Heath (2019) before noticing a sticky red patch, like a telltale bloodstain at a crime scene. Sometimes the land gets its own back. Also in 2019, the greedy farmer in The Last Load, based, says Kiefer, on a folk tale, collapses under the weight of the grain, having wrested too much from the earth. Kiefer's connection to Van Gogh stretches from the soil to the sky. His O Stalks of the Night, with its reference to a Paul Celan poem and its satellites of gold and indigo, echoes Van Gogh's starry nights. Kiefer's own Starry Night is another undisguised tribute, with constellations of gilded straw and moons of chaff in a sky of aquamarine. But rarely in this natural world is there a recognisable being. A rare exception is the snake that winds through the fuselage of a small jet plane, a creature that can shed one skin and start a new life, while man is represented solely by the memoir of an adventurer. Lead has become a powerfully suggestive material for Kiefer. Having already discovered its potential and alchemic symbolism, he bought lead sheets discarded during the restoration of Cologne Cathedral. Journey to the End of the Night was first shown in 1990 and continues to make a stomach-turning impact, occupying an entire room. Its title is that of a controversial novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, who held antisemitic and fascist views. The sense of a crash landing and the absence of humanity make this a chilling object. Unlike the natural world, it has no built-in regeneration. For that, the viewer looks to the fields and skies recreated on the walls. When Kiefer asks the question, 'Where have all the flowers gone?', he answers it himself, in his art. The flowers are destroyed, like so much life, by warfare. And although we have learned that, we have not learned to keep the peace. Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind is at the Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, until June 9. Versions of the exhibitions are at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, June 28 to October 26 and at White Cube, Mason's Yard, London, June 25 to August 16. Anselm Kiefer – Early Works is at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until June 15
Forbes
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
German Artist Anselm Kiefer Engages In Visceral Dialogue With Van Gogh In Blockbuster Exhibition Sprawling Two Amsterdam Museums
Anselm Kiefer, The Starry Night, 2019, emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, straw, gold leaf, wood, ... More wire, sediment of an electrolysis on canvas, 470 x 840 cm Re-imagine the night sky, simultaneously tranquil and disquieting, as straw, gold leaf, wood, wire, and sediment mimic thick, impasto brushstrokes to pay homage to one of art history's most captivating swirls. The unusual materials, interacting with emulsion, and oil and acrylic paints, borrow from Post-Impressionist exploration of light and color to depict verisimilitude of nature. German artist Anselm Kiefer named his work De sterrennacht (The Starry Night) (2019) after Vincent van Gogh's painting executed from the Dutch master's east-facing window view during his yearlong stay at the asylum (psychiatric hospital) of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 'What you see here is Kiefer working on a very grand scale, using his entire arsenal of materials. The green is created by electrolysis, he's using a lot of gold right now, and it is really about how he's getting out the movement in the Starry Night in an almost overwhelming way,' Emilie Gordenker, director of the Van Gogh Museum, said during a tour of the exhibition following the previews of TEFAF-Maastricht. 'These works are also clearly looking to Van Gogh.' Van Gogh's influence permeates Kiefer's career, and is most evident in this colossal painting, stretching nearly 28 feet long and soaring more than 15 feet high. Sag mir wo die Blumen sind presents a wide range of Kiefer's work displayed across the Stedelijk Museum – showcasing his early works from the museum's own collection together for the first time, along with recent paintings and two new installations – and the Van Gogh Museum highlighting his lifelong dialogue with van Gogh. The name of the exhibition, German for Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, is borrowed from the eponymous 1955 anti-war song, originally written and performed by American folk singer Pete Seeger, who was inspired by the traditional Cossack folk song 'Koloda-Duda" (Колода-дуда in Russian) while reading Mikhail Sholokhov's novel in four volumes, Quiet Flows the Don. Some of us may be more familiar with Marlene Dietrich's recordings of the Seeger song in English, French, and German. