Private
tour in the Van Gogh museum, Amsterdam Private
tour in the Van Gogh museum, Amsterdam Fast track entry in ALL Amsterdam museums. Avoid spending time waiting in museum queues. Enter the museums together with me.
Text in Dutch.
Critique of the Madness exhibtion, 2016.
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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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A TV lecture in front of the painting of the Bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles. The light blue colour in this picture was initially painted light purple, but it has faded over time. Purple and yellow are complementary colours and raise each others strength in the human eye. Photo 2013 by Yuichi Nara.
Based on a broad study of literature. Incorporates the recent findings, recently published: Van Gogh: The Life, by Steven Naifeh & Gregory White Smith.
I wrote the book: "Pilgrimage through life, Travelling in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh", by Kees Kaldenbach & Michel Didier, Amsterdam 1990. Excerpts:
Listing of Vincents towns of habitation throughout his career.
This is where he lived plus maps
Vincents production statistics, month by month.
Vincents Color theory, his applied art.
Van Gogh Lectures, Amsterdam + Otterlo
To the right: stairwell in the Van Gogh building, designed by Rietveld (yes, the one of the famous Rietveld chair) in 2013.
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!"
Below: Van Gogh, Self portrait in Paris, 1886 with a halo of blue paint around his head.
Witness one of the key shifts in the art of painting, a revelation moment in art history.
Rebirthing as an artist, completely new, like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, this painter has succeeded in a full self-transformation towards an explosion of paint and light after five years (1880-1885) of trying to work in dark brown paintings.
No more dark weavers and potato farmers after 1885!
After the birth of his brother Theo's son, this painting was hastily made by Vincent in the institution / rest home / asylum, then dried and shipped to Paris for hanging in the baby room in Theo's apartment.
Emile Bernard was one of the key friends and colleagues in Paris. Here a Bernard work from the Pont Aven region is shown next to one made in a later year by Van Gogh.
Van Gogh Museum, NL Dutch
Rijksmuseum tour. The glorious national art collection.
Avoid spending time waiting in museum queues
Vermeer lectures and tours.
Rembrandt tours incl the Maria Trip portrait.
See all 330 Rembrandt paintings in full size reproductions, in about 2 hours in the Magna Plaza building behind the Royal Palace/Town Hall
Kaldenbach: Pilgrimage Through Life: Travelling in the Footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890. Image on top: a fine biography I wrote a while ago, with maps and city plans from his day and age, of all places where he actually lived, with indications such as x - marks the spot. See https://kalden.home.xs4all.nl/gogh/vinc-frames-E.htm
This drawing for my book was made by hand with pastel colour. There was no digital technology available to me before 1990.
Bookings through my office.
Spotting the Rich & Famous inhabitants in the Golden Age.
Amsterdam
is the capital of The Netherlands. The beauty of the city center is the result
of many centuries of careful city planning. It boasts the most wonderfully preserved
group of canals and ancient canal houses found anywhere in the world. In the
center we find the headquarters of the United East India Company, pivot of international
trade and source of great wealth in the 17th century. Dutch painter Rembrandt,
prince of painters, and prolific etcher, draughtsman also made his home here
and catered to the wealthy merchants.
A number of important museums including the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum are also located here. A dozen of other museums are well worth visiting, including the Rembrandt house.
On Dam square, from which this town on the Amstel river originally got its name, is the former Town Hall, now Royal Palace. Next to it stands the late mediaeval New Church, now mainly serving as an exhibition hall. A five-minute walk going east takes us to the large Old Church in the middle of the Red Light District.
As a reference manual I use a number of hand books, including the famous d’Ailly historical handbook during the Amsterdam walks.
As an art historian based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, I can meet you in Amsterdam for a personalized guided tour of art museums and the historic center. Great Amsterdam tours!
Together we will experience the beauty and history. Enjoy yourself and learn about history while strolling and discussing the country's history, art and culture. In doing so, we may touch a number of bases - spanning not only fine art and architecture but also the city's history and current social issues. See client testimonials.
Read a biography.
Starting at your hotel I will take you on a wonderful private cultural walking tour of your choice. My guided itinerary offers you accessable informative conversation in English, Dutch, or German (my French and Italian are more limited).
See Amsterdam in 1842 (Map with dots indicating where the high and mighty lived in Amsterdam, in the seventeenth century)
FB: Private Art Tours, Amsterdam + Holland
FB: Academica Translations, Amsterdam
You may also arrange this VIP treatment for business contacts or friends. Our cultural tour organisation office will take care of a unique and memorable experience.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach is your private "scholar-lecturer on culture tours" *.
*Martha Gellhorn, Travels with Myself and another, p. 182.
Drs. Kaldenbach is chairman of the Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON)
Please contact me for time and fees of the tailor-made tour you ar interested in.
These tailor made tours are available upon request - please contact me to book a date. Minimum group size: 1 person. Maximum group size is limited to about 10 persons. With a megaphone I can also manage larger groups on the streets.
Photo by Dick Martin.
Visit a large architectural cultural site on Amsterdam at Startamsterdam.com
Old maps on http://watwaswaar.nl
www.thingstodoinamsterdam.co.uk
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.
Research presented in November 2014 about Mannheimer: he almost bought the best Vermeer: The Art of Painting (now in Vienna)
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.
Open seven days a week.
Member of the VVV Tourist information and the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel).
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
Launched December 2012. Updated 2 april, 2019.
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