ROSITA BOLANDwith this week's Hidden Gems
WHEN YOU think of airports, culture probably comes way down your list of associations. Eating, waiting around, taking your shoes off and then putting them back on are what most people do at them these days, with shopping for things you don’t need tossed into the mix. But at Amsterdam’s wonderful Schiphol airport you can look at world-class paintings for free.
It’s such a brilliant idea. Where better to showcase treasures from a city famous for its art than at a key
entry point? And how marvellously unexpected it is to see paintings in passing, as I did recently at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Schiphol, an annex of the Dutch capital’s renowned museum.
The Rijksmuseum, which holds masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer, has had a partnership with Schiphol since 2002. Three times a year a small number of paintings with a common theme are placed in the airport annex, a calm, dimly lit place up a flight of stairs where you are instantly far from the production-line process of air travel.
The seven-work show I saw was The Art of Flying – bird paintings by Melchior d’Hondecoeter, a 17th- century master of the genre. You could see cockatoos, orioles, parakeets and partridges, all painted centuries before planes were invented.
Until February next year the paintings on show are by the Bruegel brothers, including Census at Bethlehem (above).
It’s a taster of what else the main museum in the city holds, and it’s just about the right number of paintings to be able to concentrate on and still remember you have a flight to catch. So many airports blend into each other in a corporate mix. You’re unlikely to forget you’ve been in Schiphol once you visit its tiny museum of art treasures.
Do you know of a hidden gem? E-mail us at go@irishtimes.com