Nov. 22, 2024
Hello friends!
We tried to bring a little culture into our trip by going to the Van Gogh Museum, and while we were in the neighborhood decided to drink in the Heineken Experience. Considering the snow on the ground and rain in the forecast, we were glad to be inside for the bull of the day.
We saw a number of Van Gogh’s big hits – everything from Sunflowers and Almond Blossom to Irises, Bedroom in Arles, Wheatfield with Crows, and a number of his self portraits. (Sadly The Starry Night lives in New York at MoMA, so we’ll have to see it on a different trip.)
Even with a number of his heavy hitters in the building, we were also taken with several pieces that were new to us. And, with so many pieces (over 2k), I didn’t realize that Van Gogh only painted for about a decade…
“Wheatfield with Reaper” stood out to both of us. I found it interesting that this was one of the pieces Van Gogh painted while institutionalized, and Steve noted how the brushstrokes brought natural movement to the wheat:
Two other pieces stuck with me.
Full disclosure – these next two photos are excerpts of the larger pieces, but I’m hoping to highlight the texture the paint brings to these works.
The first one is “Cypresses and Two Women”:
And, the second is “Giant Peacock Moth”:
As I mentioned earlier, we also hit up the Heineken Experience. It runs through the original Heineken brewery, which still has the original copper kettles and stained glass in the brew room:
On the tour, we learned a bit about their brewing process, special ingredient (it’s the yeast), and some facts about the brand, including:
1) Although Heineken is publicly traded, it’s largely owned by the Heineken family.
2) Heineken was the first beer imported into the US after prohibition ended.
Specifically, six days after President Roosevelt signed the constitutional amendment ending prohibition, 25 barrels and 50 crates of Heineken landed in New Jersey.
Not everything is original, I mean the beer was new. At the beginning of the tour we were promised “the freshest Heineken in [our] lives,” (i.e., it’s no more than three days old), and they delivered:
Tomorrow we’re jumping on a train to Paris, and we fly to Morocco on Sunday. So, just a heads up that I may not have an update until next week. Until then…
All of our love,
Tara (and Steve)
Tara’s Adventures 