The combination of this green balloon skirt with a brown jacket is supposed to be modern and really cool. Hmmm…I don’t know, is it? Perhaps the sleeves are rather long? I know the designer meant them to be long, but do they give the impression of an ill fit? I don’t have these worries when I wear the jacket with trousers but I do with the skirt. Am I being too critical?
Janna (@Timelessstyle.nl on Instagram) and I took the photos at the Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam, which had opened only three months before. I saw photos on Instagram and was intrigued.
This is going to be another long post with many photos. What’s come over me lately?
Below: On my way from Amsterdam Central Station to the museum I passed this building. How lovely.
Below: And the next one. Amsterdam is such a great city.
Below: Quiet canal on a cloudy day.
Below: An elegant church.
Below: And I arrived at Art Zoo Museum. This giant gorilla was behind me as I walked up to the reception to get tickets. I didn’t see it until we walked out again.
Below: The Gorilla is created from denim and is a collaboration between G Star (the denim brand) and the creators of the art in Art Zoo Museum. This article here shows even better how the gorilla was constructed.
Nice monkey but the reason why we were so keen on visiting this museum was the taxidermy art.
Normally I am not too keen on taxidermy as I always feel sorry for the animal. After all, the animal had to die before it could be ‘stuffed’.
But…this museum is of another level. It is truly art and left us exclaiming “How gorgeous is this!”. And on the website, it says over and over again…
None of the animals in Art Zoo Museum came from the wild.
None of the animals were specifically bred for Art Zoo Museum.
All animals died of natural causes.
The artists are Jaap Sinke and Ferry van Tongeren, two Dutch artists who have worked as taxidermists since 2011. They aim to show the animal in a lively manner and to my opinion (and Janna’s) they have succeeded brilliantly.
Below: How about this cheetah? You will see many more taxidermy art later on in the post (cliffhanger).
Before I go on showing you all the splendour we saw, let me tell you about the building that houses Art Zoo Museum. It is located in one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful 17th-century canal houses: The Cromhout Houses.
The Cromhout Houses were built between 1660 and 1662 for merchant Jacob Cromhout by Philips Vingboons, one of the most renowned 17th-century architects. The oval of the spectacular blue Rococo staircase in the centre of the building is one of its striking features. Equally impressive are the ceiling paintings of Jupiter and the Gods and Apollo and the Four Seasons, which are respectively the first and last ceiling paintings by Jacob de Wit (1695-1754).
Below: The staircase.
Below: The painted ceilings.
Below: The ceilings of the café are also breathtaking. The artists who created the animals, also created the embellishment with shells on the ceilings.
Below: The big mussel makes the body of a bird.
Below: Can you imagine we were in awe?
Below: The ceiling in the main café room.
Below: On that ceiling you can read:
If everyone were cast in the same mould, there would be no such thing as beauty.
(Charles Darwin).
Below: Me photographing myself in the mirror with the ceiling in full sight. This is the first restaurant area.
Below: Janna in front of one of the shell art works.
Below: In the corridor I took this close-up.
Below: And this one.
Below: The above two birds were part of a larger artwork, like the one below. There is wire in front of the artworks to protect them. You can imagine that everybody would otherwise want to feel the artwork. The close-ups I took with the lens through the wire openings.
Below: Janna and I had coffee and lunch in the café and decided to do the tour through the museum after taking outfit photos in the garden. Sorry, another cliffhanger, but you have already seen a lot of beautiful things, so don’t complain.
Below: A view from above, overlooking the garden. It had been raining but it still looks good. A big pond all the way around a terrace with stepping stones to get to it.
Below: The house seen from the garden. Ignore the two men sitting there. We did as well.
Below: We both loved this thing. What a great object to photograph an outfit against.
Below: Here is Janna in jeans with blue chemise, jacket and scarf. Silver ballerinas.
Below: Janna bought these embellishment elastics in Japan to upgrade her shoes.
Below: At the back of the garden was this object. It looks as if it had once been on top of a house.
Below: Showing how the skirt balloons. The snakeskin boots are in my possession for a couple of years now. I don’t wear them much but I still think they are good. See this post with the boots and a wide black skirt.
Below: Cheeky face. Although it is a close-up, you can still not see the earrings properly.
Below: So I took an old photo from June 2021 to show you what they look like.
Below: Then Janna demonstrated how to get a photo that is not so posed. You have to sort of go back and forth while staying in one place.
Below: She took this video of me demonstrating the back and forth moving.
Below: She was right, it resulted in an uncontrived image.
Below: We walked back in and passed the atelier.
Below: Interesting objects here too.
Below: What’s creeping out of this ‘vase’?
Below: An anteater.
Back in the exhibition part we saw…
Below: Birds and such…
Below: …a swan…
Below: …newly born ostriches…
Below: …these ostriches were already able to walk away from the nest…
Below: Surprise…a room with a skeleton of a prehistoric animal. I think it is the T-Rex.
Below: I think the upper animal is an albino porcupine and the one on the lower shelf a baboon.
Below: A leopard, possibly an amur leopard?
Below: Tulips in formaldehyde. Two cabinets with these jars.
Below: In the first room after the reception area are these birdcages with the parrots on top of them. That, I think, is the secret behind the attraction, the unusual way of displaying the taxidermized animals.
Below: Then, before we left the building, we had this crocodile hanging over our heads. There was an even larger one hanging from the ceiling in the corridor, but I couldn’t get a decent photo of it.
If you ever visit this museum, please sit down to see the video with the artists explaining how they did what they did. We thought it was most enlightening.
I have the idea that this blog is becoming more and more about what I see and where I go then what I wear. If I have been to a place of interest, I have so many photos to share.
What happened in my life this week
We had a nice Indonesian dinner at a restaurant together with Froukje and Petro. Lots of laughs too. Everything in my life was going smoothly and quietly. I had a pleasant coffee date with Helga and the next day with Marcella (photo below).
The smooth and quiet came to an end as I cycled back to town, slipped somehow with my boots on the pedal or so (I don’t really know what happened) and fell. Again on my right arm which had just about healed after the fall two and a half months ago. My bum, my ankle and foot were also hurt. Oh…and I got another bicycle on my forehead. The only thing I could say as kind people lifted me up and took me into a restaurant, was: “Oh no, not that arm again”.
The sore ankle and foot healed quickly. I immediately walked as I know that putting your foot up and not moving is the worst you can do (obviously, not when it is broken). Walked for 2 hours the next day and the foot nor the ankle bother me anymore. Still a bit sore sitting though and the arm…poor arm. I am afraid I might have to pay the hairdresser again for a couple of times washing and blow-drying.
To make myself feel a bit better I dressed well (below).
Enough photos in this post? OK, three more then.
Photo Assignment, black and white, contrast
Below: The photo of Evy clutching Ron’s hand is in black and white and there is also the contrast of young and old. Double win.
Below: Dog Watson is often a dear subject for my photos. Here he is fast asleep after running at the beach, shedding his fur and the beach sand on his rug (so nice…ugh).
Below: Just a window I liked.
Greetje
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