We will begin discovering the Amsterdam Museum Quarter with the Stedelijk Museum. It was opened in 1895 and was an “architectural rhyme” for the Rijksmuseum. Its red bricks, alternating with white layers, resemble the structure of bacon. As funny as it may sound, this is the name of this technique. The pompous Neo-Renaissance style facade is decorated with sculptures of famous Dutch artists. The first exhibition was based on a private collection of the Soissos couple: Augustus Peter Lopez and his wife Sophia Adriana de Bruyne. They were childless, fabulously rich and dedicated their lives to travel and collecting. Along with exquisit things, the museum found a place for paintings that were inappropriate for the Rijksmuseum, according to the tastes of that time. For example, the works of Van Gogh. It were the works of Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne and Monet that brought glory to the Stedelijk Museum during the 30s of the last century. Here there is also a self-portrait of Marc Chagall, on which the artist portrayed himself with seven fingers, symbolizing the seven days of the creation of the world and his Jewish origin. The museum is also famous for it’s collection of works from the Dutch art movement known as De Stijl (Style) - a prototype of modern industrial design and a symbol of 20th-century abstract art. But perhaps the best known story of the museum is associated with paintings by Malevich. The museum houses the largest collection of works by the artist outside of Russia. This collection was acquired after World War II from the German architect Hugo Goering, who managed to save the paintings from destruction by the Nazis as a work of “degenerative art”. The museum is open daily from 10:00 to 18:00, on Thursday from 10:00 to 22:00. https://www.stedelijk.nl/en

Stedelijk Museum on Old postcard of Amsterdam circa 1900. Photo By Unknown author - http://www.declampe.net, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46272953