In March, I spent ten days in Europe with students and colleagues from West Virginia University. Officially, two WVU Art History Professors (Janet Snyder and Rhonda Reymond) were conducting GPS: France courses and WVU Photography Professor Michael Sherwin and I were along to help and do some research into our own potential study abroad courses.
Friday, March 10th was spent in Amsterdam, and was our last day in Europe. Amsterdam has a little different vibe than Paris and Brussels. Like all of our days in Europe, we packed in as much as we could.
A quick trip to the Rijksmuseum to see some amazing works of art…
“The Night Watch” by Rembrandt van Rijn. So many of the paintings we saw during this entire trip are so much larger than expected. We study these paintings as students, and see them in books, but none of that prepares you for how awe inspiring they are in real life…
Again, some great architecture in a European city…
And a quick visit to the Van Gogh Museum…I wasn’t sure what to expect here, the museum is pretty massive, and offered more than just Van Gogh paintings. There was a fantastic late 19th and early 20th Century print show featuring lithographs made in Paris.
Entrance leading to the two major parts of the museum, the changing exhibitions galleries and the Van Gogh galleries.
My new favorite painting…”Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette”
Graffiti…
One thing I noticed about Amsterdam, was the people seemed to take their shoes very seriously there. Hence graffiti about the history of Air Jordan’s on the side of an athletic apparel store.
Joseph Lupo 
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