Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

I'm one of those people that has to read a book or magazine

from start to finish.  I used to approach a museum visit in the same way.

You start at the beginning and follow the map, stopping at each piece of 

art to read the placard before moving on to the next.

I quickly learned that this just doesn't work.

A museum is like a book of poetry.  It's best if you just relax and flip through,

stopping when something catches your eye or speaks to you.

Each and every time you revisit the poetry book or museum,

you will have a completely different experience.

Grosse Geister (Figur Nr. 8)  1997 by Thomas Schutte

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam is a museum that I would love to visit over and over.
This one ranks right up there in the top three museums that I've visited.

It is just the most comfortable space.

The rooms are open, not too big or too small.

The lighting is perfect.

Each area has the just the right balance of classical and modern pieces.

It's not cluttered and overwhelming.

They've managed to strike the perfect balance of architecture and art.

I could have spent hours wandering through.

Baroque Egg by Jeff Koons

Our first stop was the Espresso Bar for a quick coffee and overview of the Museum.

Then it was to the Merry Go Round Coat Rack to hang up our coats.

The guide pointed to the hangers above our heads and encouraged us to figure out 

how this huge contraption works.

I'm not going to spill.  You will have to figure it out on your own.

But, it was a lot of fun and we could have played here for an hour.

But it was time to visit the Infinity Mirror Room

Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field by Yayoi Kusama

As we entered this small, mirrored room, there were dots as far as the eye could see.

Originally, visitors were meant to lie down on the polka dotted pillows to really

experience the space.  Unfortunately, a few mirrors were broken

along the way, so we weren't able to lay around in the room.

I once had the most vivid dream where I lived in a house with a special hammock room.
The floor of the large room was all netting and there were pillows thrown about
and a big screen TV.
Imagine my delight when I encountered my dream as a reality.

It was so much fun to crawl up into the room.  The permanent installation

at the top of the stairwell is called Let Your Hair Down by Pipolotti Rist.

There is a dreamlike video playing above your head. 

I didn't want to leave.  Although is was fun to slide down the netting to get out.

Everything that we'd seen so far at the entrance of the museum is free and open to the public, including several rooms for temporary exhibits, a restaurant and a museum shop.
The perfect way to spend an hour or two if you're on a budget.

A visit to the rest of the extensive collection is  €12.50 for adults,

€6.25 for students and free for children up to 18 years old. 

With a busy schedule, we weren't there for very long.

We had a guided tour of some of the highlights by a

well-informed and very patient guide.

Visually and aesthetically, the space is perfect.

My camera was in heaven.

This was my favorite room.  I dallied here for quite some time and almost lost my group.

Even on a cloudy day, the lighting was perfect.

The room also included a piece by one of my favorite sculptors, Auguste Rodin.

"Rodin was unprecedented in his expression of the human body. 'Pierre de Wissant' is a larger than life size study for one of the figures from the famous work 'The Burghers of Calais', of which the original version still stands in Calais."

In 1849, the attorney Boijmans left his art collection to the City of Rotterdam.

In 1958 it acquired another large collection resulting in the name

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

It is one of the oldest museums in Holland

and contains Dutch and European artwork from the Middle Ages to today.   

Local architect, Van der Steur designed the perfect space for the collection which opened in 1935.  It survived a bombing in the 40's and has been extended over the years.

We entered a room featuring the Dutch Romantics, to find this guy crawling up from the floor.

Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan tore a hole in the floor and placed a sculpture of himself peering up into the room.

 I walked into one room and this piece below was at the far end and it just pulled me into it.

Charley Toorop was a Dutch painter and this is a collection of her family and friends that she  painted in 1932-33.  I love the vivid colors and the intensity of their gazes.

After our short tour, we had a light lunch of soup and sandwiches in the restaurant overlooking the beautiful gardens.  It was such a relaxing morning.
I'm completely in love with this museum (if you couldn't tell.)

Every city has different attractions, something for everyone.
Some of them are enough to draw you to a city
and some you just make time to visit if you happen to be there.
It's different for everyone.

This museum will always draw me to Rotterdam.

What draws you to Rotterdam?

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This visit was complimentary as a part of the TBU post-conference blog trip "Off the Beaten Path" hosted by Rotterdam Marketing and Holland Tourism.
All opinions and photographs are completely my own.