Small is beautiful, alone is bliss

My love affair with the Netherlands continues and last month I returned to complete the first International Chef Exchange in Maastricht. It was a great event and I will report fully on that on my food page very soon.

Whilst in Maastricht I took advantage of being in Holland and went on to Amsterdam for four more days. In part I was searching for new Chef Exchange partners, but I was also there for a cultural top up.

Amsterdam is of course home to some of the best galleries in the world and some of the most famous works of art. In recent years many of the galleries have been closed or partly closed for major refurbishment but this time I was lucky, not only was the Stedelijk Museum newly re-opened but I was to have a private tour when the museum was closed to the public.

Well after my tale of bustling Amsterdam last week you can imagine what bliss being in an art gallery and given a private tour was. The museum houses some amazing work, obviously featuring Dutch artists but with a huge collection of American and European modern works including a charming Stanley Spencer self portrait.

The new part of the gallery, affectionately known as the ‘Bath Tub’ by the locals, houses the changing exhibition space whilst the permanent collection luxuriates in the large spaces of the old building. I loved the Barnett Newman’s and the Yves Klein’s, and there was certainly plenty to provoke thought amongst the newer works. I also revelled in the design collection.
The next day I went to the Tassen Museum.

My good friends at Visit Holland had booked me in much to my friend’s amusement as the collection is of handbags and purses (stop giggling at the back).

They were of course absolutely right, I loved it. I was asked to wait in their café on the first floor where the directeur and owner Sigrid Ivo would meet me. Years of gallery cafés had not prepared me for such elegance, great coffee and fine bone china cups. Sigrid Ivo is a passionate woman who has taken on her mother Hendrikje Ivo’s collection of bags and with sponsorship from a business magnate, raised it to one of the finest and most fascinating small museums I have ever been lucky enough to see.

There are handbags dating back to 1664 and coming right up to the present. Every notable designer of the last 120 years is represented, every possible material, from snake and fur to steel, gold and string. There is blindingly fine bead work and embroidery, tooled leather, machine etched metals, tortoiseshell, plastic…

There are bags for all occasions and a small but expanding section on bags for men. I particularly loved the hampers and gentleman’s toilet cases.

“Years of gallery cafés had not prepared me for such elegance, great coffee and fine bone china cups”

The Tassen Museum has become a place of pilgrimage for smart ladies and fashionistas, and it’s easy to see why. The elegant Dutch town house has been lovingly restored and sympathetically fitted for exhibits; there is a pretty garden and a suite of rooms given over to dining, from lunches to afternoon teas and in fact pretty much anything you might like to choose.

There are also collections by new designers, all for sale, and a smart shop that helps maintain the fine collection. Tassen is worth the fare to Amsterdam alone!
www.stedelijk.nl
www.tassenmuseum.nl
With thanks to Visit Holland www.holland.com and Rail Europe www.raileurope.co.uk