Johannes Vermeer spent time working in a hostel long before his painting Girl with the pearl earring became a hit. This hostel called De Vliegende Vos (the Running Fox) was his birth place. It's still...

Johannes Vermeer spent time working in a hostel long before his painting Girl with the pearl earring became a hit. This hostel called De Vliegende Vos (the Running Fox) was his birth place. It's still...
Once in the Netherlands, trains zoomed over the 1,9 kilometre long Hofbogen railway from Rotterdam to The Hague. Now, June 1 2018, a park will open on the first part of the old traintrack, around what...
Art dealer and art historian Jan Six discovered a Rembrandt painting in 2016. It was all over the news this week. Imagine. You find it at an auction house, buy it for a minimal amount (in the case of ...
When they offered Albert Einstein the presidency of Israel, his reaction was genius. 'Not a good idea', he said (in his own words), 'I've done more math than I ever worked on my people skills, so I'd ...
Inspiration is like hope: you need it to have fun in life. It makes you see endless possibilities and chances in life. And to connect and learn from cool people around you. I wish you no less in 2018....
When was the last time you listened to a whole music album, like, focused? I remember renting cd's from the library and listening to every single song. Some albums had a hidden bonus track after the l...
'Our food is like a delirium, a gastronomic hallicunation.' Yes, that is how I would describe the food at Peyote San in Madrid, too. A surreal mix between two cuisines seldom properly mixed, here Mexi...
November is a fat month when it comes to art events. Museums open brand new exhibitions. You can buy your dream piece for € 200 at the most accessible art fair in the Netherlands. Or highlight the dar...
It is as inspiring as annoying: visiting friends in their brand new place for the first time. Inspiring, because fresh color schemes and the latest furniture give ideas for my own pad. Annoying, becau...
Art is about stories and one story in particular: the artist's life. We’ve seen it happen with LSD-trippin’ artists in the 1970s, the result of it being psychedelic music and visual arts. Four colorfu...
Two jobs were offered to me when I learned how to pitch. I'm not kidding. All it took was to learn what I am about (granted that's hard to find out!) and to get comfortable with speaking up at unprepa...
My coach had me ask my friends what they think I should do with my life. One of the best and most original answers is that I should host salons. My mind goes wild! I see a dimly lit private library wi...
Today I read a whole book. I admit, it was thin and small. But it keeps this blog alive! In it, the author Elja Daae, who also writes for the mega-megablog Frankwatching.com, unfolds his ideas on blog...
'Now I've got to be careful or I'll lose my job,' Neelie Kroes remembered thinking after getting married in 1965. Her employer allowed her to continue working for him, but told her that getting pregna...
It's been a while since I first saw Marten and Oopjen in the Rijksmuseum: two life-size portraits by Rembrandt, so realistic that my memory likes me to believe I saw the cute newlyweds in person. I wa...
Art Rotterdam is a true Dutch art fair. Not only is it inside the old coffee, tea, and tobacco factory Van Nellefabriek, built in the Dutch Modernist architecture style, it's also less elitist than mo...
Art fairs. They can be daunting. The amount of art can be intimidating to the extent of temporary brain outage and a suspicious blurring of the eyes. After spotting your first obvious art connoisseurs...
I've got another unskippable place for you in Paris. You'll have your jaw drop in the Galerie de Mineralogie et de Geologie, showcasing the most brilliant and colorful mineral stones on earth. I'll t...
As a young girl, perhaps 10 years old, I wrote adventure stories. Novels inspired by the books I lent from the library. Aged 17, I wrote music as well and recorded two full albums in my tiny home stud...
You know the name of Peter Paul Rubens and maybe you could tell it's a famous Flamish painter in far-gone Flanders. But how about his style? Do you know in which century he painted his masterworks and...