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder On view through June 9, the sprawling exhibition is drawing global crowds, and it's wise to purchase tickets in advance. If you'll be in Amsterdam this spring, consider this a can't-miss inquiry into Kiefer's singular artistic process and robust creative relationship with van Gogh. Kiefer's visceral oeuvre – spanning monumental paintings, sculptures, installations, woodcuts, artists' books, works on paper, and films – confronts his childhood amid the rubble and contrition of postwar Germany. He denounced the pettiness and peril of nationalism, depicting the desecrated landscape and architecture and embracing the ambit of emotions that resonated with viewers around the world. Complexities are woven into intricate Kiefer's work, referencing literature, poetry, philosophy, mythology, scientific theory, and mysticism, amplified by the technical layering of his massive canvases and installations. Lead, straw, sand, charred wood, dried flowers, books, concrete, branches, ashes, and clothing lend to the visual narratives which reject any objective truth to history. Memory – individual and collective – was central to redefining national identity and public discourse in the wake of Nazism and the Holocaust, creating a new paradigm of memory politics which continues to inform our opinion of a dark chapter of history that's still fresh to survivors and resonates amid ongoing geopolitical horrors. Anselm Kiefer, Innenraum, 1981, oil, acrylic and paper on canvas, theartist, 287.5 × 311cm, ... More collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam A skylight eerily illuminates the lurid grit of Kiefer's sinister Innenraum (1981), derived from a photograph of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, designed by Adolf Hitler's favorite architect, Albert Speer, plunging us into the abyss of inhumanity. 'In the early 1980s it was still difficult when he came up with his Nazi criticism. He was also provocative. In the early 1970s he was doing performances in which he was wearing the Nazi uniform of his father. And this was, of course, not well (received) in Germany, and this caused quite a disturbance. For him, it was a critique. It was making a fool of Nazism, in a way. But in the Netherlands, he found a very good ground with collectors and with museum directors, especially here at the Stedelijk,' said Rein Wolfs, director of the Stedelijk. Anselm Kiefer, Steigend, steigend, sinkenieder, 2024 .Courtesy of the artist & White Cube. Shock and awe define the experience of navigating Kiefer's uncanny, enormous works, and Steigend, steigend, sinke nieder (Rising, rising, sinking down), a site-specific installation made from lead and photograph for the exhibition, magnifies the wow-factor. Imaging the hours of wrangling with the heavy metal (lead has a density of 708 pounds per cubic foot) to assemble this astonishing installation is exhausting, creating a genuine immersive experience where we surrender to the many memories emblazoned on the black-and-white photographs evoking myriad emotions. This glorious monstrosity epitomizes organized chaos and forces us look beyond the surface, temping us to crawl inside. Van Gogh continues to enthrall the global art world. M.S. Rau of New Orleans sold the rare Still Life with Two Sacks and a Bottle by van Gogh (asking price of $4.75 million) to a private collector at the 38th edition of TEFAF Maastricht, which is widely regarded as the world's preeminent fair for fine museum quality art, antiques, design and jewelry. Press preview of Sag mir wo die Blumen sind at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, March5,2025. Below ... More left: Anselm Kiefer, to the right: director Rein Wolfs. More from this year's TEFAF Maastricht: Exquisite Couples Delight At Breathtaking TEFAF Maastricht Preview Rediscovered Pioneering Portrait Painter Lotte Laserstein Rises At TEFAF Maastricht
South China Morning Post
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Unique takes on Van Gogh's Starry Night, Sunflowers by German artist on show in Amsterdam
When he was just 17 years old, German artist Anselm Kiefer retraced the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh from the Netherlands through Belgium and into France. Advertisement Now, more than half a century later, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is joining forces for the first time with the neighbouring Stedelijk modern and contemporary art museum to stage a blockbuster exhibition of Kiefer's work, titled 'Sag mir wo die Blumen sind', a reference to folk singer Pete Seeger's iconic pacifist anthem 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?' Kiefer said he did not set out to make an exclusively anti-war exhibition, even though he closely follows world events, including the conflict triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 'I don't say, 'I do now an exhibition against the war.' This I don't do because this is a programme; I'm not a programmatic artist,' he said. 'I do what is in me, what has to come out. And that is about all kinds of things, about the dead, about the war.' Anselm Kiefer talks during a press preview of an exhibition of his works at the Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands on March 5, 2025. Photo: AP Kiefer's sometimes bleak work, which is rooted in his growing up in post-World War II Germany, might not immediately feel related to Van Gogh's vibrant and richly coloured landscapes and vases of sunflowers.
