Miffed And Bosched

Today was off the beaten track day. I did a day excursion out to Utrecht and ’s-Hertogenbosch. Try to say that quickly five times. Or you can just say den Bosch.

What was in these 2 places worth checking out?

How about Miffy, international icon in Utrecht and heaven and hell in den Bosch?

First stop was the Dick Bruna Museum in Utrecht. I don’t know about you, but I used to read Miffy books when I was wee. Loved Miffy. And Hello Kitty, Little Twin Star, the Mr & Mrs books.

Utrecht is 1/2 hour train ride from Amsterdam. It’s a lovely, charming little uni town. In fact, so nice I almost wish I had devoted the whole day to checking out just Utrecht, instead of double-combo’ing today. The city is quaint. Very european, almost English village vibe. No trams. The bus line from Utrecht Centraal station roundtrip is like 12 stops. And the museum was stop number 7 from the station.

I didn’t know but my admission to the Dick Bruna Museum also include entrance to Utrecht’s Central Museum and the Rietveld Schröderhuis, which I had no time for today. Next time I’ll know.

When you enter the Dick Bruna museum, you’re greeted by a huge gold coloured Miffy. The first room after that is a wall full, floor to ceiling, of Miffy books in all the languages it’s published in. The next room is a children’s playroom, complete with life-sized house and multimedia displays of Miffy and her friends.

Going upstairs, I found a tribute to Dick Bruna, Dutch author, illustrator, graphic designer and creator of Miffy. His father wanted Bruna to take over their publishing business. Bruna had other plans, but still stayed in publishing. He became such a successful graphic designer, that he was commissioned for covers for The Saint and James Bond. As I was appreciating his works in the exhibit, I found out that at age 82, Bruna’s still drawing and coming up with Miffy stories.

Doesn’t Bruna’s Lottie look like my niece? I got a kick out of the resemblance.

Bruna is revered by those in the illustration and graphic design industry. His simple way of drawing is universal. His igloo looks like an igloo. His bird looks like a bird. No matter what language one may speak, you know what the artist is trying to convey just by looking at it. Bruna is all about the simple and uncomplicated. Maybe that’s why Miffy and Hello Kitty are so universal.

Japan and Hong Kong are HUGE Miffy fans. In fact, the couple of museum attendants that I came across asked me if I was Japanese. I suppose the museum has a fair share of visitors from the far east. Dick Bruna Museum as pilgrimage site.

For those that dig on strange, freakish and fantastical creatures found in renaissance paintings, one really must visit the Jheronimus Bosch Art Centre in den Bosch, which is 1/2 hour from Utrecht. Call it Bosch universe. It’s the only place in the world you can experience everything Bosch.

Keep those eyes peeled for outdoor Bosch sculptures

I used to be frighten of Jheronimus Bosch‘s paintings because they were so wild and depicted evil scary monsters and humans in depraved acts. But now that I’m older, I can appreciate his works without having scary dreams.

The Last Judgment Tryptich by Jheronimus Bosch

Bosch’s paintings reveal the true nature of man. His paintings depict the struggle between good and evil. Bosch paints of religious angels thrown out of heaven, devils dominating the world, saints showing man the road to heaven. Bosch takes you up to the highest place in heaven and depicts the deepest level of hell.

The Bosch Art Centre, which is in a church, is big. Allow for a lot of time to enjoy the 4 gallery floors in the church tower and especially the main floor of the church. The first thing I did was sit and watch the 10 minute film on Bosch and his works. But I couldn’t wait for the film to finish, so that I could run around and look more closely at the various Bosch sculptures on the floor and hung from the church ceiling.

Tim Burton would have a field day in here! One of Bosch’s sculptures remind me of Danny de Vito’s Penguin in Batman. Another looked like the scary face that Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis made to scare Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice.

It also looked like MAD’s Spy vs Spy face.

The art hung on the walls is not actually the real Bosches. Those are in museums around the world: Bruges, Ghent, Madrid and Lisbon to name a few. At first I was a bit “cheated” looking at them because there not the real ones, no matter how high-quality, same size as the originals, photographic reproductions in authentic hand-made frames they are.

The Bosch sketches under preservation glass, however, are authentic though. No wonder they let me go nuts with my camera. But then I thought, you’re looking at all of Bosch’s 25 paintings in one place. Better than in a textbook or online.

The fifth floor of the tower offers a near 360 panoramic view of Utrecht. But I got to warn you, take the elevator to the 5th floor and hold on! It’s fast and it’s clear glass, so as you’re whipping up and your eyes catching what’s on each floor, you may get a sense of vertigo. I had to put both hands on the handrail and feet apart to steady myself. It was really trippy and challenges one’s fear of heights, going so fast yet also felt slow at the same time. I was wishing that it would just get to the top floor already and let me out.

From the top floor, I made my way down to every floor and listening to the audio listening guide of each painting, which by the way was included with the entrance fee of € 6! (none of the other museums have done that!) There were chairs set up on each floor for further contemplation of the paintings.

By the time I hit the main floor again, I still felt like going back to certain sculptures and paintings to see it again. You can’t take it all in in just one go. But unfortch, it was time to go.

As an observation, I’m finding that the Dutch operate on Dutch time. When a store, museum or business state their closing hour is 6, that really means the employees will be closing up shop about 20-30 minutes before. In Vancouver, when a store says they’re opened to 6, they’re opened til 6 and employees are normally scheduled for 15-30 minutes later to close up shop.

I would recommend the Jheronimus Bosch Art Centre for the wow factor. Cuz seriously your mouth will drop when you first walk in. And if you’re not a Bosch fan, go anyway. you’ll become one by the time you leave.

And if not, like Utrecht, den Bosch is a charming and picturesque town to check out. There’s even some Bosch figures hidden in plain sight along the canals. You’ll be doing the whiplash thing.

View more photos of my trip on my Flickr album.