Musée Stedelijk

Musée Stedelijk : The Michelin guide review

The Museum of modern art is constantly being reinvented. Its collections contain work from 1850 to the present day, from the classics of modern art like Manet, Picasso and Mondrian to the most recent developments: minimalist installations and industrial design. The building was designed in 1895 by A.W. Weissman, and with a stone and brick facade in a neo-Renaissance style, but there is no question that it is a museum of contemporary art. The temporary exhibitions, like the one held on Pop Art in 1964, are entirely in tune with current artistic trends; but there are none in the summer, since the space is given over the museum's own collections, which are not fully displayed during the rest of the year. The conceptual trends of the 80s and 90s are well represented, with Minimalism, Arte Povera, the Italian Trans-avant-garde and New Subjectivity. It should be noted that the works of Roland Topor are present. The 1945-1980 period is dominated by the works of the Cobra movement and a fine collection of abstract Expressionists. Not to be missed is Matisse's La Perruche et la Sirène. Finally the collection of works by Malevich constitute one of the greatest bodies of work of the years 1900-1920. There are also some works of German Expressionism. The section limited to the 19th Century includes pictures painted between 1850 and 1900 by Dutch and French painters - among them are works by Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Courbet, Manet, Degas and Odilon Redon.