Modern Art and Rijstaffel

Yesterday we had a relaxing day sitting around the house after all of the hustle and bustle of the week. In mid-afternoon we set out for the Stedelijk Museum of modern art. We met up with Sjoerd and Martha in the museum bookstore and spent three hours wandering among the exhibits.

Many of the kiosks around Amsterdam were advertising a new Stedelijk exhibit entitled 'Amsterdam-The Magic Center'. The ads include the photo of backs of two women. The exhibit followed the art scene in Amsterdam through the late 60s and early 70s. Many of the same social movements addressing racism, ecology, feminism, and war were being hashed out all over over the world at that time. At one point artists staged a sit in at the Rijksmuseum. Much of the art displayed brought back that time. It was interesting to see how the summer of 67 played out here.

I found Grayson Perry's piece entitled Gulf War Dinner Service pretty compelling. The medium of Delft Blue fit the locale.

The permanent section of the museum is called 'The Base' and it focuses on following the Modern Art movement since its inception in the late 1800s. Mondrian and other Dutch artists are featured heavily. There is an experiential piece by Edward Keinholtz entitled 'The Beanery' which is a surrealist interpretation of the famous Hollywood Cafe of the same name. YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/ObyQAcEqi4o
The clocks seem to represent our living on borrowed time.

The museum closed at 6 and our dinner reservations were for 6:30 so we spent a bit of time enjoying the sun on the museumplein. (see photo of the similarly bloused spouses) We then wandered over to a nearby Indonesian restaurant recommended by Sjoerd and Martha called Sama Sebo. Their recently matriculated son René joined us for the meal.

Rijstaffel is a Dutch word meaning 'rice table'. It is an Indonesian meal that was brought to the Netherlands during the colonial days. It has become pretty close to a Dutch national dish at this point. It consists of a myriad of small dishes (20 maybe) served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways. Ours included, plantain, several versions of stewed beef, chicken, sambals, satay, fruit, vegetables, pickled cucumbers, and nuts. It was delicious. I've included a video of table here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xQriUQwKwTbL2LCr5

Delicious. Ice cream followed on the walk back up the Prinsengracht. Nice evening.Read more