Stedelijk Museum of modern art in Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum of modern art in Amsterdam
Fast track entry in ALL Amsterdam museums. Avoid spending time waiting in museum queues. Enter the museums together with me.
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"Dear Kees,
Phenomenal! Touring with you was like being friends with the top curator of a major art museum.
Your mountain of knowledge allowed you to zig and zag with our questions and flow seamlessly back into your captivating analysis.
Thank you for engaging each and every family member. It was a delight to be with you, and we feel lucky to have had the experience.
Sincerely,
Leigh and Daniel Levine and family, march 2018."
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Visit the "Stedelijk" Modern Art in Amsterdam. Learn how to look intensively at modern art and see MORE than you would initially get at first glance. An educative and delightful tour by art historian Drs. Kees Kaldenbach.
Fast track entry. Avoid spending time waiting in museum queues. Enter the museums together with me.
The Museum was originally a historical museum and ancient rarities storage museum until the revolutionary arrival of Willem Sandberg; from 1945 to 1963 he was director of the museum, swept the cobwebs away and ordered the white paint on the walls of stairways and walls. Doing that without the consent of the City Council and getting flak! He also organised an early exhibition of COBRA artists including Karel Appel. Built an extension with a glass wing in 1964, now demolished. Other high-profile directors after him were Edy de Wilde, Wim Beeren and Rudi Fuchs. Each left its own policy, color and personal taste. With the farewell exhibition La Grande Parade (1985) De Wilde got a stunning 400,000 visitors.
The 1895 building at Paulus Potterstraat, designed by the Amsterdam city architect A.W. Weissman, is now shown with greenish security glass. The green colour is caused by a plastic sheet of protective coating. Behind the glass is a regular transparent.
An extension was added a short while ago. The white building material of this "bathtub" full of modern art is the man-made Twaron, being lighter and stronger than steel. Architect: Crouwel. Opened after 7 years shutdown period. The architecture critic of the New York Times thought it was a ridiculous building. Come see for yourself and make up your own mind.
Inside there are many collections, from Amsterdam School to Impressionist, Expressionist, De Stijl (Mondrian), Russian painters and many, many brilliant works made after 1945.
Temporary exhibitions enliven the visiting experience.
The bathtub (2012) forms a new and stunning addition to the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam. Worth a visit! As the art guide Michelin sais: Vaut le voyage!. All photos below: Kees Kaldenbach, 2012.
The white material of this bathtub full of modern art is the man-made Twaron, being lighter and stronger than steel. Architect: Crouwel. Opened after 7 years shutdown period. The architecture critic of the New York Times thought it was a ridiculous building. Come see for yourself and make up your own mind.
July 2013: Ricardo N and his wife Francis S. live in New York City and are full-time NYC art aficianados, travelling the world and visiting most of the fine art centers in Europe.
In June-July 2013 they toured for three full days with Drs Kees Kaldenbach.
Ricardo: "I would rate you as terrific. It is a great treat being with you - You saved my life in showing me the Mauritshuis collection - I thought it was completely closed!"
Francis N.: "Kees is outstanding... he has a very rare gift among any the great number of professional tour guide we met in our lifetime... in presenting a deep and very specific art history knowledge, and in combining this with passion and and easy going presentation.
My husband and I have spent our lives in the art world of NYC and the West Coast. We have rarely met such a wonderful guide. Kees is an outstanding fountain of visual knowledge and historic insight. He truly is top class within the field of Western art history!"
To the left: The edge between the old 1895 building and the new bathtub at the side of Museum Square.
To the right: the 1895 building at Paulus Potterstraat, designed by the Amsterdam city architect A.W. Weissman, with greenish security glass. The green colour is caused by a plastic sheet of protective coating. Behind the glass white 
boards and the design department, lit electrically.
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A scene from 2001, a space Odyssey. The escalator links between the top floor and the basement. A visual event with music.
Matisse, parakeet and Mermaid
Henri Matisse's massive cut-paper work, executed while he was sitting in a wheelchair, La Perruche et la Sirène (The Parakeet And The Mermaid) 1952.
