Dear Art lover,
Welcome back to my art journal. I wish you a very pleasant time while reading this article, and that you get to know a little bit more the beautiful city of Amsterdam, through my architecture and cityscape paintings.
I am going to start by showing you the view from my apartment. The buildings I get to see from my window everyday, are not the most touristic or the most beautiful ones in the city, but I do believe they have some charmed.
St. Nicholas Cathedral in Amsterdam
If I lean a little bit outside the window and look to the left, I get a bigger view of the city and I get to see the tower of Saint Nicholas Cathedral, which is located in the old district of Amsterdam and it is very close to the Central Station, around 5 minutes by walking I would say.
Saint Nicholas Cathedral was designed by the Architect Adrianus Bleijs and completed in 1887, it was under construction during 3 years. The church is a combination of different architectural styles, but the most distinguished are the Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance.
A very old and cute bar in Amsterdam
The neighborhood where I live is completely full of restaurants and charming old bars. One of them is called Louis Bar, and it is one of the first bars I visited last year when I moved to Amsterdam and before everything was shut down.
I recently made an Architecture painting of the façade of this bar, as I can also see it from my window, and I am looking forward to the bars opening again, because I want to make a painting of this one from inside.
The Dancing Houses of Amsterdam
If you have been following my art journey, by now you must know I live in one of the Dancing Houses of Amsterdam. I know I have been sharing and writing a lot about the this on my last articles, and I am sorry but I will do it one more time on this post.
To be honest, I don't really know or understand why are theses houses so famous. I do not think they are the most beautiful buildings in Amsterdam, but I must accept they do have some personality.
Although, I will never know if I like this view of Amsterdam because I find it beautiful or only because my judgment is already contaminated by all the photos that come out in google when you search Amsterdam.
The Royal Palace of Amsterdam
If I keep walking straight on the same street from where I was looking at those houses, I will eventually end up at the Dam Square and right in front of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.
The Royal Palace of Amsterdam is the biggest and most important building from the Golden Age in Amsterdam. It was originally built as Amsterdam's city hall by the Architect Jan Van Campen in the 17th century.
Nowadays the palace is open to visitors and it is also the place where the king has official receptions and where New Year's eve is celebrated by locals and tourists.
The oldest church in Amsterdam.
The oldest church of Amsterdam (Oude Kerk) is located right in the middle of the Red District (prostitutes streets), which I find very interesting and contradictory. I guess coming from Mexico, a very religious country, I am not used to this kind of cultural mindset.
The Oude Kerk was built in the 13th century and has been renovated many times since then.
Last but not least, I am going to leave you with my favorite view of Amsterdam, and even though these are not famous buildings, they are located in the Red light district and this area is always full of tourist.
Because of the current situation (lockdown) and the cold winter, I was lucky enough to find this location empty and I took advantage of that and made a watercolor painting.
