Van Gogh and the Gay Pride Parade

Yesterday definitely was an interesting day. Remco and I had decided to go the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum to see the Japanese Season exhibition. Coincidentially the Gay Pride Parade also took place and so we ended up going to the Gay Pride Parade and the Van Gogh Museum in one afternoon.
The Gay Pride Parade was pretty cool. People sat along the canals, on the bridges waiting for the boats to float by on the canals. The boats were decorated, loud music playing on most of them, with dressed up persons (presumeably gays and lesbians) dancing and drinking. The ambiance was great, we sat there laughing, applauding for the best boats, cheering at some, and all in the nice sunny weather. I really enjoyed it.
Always when I am in a place with a relatively high population with gays it strikes me how many good-looking gay men there are. Here it was the case again, both on the boats and among the audience! Many good-looking men of different ages... Oh boy, I wanted my pick-up line to be: "Ehm, are you sure you're gay? Because..." Well, check it out for yourself:

Pictures of the Gay Pride Parade can be accessed by clicking on the link underneath. Just for the peace of mind and sake of all of us, I'll repeat once more that some of these pics are a bit kinky (although no porn is involved). If you're under 18, this probably is a no go under the law of certain countries and if you're a bit of a sensitive mind in this field, I do not particularly advise you this Dutch liberty either... Now, don't say I didn't warn you, and CLICK HERE. ;)

For some more innocent pictures of Amsterdam (Museumplein) CLICK HERE.

After the parade we walked along the charming Amsterdam canals to the Van Gogh Museum, which is definitely one of my favorite spots in this city. We saw the Japanase Season exhibition, which is currently on show in the museum. The exhibition is divided in three sections. In the first part we saw art from the Meiji period. Meiji (1868 - 1912) was a Japanese emperor, known for his 'enlightened' rule. Japan opened up to the world during his rule and this entailed Japanese craftworks influencing European art (amongst others Van Gogh) and vice versa. We saw vases, lacquer ware and other crafts objects. Meanwhile the Japanese seasonal symbolism in art (e.g. cherry blossoms depicting springtime) was explained. Also, some of Van Gogh's reproductions of traditional Japanese prints hung next to the originals. And the funny thing is that Remco speaks and reads Japanese, so he told me that the 'Japanese' characters around Van Gogh's paintings were absolute crap - not Japanese to be more precise.
The second part of the exhibition is called Women from Tokyo and Paris. It is a small, but beautifully set up exposition outlining the lives of 19th century women in Tokyo and Paris. It draws on the similarities between the position of these women (particulary courtisanes, top-class prostitutes, geishas, and bourgeoisie women) in the larger societies of the époque.
The last part of the exhibition is about the Tokaido road. Nowadays it is a highway, and in the old days it used to be the principal road (between Tokyo and Kyoto) in feudal Japan. There are 53 official stations on the road. The Dutch photographer Guus Rijven traveled the road and took pictures in the 53 towns and villages. In the museum they hang alongside prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), who also depicted the road. The difference between the pictures and the prints is enormous. It is striking how this exposition shows that the Japanese have managed to put their - in the old days probably very charming - landscape full of harsh and ugly concrete, something I have heard from all my friends who lived there.

After the museum visit we stayed on Museumplein (Museum Square), which is one of my favorite spots in Amsterdam. You can relax in the soft, juicy green grass with great views all around. Remco and I ate a picknick dinner, enjoying the interesting mix of locals and tourists in this area.
After our dinner we took a good walk back to the main railway station, through that area that gives Amsterdam one of its many reputations, the red light district. I had never been in the one in Amsterdam, but I do have to say that this is the best red light district I have seen so far. Of course there are the women behind the small windows in the small streets and alleys. But this also is a neighborhood where people obviously go to socialize. The ambiance on this summer evening was terrific: here and there an after-party of the Gay Pride Parade (with here and there obscure things happening in these obscure, dirty back-alleys), foreigners smoking up in front of the coffee shops, locals sitting outside with a beer, small boats being steered through the canals that are all cute and small in this part of the city. There is the distinctive quality of real life with its bright and darker aspects in the air here. And this is one of the many reasons why I love Amsterdam.