The 7 most important places in Amsterdam related to the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh
Of course the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is the most important place to visit in Amsterdam, in order to see a huge collection of the Vincent Van Gogh paintings.
What just a few people know is that there are other connections between Vincent van Gogh and Amsterdam. Vincent lived in this city, before he decided to become a painter and 130 years ago he made a last visit to the city, because of the opening of the Rijksmuseum.
The 7 most related places to his life in Amsterdam are:
- The Marinewerf
- JD Meijerplein
- The Oude Kerk
- Keizersgracht 8 Amsterdam
- Near Centraal Station
- Rijksmuseum
- The Van Gogh Museum
- The Marinewerf
Vincent lived between May 1877 till July 1878 in Amsterdam. At first he was very confident to start a study theology. In fact at first he had to finish highschool, because at the age of 15 he had left his highschool in Tilburg for an unknown reason. Vincent, at that moment had the age of 24 years old and had been working from the age of 16.
At this moment in life he was very determined to become a minister just like his father and grandfather. For this reason he lived in Amsterdam at the house of the oldest brother of his father. The exact adress: Grote Kattenburgerstraat 3.
- JD Meijerplein 13
Every day Vincent was walking from the house of his uncle to JD Meijerplein, where his teacher Mendes da Costa, a young portugese lived. On a daily basis Vincent got lessons in languages, mathematics. Vincent studied very hard from early in the morning till late at night.
- De Oude Kerk
During his stay in Amsterdam, Vincent used to visit 6 or 7 churches, every Sunday.
He was looking for as much inspiration as possible and studied the styles or the different ministers. He started most of the times with a visit to Oosterchurch; after that Westerchurch and also the old church, where he listened to his uncle Stricker.
Unfortunately Vincent did not succeed in his studies although he studied a lot. After a year he left Amsterdam for Etten, to stay the summer with his parents. After that he left for Belgium.
- Keizersgracht
Minister Stricker and his wife lived at Keizersgracht in 1881 and also their daughter Kee Vos- Stricker, already a widow, with her 5 year old son.
Vincent had fallen in love with his niece and that was the reason to visit her in Amsterdam, in order to get a glimpse of her.
In the summer of 1881 Vincent had returned from Belgium.
At the same time Kee Vos- Stricker stayed in Etten. Together they stayed in the fields and spent time in walking. Vincent quickly fell in love with her and asked her to merry hem.
She refused and quickly left Etten. Vincent could not get her out of his mind, kept on sending letters and travelled to Amsterdam, to get a glimpse of her. Anyway he did not see her anymore.
- Near Central Station
In 1884 en 1885 Vincent lived in Nuenen. First with his parents; After his father died one of his sisters asked to leave the house. So Vincent lived in a different place than the rest of the family. He visited the newly opened Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. When he had to wait at the Central Station he produced 2 small paintings.
- Rijksmuseum
In 1885 the Rijksmuseum had just opened its doors. The building was created by mr Cuyper and according to the people in Amsterdam, there were a lot of catholic elements in the building. A lot of people did not like it for this reason.
Vincent was very impressed by the paintings of Frans Hals and Rembrandt. Especially the painting “Jewish bride” of Rembrandt took his breath away.
- The Van Gogh Museum
The biggest part of the collection of paintings, still owned by the family Van Gogh was turned over to the Van Gogh Museum In Amsterdam.
The first Van Gogh exposition in 1892 took place in Amsterdam, at Panoramazaal. Unfortunately the building does not exist anymore. But the exposition was a the first success at that time !