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The design department is now a permanent part of the standard exhibition. Oh my - I own a copy of that big standing lamp!
To the left: the stairwell and the upper hall, painted white by order of director Sandberg. Now filled with eerie weightless neon art.
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Neon art by Bruce Nauman on the back wall. Donald Judd with pure color on metal to the right hand side.
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A delightful surprise: a full size master bedroom made by Rietveld for the Harrenstein family. The best Rietveld ensemble existing outside the Schroeder-Schraeder house in Utrecht. Commissioned in 1926 by An Harrenstein-Schraeder and husband. Acquired in 1971 and now shown for the first time. A rectangular geometric symphony in white, black, yellow, red, blue. The Van Gogh building next door is also a Rietvels creation.
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To the left: Weird choice from the 1950's/1960's on this enamel sign. Maris ??? Sluyters ???
To the right: Picasso Woman with fish, observed by woman with jacket.
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Restaurant vistas galore: Looking out towards the Concertgebouw.
Book a guided docent tour!
Dutch version.
Options galore:
wandeling VOC thema
wandeling Vrouwen van Amsterdam thema
wandeling Rijken + Kunstenaars thema
Spotting the Rich & Famous inhabitants in the Golden Age.
A tour or lecture with the theme Amsterdam - Bankers - Casanova
walk on the United East India Company theme
walk on the Women of Amsterdam theme
walk on the Rich and the Painters theme
Spotting the Rich & Famous inhabitants in the Golden Age.
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Powerpoint presentation of Amsterdam.
Powerpoint presentation of Athens.
Powerpoint presentation of Barcelona.
Powerpoint presentation of Berlin.
Powerpoint presentation of Copenhagen.
Powerpoint presentation of Florence.
Powerpoint presentation of Helsinki.
Powerpoint presentation of Istanbul.
Powerpoint presentation of Naples.
Powerpoint presentation of Rome.
Powerpoint presentation of Split.
Powerpoint presentation of Stockholm.
Powerpoint presentation of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Powerpoint presentation of Venice
Menu presentation of walks and museum visits in Towns in Holland.
Read a Kaldenbach biography.
Research presented in November 2014 about Mannheimer: he almost bought the best Vermeer: The Art of Painting (now in Vienna)
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach is your private "scholar-lecturer on culture tours" *.
*Martha Gellhorn, Travels with Myself and another, p. 182.
Endorsements
The Rijksmuseum has done me the honor of linking the main Rijksmuseum site to my website. Start at www.rijksmuseum.nl and select Collection. Then choose 'Digital Collaboration' and the 'Digital Vermeer House'.
I conduct Rembrandt walks in Amsterdam for the Netherlands Bureau of Tourism, London and New York City offices. Their clients include important journalists.
The travel site www.luxurytraveler.com has devoted a main feature to my tours and walks.
Read further client testimonials.
Read a biography.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach has been featured in television and radio documentaries, including BBC2 TV, NTV Japan, Danish TV and Radio Netherlands World Service. In July 2004 he was interviewed about Delft artists by Tetsuya Tsuruhara for the leading Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun. In 2004 and 2005 he acted in an advisory role to additional BBC teams. Kaldenbach has written extensively on Vermeer and 17th century Delft, on Vincent van Gogh and on other art history topics.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach is your private "scholar-lecturer on culture tours".
Further information is available on his encyclopedic web site: www.johannesvermeer.info
Contact
information:
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach , kalden@xs4all.nl
Haarlemmermeerstraat 83 hs
1058 JS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
telephone 020 - 669 8119 (from abroad NL +20 - 669 8119)
cell phone 06 - 2868 9775 (from abroad NL +6 - 2868 9775)
Reaction, questions? Read client testimonials.
Email responses and bookings to art historian Drs. Kees Kaldenbach.
This page forms part of the 2000+ item Vermeer web site at www.xs4all.nl/~kalden
Updated 26 september 2012. Updated 14 february 2017.