July 5
Our focus today was on the Dutch Golden Age, following the liberation led by William of Orange. Thus, we were brought over to both the Franz Hals Museum of Haarlem and the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. To conclude the day, most of the group enjoyed the night at one of the local pubs.
Being only Day 2 of many, I found myself surprisingly exhausted. But as we learned in lecture this morning, a common theme in Dutch art is the constant reminder that life is short (derived from the Spanish concept of vanitas). This was blatantly apparent throughout the Franz Hals Museum, with the numerous ticking clocks in many rooms, as well as the subtle skulls, candles, and plant devouring insects that peppered a good portion of the artworks. With that said, I feel it my duty to make the most out of every minute of this program.
On a different note, I found a tremendous disparity between the Golden Age and the so-called atypical style of Dutch icon Vincent van Gogh. It was great to finally get a perspective of these artworks in relation to one another, in visiting the two sites in consecutive days. One of the major differences I noticed is of the break from religion, extravagance and royalty with van Gogh. Furthermore, as taken stated in the reader, “painting as realistically as possible was no longer that important: for a realistic image a photograph could be taken. Instead, painters increasingly attempted to show the reality of the artist himself.”
This concept was a reinvention in both production and comprehension of art that would continue to spark further revolutions in cultured society from that period and onwards.
This Dutch Golden Age painting signifies religion and military might as the power behind royalty.
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