Van Gogh Museum

It has been a decade since the major museums on the Museumplein—a grassy square connecting Amsterdam’s main art centers—have all been open at the same time. Here’s what to check out at the Van Gogh Museum. Sunflowers, The Bedroom, and The Potato Eaters are just a few of the masterpieces on display as part of the “Van Gogh at Work” exhibit.

It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind to say that the Van Gogh Museum is a must-see in Amsterdam. When we were there they were in the midst of moving to the Hermitage, so the full collection was not on display. Still, the fraction of the collection that we saw was incredible. But here’s the thing: you can take small kids, and they will actually be entertained. We were delighted to be offered a “treasure hunt” packet for our four-year-old. She took to the hunt as a pirate would, tracking down sunflowers and portraits and yellow bedrooms. Older kids would be happy doing it on their own, but for young kids it’s fun for parents to play along. At the end there was a little prize for her, and this made everyone happy. We got a similar thing at the Rijksmuseum. Every museum should offer this sort of thing!

Did you know that on Friday nights the Van Gogh Museum stays open till 10pm and holds special events. The first Friday of the month is a grand party but on other Friday nights they have djs, free guided tours, etc. I went on a Friday night without knowing and it was cool to chill in the lobby area listening to tunes while absorbing Vincent. Here’s a photo diary entry I wrote on my blog about things I did in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, we visited the Van Gogh Museum. I’m not great at it, but I love art, so this was a truly amazing thing to see! (I’m also a huge Doctor Who fan, so that was great too) Van Gogh’s style is one of my favorites, and getting to see his paintings and even some of his original sketches was incredible.