V is for... Vivid ... n ... Visit

 

Hello and welcome! to another A-Z series on M-i-V... 

All through April I'm posting on the broad theme of Museums & Monuments Across the World - mostly those I've been to and a few on my bucket list that I haven't been able to visit yet. Museums are one of my favourite ways to get to know a culture, they sum up what those peoples want to preserve and pass onto their grandchildren, the facets they want to show their foreign visitors, how they perceive, present and preserve their own storyline and that of their interactions with the world. Come museum hopping with me!

V is for Van Gogh Museum

I'm revisiting one of my favourite museums today - the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It stands next to the Stedelijk and a little way across the Rijksmuseum in the Museum Square. The Van Gogh Museum is the definitive last word on the artist's life and art, it holds the largest collection of his paintings and drawings under one roof and also a collection of his letters. This one museum was the driving factor for my visit to Amsterdam in the late nineties. 

I was introduced to Vincent van Gogh by my father and had become a fan in my teens after reading his fictionalised biography. Those days my father subscribed to a pile of (print!) magazines, among them Nat Geo, so many of my early travel wishlists were shaped by their features. I'm not sure when and where I read about the museum, it has been around since 1973, but I do recall reading in an article in Nat Geo about Vincent's wanting to 'paint a lullaby in colours.' By the time hubby and I planned our trip in the late nineties, the Van Gogh Museum was firmly on the very top of the Amsterdam agenda. 

There are no photographs, because 1) photographing the artworks was a no no at the time and 2) the concept of the selfie didn't exist, so there were no selfie points as I understand there are now. However, pictures are  totally not needed as most of Vincent's artworks  and his  life are super famous, he remains  one of the most frequently reproduced artists of all time. Must see works at the Museum include:

• The Potato Eaters (1885)

• Self Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (1887)

• The Bedroom (1888)

• The Yellow House (1888)

• Sunflowers (1889)

• Almond Blossoms (1890)

• Irises (1890)

• Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

• Tree Roots (1890)

Note that the Van Gogh Museum also has a significant body of art by artists other than Van Gogh, such as Claude Monet, Emile Bernard, Gauguin etc  - contemporaries/predecessors who influenced Vincent and provide the context to his art as well as the art movements of his time. 

The Van Gogh Museum attracted more than 1.8 million visitors in 2025 and is one of the top most visited single artist art museums. Note that most single artist museums have footfall numbers less than a million. The Museum also has formidable online presence with nearly 11 million followers on their various SM platforms and a reach of 170 million.  

Read more about the Van Gogh Museum and explore his artworks and life by clicking the link here.  Vincent's letters have been digitised also and are available online, click this link to read them.

V is also for Victoria & Albert Museum

The V&A as it's popularly known is also another favourite of mine and it describes itself as an institution that is dedicated to design and creativity in all its forms. The Museum showcases the 5000 year fascinating history of design, creativity and innovation in as diverse fields as photo-poetry to textiles, lacquer work to stained glass and from metal casting to print making and shoes.  

Print. Running Cola is Africa. Image credit : V&A

Apart from the main site at South Kensington, London, there are some 5 other satellite premises in other parts of London and in the UK, which together display a collection of 2.8 million objects from every possible creative discipline imaginable. It is one of the largest museums in the world and has a staggering 150+ galleries. Naturally one of the most visited in London, with 3.33 million visitors in 2025. 

The V&A in South Kensington. The Museum goes back to 1852, as the Museum
of Manufactures. At its core were the objects that were curated in the 'Great
Exhibition' of 1850.

I have visited this favourite multiple times, the last visit was in 2018. It is impossible to come up with any kind of must see shortlist of items for it, as the galleries are so diverse - one year we focussed on the Japanese arts specifically textiles and netsukes, another year we spent our entire visit being obsessed with an exhibition of ceramics, I remember yet another being entranced by their stained glass. It is altogether riveting for anyone interested in any aspect of design. 

The V&A holds one of the largest collection of Renaissance sculptures outside of Italy and iconic objects like the Tipu's Tiger, a decorative object shaped like a tiger attacking a European soldier with a built organ which mimics the dying cries of the man. The Museum also has the most exquisite jewellery pieces, some of which belong to Queen  Victoria, who laid the foundation stone of the Museum and gave it her and her consort's names in 1899.

Read more about the Museum and explore its collections by clicking the link over here.  

Finally V is for the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata's own monument to Queen Victoria, built during the British Raj which is now a small Museum and is one of the most popular attractions of the city. Nothing like the V&A, it has some 20 odd galleries and a collection of portraits, paintings and weaponry, a new one on Kolkata's history has been added in recent years.

Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.

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Thank you for visiting and reading. As the Challenge winds down into its last week now, I hope you've had a wonderful A-Z so far if you are taking the Challenge and a wonderful April if you're not!

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2026