A Van Gogh Show

Over the weekend I went with a few friends to Amsterdam. Despite going there soon as a whole class, we wanted to go by ourselves and get a better feel for the city. Despite a train delay that made our 4 hour trip turn into closer to 6 hours, we arrived at the city at midnight on Friday, before promptly going to bed.

The next day was much more eventful. We spent all morning and most of the afternoon just walking around and enjoying the city. I thought the buildings were so classic and beautiful, and the canals were also incredible to see.

In the afternoon I went to the Van Gogh museum and saw many of his famous paintings, including his self-portraits and sunflower paintings. I had hoped to see Starry Night, but as it turns out, it’s in America! I will definitely go see it when I get back.

The museum went into depth about how Van Gogh’s art style changed over his 10 year career. Originally he had wanted to be a “peasant artist,” and many of his early works were very dark paintings of people working in fields. In these paintings he used dark colors like greens and browns. In 1886 he went to France, where he was influenced by the impressionist movement (Van Gogh Museum), and this is where he gained his mastery of color. Van Gogh’s most famous paintings come from the influence of this trip to France, and many of his paintings from this period are my favorite.

There were so many paintings in the museum that I was able to spend several hours there. Van Gogh was painting about one painting a day before he died, and his skills really showed. One painting shows his room, and inside the painted room there are self portraits!

After the museum there was some more walking. We actually never took a bus or a tram for the whole trip. The airbnb we were staying at was around a 30 minute train followed by another 30 minute walk from the train station, so it was far, but we had some nice views. When we got back we cooked dinner and watched a movie.

The trip back was much smoother, we managed to get on an ICE and we were back in Bonn only a few hours later. Our trip was so much fun and I was so glad to see so much art from my favorite artist!

– Robin S

Van Gogh Museum. (n.d.). Artist in Paris. Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved February 6, 2025, from https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/artist-in-paris?v=1