Van Gogh, Artecasa and Cafe Schiller

[picasa username=”madhungrylsq” albumname=”VanGoghArtecasaAndCafeShiller”]

This day began our few days of an art 360. We visited the Hermitage, which is housing the tempororary ‘Son of Holland’ artist, Vincent Van Gogh and Rose had her tea amongst the fresh sunflowers, (the subject of Van Gogh’s famous Arles paintings). He made several of these as a welcome gift for houseguest painter, Paul Gauguin (before hs madness set in!).

Walking about after the sunflowers, art gallery Artecasa caught our eye and this cool painting of the modern Dutch cook. Befriending the gallery owner, we discovered she began her gallery to make affordable art available to everyone and has done so for 15 years. Shw loves to cook too. She sent us to the famous Cafe Schiller in Rembrandt Square, which was THE hangout for artists in the 1920s and it turns out they are known for one of Roses’s favorite dishes, Steak Tartare.

The cafe was filled with period art deco sconces, lamps along with a fantastic collection of paintings which must of been from the patrons themselves. I could of hung out in that joint all night. I just had a classic chicken dish with potatoes and cabbage but the thing here in Europe is that the eggs have orange yolks (unlike our insipid yellow ones) and the chicken is not gigantic and the flavor actually tastes like chicken! Oh yeah–and my 82 year old mother started her steak tartare dinner with an oxtail and duck liver terrine. Just hoping my constitution will be as good as hers in my 80s! All in all, it was a wonderful day–completely inspiring. Tomorrow we hit the canals by boat and visit the Dutch Masters.

Best,
LSQ