The Netherlands plays a major role in the history of New York. When you visit the city it is nice to discover that Dutch connection. Especially now that there are also beautiful cultural connections.
Take, for example, the fact that Jaap van Zweden has recently become principal conductor of the prestigious New York Philharmonic. We attended one of the first concerts under his leadership and felt really proud to be in the hall as a Dutchman. In the near future, Van Zweden will also pay attention to Dutch composers such as Louis Andriessen. That makes the connection extra special.
Visit to the Lincoln Center
It is really worth a visit to Jaap van Zweden if you are making a trip to New York. In addition to an evening full of beautiful music, you can also enjoy the setting. The Lincoln Center is impressively large (more than 60,000 m²) and there is a lot to experience in the field of music, dance and theater. Thousands of performances take place every year. Book a tour of the gigantic complex during the day to get a good impression of this versatile institution.
Dutch Masters in The Met
If you cross the tree-lined Central Park after a visit to the Lincoln Center, you will come across another world-famous cultural hotspot: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met houses one of the most impressive art collections in the world. Since last month you can go there for an exhibition with a Dutch touch: In Praise of Painting – Dutch Masterpieces at The Met. The exhibition will run for no less than 2 years, until October 4, 2020. You can enjoy the paintings of the old Dutch Masters. Since the opening of The Met in 1871, the canvases by painters such as Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer have been the highlight of the collection. In addition, work by lesser-known artists from the Netherlands will also be shown. In any case, the connection between the Netherlands and New York is strong.
What is special about the exhibition is that the 67 paintings are hung thematically, so they are not classified by painter. The works are socially and culturally linked. Artists in the 17th century, for example, often debated styles. In the chosen arrangement you can see the tension between realism and idealism that was very present in the art world at the time. Think, for example, of ‘Aristotle at the bust of Homer’ by Rembrandt (the masterpiece from the exhibition) opposite ‘Apollo and Aurora’ by Gerard de Lairesse.
A very special work in this exhibition is a painting by Margaretha Haverman. She was one of the few women who was active as a painter in the 18th century. The canvas ‘A Vase with Flowers’ is rarely seen in the hall. During In Praise of Painting, there are many works to be seen that are not standard in the auditorium. They are usually stored in The Met’s gigantic depot. Such a large art collection naturally requires certain choices in terms of arrangement. Including the depot, The Met owns no less than 2 million objects.
It is striking that only a single door separates the depot and the hall. We secretly find out during the tour that we get just before the opening of the exhibition. Adam Eaker (Assistant Curator, Department of European Paintings) passionately shows us some of the works selected for In Praise of Painting. In addition, he tells a story about the Dutch heyday in art history and the way in which America views this art. Interesting to hear this as a Dutchman in New York. Lovers of Dutch painting should therefore really pay a visit to The Met. And then immediately take the rest of the museum with you! It is so big and versatile that you can easily spend a day there.
Off to Lower Manhattan
Are you looking for real tangible history? Then you have to head south of Manhattan, where real traces of Dutch history can still be found. Our guide is city historian Kevin Draper (owner of New York Historical Tours, highly recommended!) and he will be waiting for us at Bowling Green. This small park is New York’s oldest park and sits amid the high-rises surrounding Broad Way and Wall Street. The park has been an undeveloped site since the time the city was called New Amsterdam and was in the hands of the Dutch.
In 1625 Fort Amsterdam was built next to the place where present-day Bowling Green is located. This can be seen as the first phase of growing into the most important city in the world. The fortress was to protect the newly founded colony from other European powers interested in this strategically located trading place. Kevin Draper says that the settlement was primarily intended as a profitable business and that anyone who wanted to trade was welcomed by the Dutch. Origin or religion hardly played a role. According to our city guide, this liberal attitude still holds true for New Yorkers today.
The fort is no longer there, but further on there are tangible memories of the Dutch era. At the entrance to The Battery (also known as Battery Park) is a monument that shows that this place was once Dutch territory. The name Battery also comes from the Dutch word for a group of cannons: a battery.
Then the walk continues via the Peter Minuit Plaza (Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from the original inhabitants in 1626) and New Amsterdam Plein, towards the streets around Wall Street. In this part of New York, history is still tangible and the wide avenues of the city seem far away. Take Pearl Street for example. This used to be the border with the water, where many oysters could be found. That is why the Dutch gave it the name Paerlstraet/Parelstraat. On this street, on the corner with Broad Street, there is a glass plate in the sidewalk through which you can look down. Here you can see the remains of buildings from the time of the Dutch colony.
Further on you’ll find Coenties Alley, a street paved with old-fashioned cobblestones. This name also has a Dutch origin. Conraet Ten Eyck and his wife Antje once lived here. The names Co and Antje were eventually corrupted into Coenties. And further down South William Street you can even admire some stepped gables. So you see that the Netherlands is never really far away in New York. On your next visit to The Big Apple, you should go and explore for yourself! Check nycgo.com for the best tips.
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