Music and culture

My wife works for an insurance company, a small company but with a large national coverage. Every 5 years they have a lustrum and then the management organizes a nice, special event. This year we went to Rotterdam, we first went to the Boijmans van Beuningen

The Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam is one of the largest museums in the Netherlands with a collection of more than 150,000 pieces. (of which only a very small part is visible).
It is one of the most important art museums in the Netherlands and has an extensive collection of paintings, sculptures and applied arts.

The museum is housed in a building in the Museumpark, this building was opened in 1935 and is now a national monument. We were shown around by a very enthusiastic guide who told us all about the works of art but also about the building. The building was closed in 2019 for a large-scale renovation. It no longer met the current times, the entire building was full of asbestos and they had (due to the poor condition of the building) had the jet under water 3 times, which meant that part of the collection (mainly books and paintings) was lost, which is of course a shame. So now the museum building is being renovated and modernized, it is expected that this will be completed (not until) 2023, but it could take longer.

Next to the museum they have built a huge building which is the depot of all the works of art, it is a large glass building which is completely mirrored on the outside. As long as the museum is not open, visitors can visit the depot and look around to see how all the pieces are stored. It is the first and only depot in the world that is accessible to the public. Quite special. We got a tour there.

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Inside the depot, the enormous amount of glass was immediately noticeable, almost the entire building inside was made of glass to show as much of the collection as possible. Also, large windows were placed at the art storage areas where you could see the shelves on which everything was kept.

Our guide told us that 5 different climates are managed for the different works of art, for example stained glass and paper need a very low humidity and photos are kept in complete darkness. This way they can provide the ideal conditions for the collection. We were allowed to look in one of the rooms that has a very low humidity, here were mainly objects made of metal and glass (but we also saw other objects). It was all very official, at the entrance there was a guard who opened the door for us, then we had to walk over a mat that was very sticky to make sure you didn't bring insects etc. in under your shoes. Then the guard set a timer on his phone because we were not allowed to stay inside for longer than 10 minutes so as not to disturb the climate too much. (when a group had been there, that room would also remain closed to the public for 3 hours to allow the climate to slowly restore itself). Special to see (and also logical) how precisely it all works and how tightly it is regulated. There were also a lot of guards walking around, but from what I understand (as far as the value can be expressed in money) the collection is estimated to be worth 6.1 billion euros.

Stained glass objects

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it but they also had 3 large rooms, behind glass, where restorers restored the objects. This way you could see how everything works, very interesting and a precise job. In the last restoration studio was a painting by one of the world's most famous painters Vincent van Gogh, "De Populierenlaan in Nuenen". In Nuenen, a place in the south of the Netherlands, Vincent van Gogh's parents lived.

The painting was restored because the paint was coming loose, over the years, and the chance of major damage to the painting is increasing. The guide told us that the painting is treated every 3 years to preserve it properly. With modern techniques, much more can be done than before, for example, x-rays are now taken to analyze the canvas. That's how they discovered that Van Gogh had first painted another painting of the church in Nuenen on this canvas. Then he painted the current painting over it. That's cool to see, because there is a painting underneath, the expectation is that this is also the reason why the paint comes loose because the bonding layer is not optimal.

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Finally we went to an exhibition space where objects were shown that were marked as favorites by the public. You could vote on a computer for a collection and once every 3 months they change the exhibition with objects that had been voted for the most. Now these were mainly paintings. What I found very special is that between these paintings hung paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens, two great masters. The paintings hung openly and without any form of protection, if you look in the Louvre in Paris, there is the Mona Lisa placed behind thick, bulletproof glass.

A painting by Rembrandt's of his son Titus, dating from 1606 to 1669

After the museum visit we went back to the hotel, there we had some time to change and then left for Ahoy, a concert hall in Rotterdam. We went to "De Vrienden van Amstel Live" a big music spectacle with many Dutch artists.

Amstel Bier is a Dutch beer brand, they started with a small party in different pubs. That's how it started, it was soon very well attended and they started looking for larger locations. Eventually it grew into a music spectacle that is unparalleled. They now have 14 shows where 15,000 people are per show. The tickets for next year (2026) are already sold out, that was within an hour. That shows how popular it is. The strength of the show lies in the different collaborations, artists sing with and from each other which makes it very varied.

Because it was a party of my wife's work they had VIP tickets, and that was really cool. We were picked up by a bus and dropped off at the front door, there we were received in the VIP area, a large room with all kinds of dining options, several bars and a stage where a number of artists of the evening also played during the pre-party.

Kraantje Pappie, a famous dutch rapper, at the VIP room.

It was all very well organized. At half past seven the room opened and we could go to the VIP deck, here too enough bars and space to enjoy the evening.

The whole evening was a mix of old classics and new music, it was one big party. We were standing behind a stage where at one point the backing band (The Sjimmies) came, what great musicians they were and how cool to be able to see that from so close.

One of the most spectacular performances was the performance of Davina Michelle, a great singer. She sang the song "Fire to the Rain" by Adele. During the song, a huge flood of water came down on the band while she was playing the song. That was really, even from a distance, insane to see. What they can do these days..... In the aftermovie she said that the water was only 6 degrees and that she had to warm up in a thick dressing gown right after that song.

DJ Paul Elstak closed the night and turned the room upside down. Paul Elstak was a big name in the Happy Hardcore scene in the 90s and turns every performance into a party, and this time it was no different. The whole room went crazy.

It was a crazy party and we enjoyed the whole day immensely, ending with this grand music party. This is definitely something to repeat.

Have a nice day,

Peter