It turns out, 17th-century Dutch artists have a lot to say.
Here are the best places to see their work.
Gert-Jan van Rooij/Courtesy of Frans Hals Museum
More than 20 years ago, I fell in love.
Dutch Golden Age paintings at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands.Credit:Gert-Jan van Rooij/Courtesy of Frans Hals Museum
If he had been fromChicago, I would have moved to Chicago.
But he was from Utrecht, so I moved to Utrecht.
It seemed romantic to start a new life in the Netherlands and it was.
From left: The Depot, which currently houses the works of the the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen; Rembrandtâs portrait of Jan Six, part of the Six Collection in Amsterdam.From left: Ossip van Duivenbode/Courtesy of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen; Peter Horee/Alamy
I wanted to figure out who they were and who I might be in relation to them.
To add to the disorientation, I was also trying to figure out how to write.
I wanted someone to tell me how, so I could crib their answers.
But thats not, alas, how it works.
Why do we make art?
Who, and what, is an artist?
How can art help us see ourselves, and how can it help us see others?
How, to put it simply, are we to live?
Members of the family wander in and out of the kitchen as you wander through their stunning collection.
How does an artist find that inspiration, and how does he sustain it?
Its oddly riveting to see the museums 152,000 objects lined up, almost as if in a library.
