Although Transition Year is very exciting and arguably less academically intense than other years at school, it is nonetheless tiring! Therefore I was looking forward to mid-term for a short break from it all. I made the most of my mid-term holiday by visiting family, in Holland and in Tipperary as well as doing some research for my Art Appreciation Project! I made a point of spending Halloween in Ireland, as in Belgium and Holland they barely celebrate Halloween, and since I have spent the majority of my Halloweens in either of these countries I wanted to properly celebrate Halloween in Ireland this year! For the 31st of October I went to a drive-in movie in Cherrywood with some friends. It was spooktacular!
The following day I took the plane to Amsterdam with my family. As my mum is Dutch we visit my granny and aunt often in Holland. We took the train from Schiphol Airport to Putten, a small town where my granny lives. I enjoy it very much in Holland, visiting family and cycling anywhere and everywhere!
The following day I took the plane to Amsterdam with my family. As my mum is Dutch we visit my granny and aunt often in Holland. We took the train from Schiphol Airport to Putten, a small town where my granny lives. I enjoy it very much in Holland, visiting family and cycling anywhere and everywhere!
On Thursday the 3rd of November, my mum, sister and I made the journey to The Hague. I had never visited The Hague(or Den Haag as it is written in Dutch) before and was beyond excited and curious to explore it. The purpose of our journey was to go to the Mauritshuis Art Gallery in the centre of The Hague. This is a beautiful Art Gallery with elegant interiors and houses numerous paintings by Dutch artists. For our Art Appreciation Module, our task is to do a project on any artist of our choice. We must write about their lives as well as their painting techniques and explain the background of different paintings by them. We must also copy a painting by them, using the same techniques and materials!(however I doubt most of ours will look quite like the original!)
I have decided to do my project on the Dutch Artist, Johannes Vermeer. In the Mauritshuis they have his most famous painting: ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ on display along with a few more of his masterpieces. We visited this specific Art Gallery to see with our own eyes these famous and magnificent paintings.
While we were at the Mauritshuis, there was a special exhibition on. The exhibition was paintings by Dutch artists owned by the Queen of England. For a period of time, the Mauritshuis is borrowing these special paintings from The Queen of England to display to the Dutch public, and fortunately I got the chance to see these painting too! There was one Vermeer painting in this exhibition as well.
Of course I couldn’t leave the Art Gallery without buying some merchandise! I bought a few folders and postcards with Vermeer’s paintings on them. I think I’ll attempt at copying ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ by Vermeer as I truly adore this painting. Therefore I bought a big poster of this painting to help me when a I’m painting it!
'Cat with the Pearl Earring' and 'Duck with the Pearl Earring'!
I really enjoyed my day out in The Hague with my family. The Mauritshuis greatly impressed me, as nothing beats seeing the real, original paintings up close! I feel inspired for my Art Appreciation Project and look forward to completing the project.
A few famous painting by the artist Rembrandt, and the Mauritshuis from the outside!