Monday 23rd of March

Today we took a look through the Stedelijk Museum, which is dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

I found it a interesting and eccentric collection of pieces from all over the world, and a portion dedicated to World War II, which I thought was incredibly interesting, especially seeing cabinets full of papers and documents dating from that original time. It really felt like stepping through history, and seeing propaganda art was almost chilling in a way. To know that they constructed a bunker during that time to store and safe-keep all valuable art was warming to hear and an interesting fact of history.

Unfortunately I also learned that lots of the art was unnamed and kept anonymous so as to protect the identity of their respective artists if the works were ever found, and after the war many of the Jewish artists did not return to claim their pieces, and therefore no one knows who painted what and their past is shrouded in mystery.

I enjoyed seeing Ruudt Peter's work, which I found had a very strong conceptual base. The melding of female/male, harmonious, balance, it can be a very subjective area, and it is interesting to see it defined by physical parameters, yet they speak of so much more.

I thought his house was great.

I found out that Ruudt has something against the colour red, yet out of his pieces I think the Red Potato which he replicated into a necklace was quite quirky and fun. Ruudt spent considerable time in China and India, learning and exploring and for business.

The Stedelijk Museum