Amsterdam: House of Rembrandt

One of my favorites in Amsterdam. But this may be because I have a soft spot for Rembrandt.

When I was about 10, 11 years old, my dream job was an artist. Which was what about 60 percent of my friends in Korea wanted to be. Whenever there was a section that asked what you wanted to be when you grow up, I swear, about 60 percent said artist, painter or designer. I was pretty determined to make it into a career and actually thought about going to art school, but then my family didn’t think this was a good idea and so I went on with journalism. I’m glad I did, but I still have a soft spot for art, design and now photography, and whenever I have the chance to visit a museum or any type of exhibition of famous artists and painters, I jump. So, naturally, I insisted that we had to go to the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam, one of the most arty cities in the world. Even if it was a bit out from the city center.

진지하게 미술을 전공하려던 시절이 있었는데 잠깐의 꿈이었겠거니하고 가족들의 권유로 방향을 틀었었다. 후회는 없지만 그림, 디자인, 건축 지금은 사진에 여전히 관심이 많은데, 그래서 그런지 그림이나 화가의 이름을 보면 유난히도 눈에 익는 경우가 많다. 문제는 50%만 알뿐, 그림을 알면 화가를 모르고 화가를 알면 그림을 모르고, 그림의 정확한 이름이나 화가를 모르면 그림의 사연이나 어느 나라 작품인지를 안다는 것. 100%아는 경우는 거의 없는데 그래도 줄기차게 (그때는) 열심히 찾아서 읽어보고 다운받아보고 미술관도 가보고 한다. 암스테르담에서는 사실 렘프란트보다도 반고흐 미술관이 훨씬 인기가 많은데 두군데 모두 다녀와보니. 개인적으로 렘브란트가 더 매력적. 반고흐는 사람이 너무 많아서 사람 구경인지 그림 구경인지 헷갈릴정도였고 워낙 큰 인물이라 그림들이 전세계에 다 뿔뿔히 흩어져 있어 제대로 즐길 수가 없었기 때문. 그리고 우리가 갔을 당시에는 퓨전이랍시고 1층에서 디제잉을 하고 칵테일, 맥주 등을 파는 상황이 있어 이게 무슨 미술관인지 시장인지. 사람은 적었지만 알찬 렘브란트 하우스가 훨씬 더 매력적이었던 이유.

Side note: the iAmsterdam card is a bit tricky. It doesn’t include some places and some places you only get a discount, not full entry. So as long as you check the places and what the card offers, it should be fine, but you need to make sure you get what you pay for. One interesting and somewhat very frustrating part of the entire ticketing system in Amsterdam was that some places had separate, reserved tickets that allow you to enter museums at a certain time. The Van Gogh Museum sells tickets online where you can also decide on the time you want to visit. Other than this ticket, you still have to wait a long time to get inside, iAmsterdam card or not. Which happened to us. (I personally didn’t enjoy the Van Gogh that much. I prefer the quieter and much more easier to concentrate Rembrandt)

iAmsterdam card는 암스테르담의 문화카드. 돈을 한번 내고 여기에 포함된 박물관이나 미술관들이 공짜인 시스템인데, 다른 나라는 모르겠지만 암스테르담카드는 뭔가 속은 느낌. 질보다 양이었다. 안갈것 같은 박물관들은 엄청 많고 막상 가볼만한 반고흐의 경우, 이 카드를 구입했는데도 불구하고 사람이 많으면 그대로 기다려야한다는 것. (알고보니 반고흐에서는 시간제 표를 따로 팔고 있었다.) 하이네켄 박물관도 무료입장은 무슨, 할인만 해준다. 제대로 읽지 않은 내 탓도 크지만 이렇게 할바에는 왜 카드를 만들었는지 모르겠다. 덕을 본 곳이 있다면 렘브란트 하우스.

Back to the museum: Etching was a big part of art during Rembrandt’s time and he was the master of it. He experimented quite a bit to find his own style, which he did, and managed to come up with impressive ways to express light and shadows on his works. He did his fair share of paintings and drawings, but my personal favorites are his etchings. His etching works were not only expressive but because it could be reproduced, it was much more widely and easily known around at the time.

“The light. The shadow. It was Rembrandt’s technique that made this possible,” the staff explained. And it was true. You really could tell the sun was shining up on the right side of the etching.

그림자와 빛의 마술사라는 별명에 걸맞는 에칭.

The drawing in the backdrop shows how they used to create the etchings and the museum shows visitors how they actually did it everyday at a certain time. You can check their website for the schedules. The lady demonstrating went around and asked if we were artists, and although it was clear that none of us actually were, a handful of people stuck around to see how the grand master of etchings did his magic. It seemed a difficult, laborious, very detailed job, this etching technique.

시간을 정해놓고 에칭의 대가인 렘브란트가 그때 그시절 에칭을 어떻게 했나 보여준다. 언니가 너무나도 터프하게 설명을 해주는 바람에 그때당시에는 귀에 쏙쏙 들어왔는데 집에 와보니 다 까먹어버렸다. 웹사이트에서 시간 체크!

An avid collector of animals, shells, artworks, sculptures, books and other stuff that made me squirm a bit. Nevertheless, great house, great artoworks, great demonstration and great museum.