Rotterdam is around 26km south-east of The Hague, that’s
merely 30 minutes on the train, and is the 2nd most populated city
in the Netherlands (only Amsterdam sits above it) so a visit there was well
overdue. The dawning of the Chinese New Year and the annual China Light
Festival in Rotterdam’s biggest park, the Euromast Park, which proceeds it
provided the perfect push. A very busy city by Dutch standards there were endless
amounts of things to see. We took some time to simply soak it all up with a walk
through its many high-streets, side streets (bursting with creativity!) and last but not least its harbour.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen:
Along the way we simply had to stop by one of
the most well-known art museums in Rotterdam. You can travel from the Middle Ages to the 21st century passing
masterpieces by none other than Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Magritte and Dalí. Their special exhibition on Van Eyck, The Road to Van Eyck, was of particular interest
to me as, to this day, he is seen as the progenitor of realism in painting. The
exhibition is literally centred on 7 pieces known to be by Van Eyck and the surrounding
works are those of his predecessors. A delightfully simple way to outline his revolutionary development.
Seeing
the development of Impressionism, Modernism and Surrealism in the main section
of the museum was also interesting. My favourite find was Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Edgar Degas
as I’d studied the piece at school. I was fascinated by the use of mixed media,
a wax figure with real clothing, but also by the tragic story behind such girls
at the Paris Opera of the time. The sculpture was smaller than I’d imagined but
her primitive features and dutiful poise had as bigger effect as any in real life! Another section
of the museum explored the way that everyday objects have changed over the last
800 years, quite the undertaking and one of the reasons why the museum itself
is so huge!
China Light Festival:
With the
onset of snow we made our way to the Euromast Park to walk around over 35 wonderfully
colourful light sculptures depicting a variety of subject matter. From flowers
to temples to gods to animals to a 100 metre long dragon floating on water…they
really had everything required to make you feel like a part of the festivities. Traditional
Chinese dancing and cuisine were also on show! The view from the top of the
Euromast Tower, some 185 metres tall, although slightly weather impaired,
showed off the lights with great drama especially as night began to close in on
us. Looking out across the skyline of Rotterdam, and indeed further, I promised
myself a return visit.
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