The permanent collection at the Zaans Museum contains historic, modern, and contemporary works by various artists who drew their inspiration from the Zaan Region.
Regularly, you will find a new display of artworks in Art from the Zaan Region from the Zaan Museum’s permanent collection.
The painting De Voorzaan and the Westerhem by the world famous French painter Claude Monet is the showpiece of the exhibition.
At the exhibition, you will see a number of still life paintings including a colourful work by Jan Verkade, ‘Still life with pomegranates and flowers in a vase.’
Since ancient times, painters have used still life painting to improve their skills. They practised with different textures and materials. From the 17th century, the genre continued to gain popularity in the Netherlands.
Jan Verkade, who was part of the circle of artists around Paul Gauguin and a member of the French artist group Les Nabis, took a very different approach to still life painting. He did not paint what he observed in the moment, but what he remembered. He painted this still life of pomegranates and asters several times, each time with subtle differences.
Two portraits – a painting by Cees Bolding and the other by photographer Robin de Puy – hang next to each other in the exhibition. Both show two children: Cees Bolding’s painting is dated 1916, while the photograph of brothers Saker and Ali by Robin de Puy was taken more than one hundred years later in 2020. While Bolding made the children pose for his work, De Puy chose not to do that.
Portrait photographer Robin de Puy works all over the world. As she could not travel in 2020 due to the pandemic, she started taking portrait photos of people in her local area. During this time, she met Syrian brothers Saker and Ali. She photographed them a number of times in a way that was as natural as possible.
Lucy and her brother Jantje had to take refuge in another city during the Second World War. They moved for a while with their parents to Scheveningen, where it was safer. Their neighbour in Scheveningen was the Zaans painter Cees Bolding, and he asked whether he could paint their portraits. This way they could also earn a bit of extra money. Look closely and you will see a coat that is too big and scuffed shoes – these were not wealthy children. With this painting of children in a new day-to-day reality, Cees Bolding was looking for the ‘ordinary’ that was extraordinary in his eyes.
On display in the exhibition, a self-portrait by Jacob Taanman is particularly exceptional.
The use of light shining from the side is remarkable in this self-portrait, bathing the top of his head and highlighting his beard. It looks as if it could keep you warm. It is possible that Jacob Taanman was inspired by Rembrandt’s early work, who played with light the same way.
Whilst Taanman’s contemporaries, such as Jozef Israëls and Jacob Maris or Claude Monet, were turning their backs on the established way of painting, he chose to work in a popular, more romantic style. His portraits and historically inspired works of art gained him favour among high society, including the royal family.
Claude Monet visited Zaandam in 1871. The famous French painter was so impressed by the Zaan landscape, the windmills, the wooden houses, and the Zaan river that he created an astounding 25 paintings and 9 sketches of the landscape.
The picturesque Zaan landscape enamoured Claude Monet and other painters in that time and drew them to the Zaan region, just as many local and international visitors are intrigued to visit the Zaanse Schans, which is home to the Zaans Museum.
During his stay in the Netherlands, Monet wrote to his friend Camille Pissarro: ‘Zaandam is quite remarkable and there is enough to paint for a lifetime. Houses in all colours, hundreds of mills, and delightful boats.’
Right at the heart of the museum, you will find the Verkade Experience, a treat for young and old! Here, you will be transported back to the chocolate and biscuit factory of the early twentieth century, where the original machines are still churning away and the history of Verkade comes alive.
Have you always wanted to work in a chocolate and biscuit factory? Then take the chance now! Test your dexterity with the games at the Verkade Experience. Put on your work clothes and pretend to be a ‘Verkade girl’, a chocolate expert, or a biscuit baker. Will you get promoted to director, or will you be sacked?
Get a chocolate bar of choice at the ticket desk of the Zaans Museum for €2,75 and create a custom Verkade chocolate bar wrapper using your own design and choice of colours. When you’re happy with your design, use the mini packaging machine to wrap your chocolate bar in your own wrapper.
In the Verkade Treasury you can see the best and longest-running marketing campaign of the previous century: the Verkade Albums. Between 1903 and 1940, and between 1965 and 1995, Verkade published 35 picture card albums, all written by renowned Dutch authors.
Halfway through the nineteenth century the Zaan region underwent a rapid change as a result of the growth of industry. Local historians and collectors captured this part of history in books and collections. ‘Preserving the past, before it’s too late’ was their motto. Be amazed by the themes and objects that are characteristic of the Zaan region.
From Tsar Peter the Great to the traditional regional costume of Zaandam
Be intrigued by the themes and objects that are characteristic of the Zaan region, such as Tsar Peter the Great’s stay in Zaandam, the traditional regional costume of Zaandam, and the wonder of Zaandam: Stiers Wreedheid (A bull’s savagery), the tale of the raging bull that gored the belly of a pregnant women with its horns, which resulted in the child being born.
Just a stone’s throw from Amsterdam, the Zaan region developed into Western Europe’s first industrial area. There was a time when there were over 600 active windmills here!
Many different food products such as cocoa, rice, and oil have been produced here for centuries. Even kitchen cupboards and floors were made in the Zaan region.
Golden ages
In the ‘De Zaanstreek maakt het’ (The Zaan region really makes it) exhibition, you explore three golden ages: the period where the Zaan region was dominated by windmills (1720-1750), the period of the steam engine (1890-1914), and the period of the factories (1950-present).
Windmill spectacle
Step back in time with an interactive windmill spectacle and experience an age of hard work and discover the typical Zaan worker mentality and entrepreneurial spirit.
Adults: € 4
Children aged 4 to 17 years: € 2
I Amsterdam Card: free
VriendenLoterij VIP-kaart: free
Discover everything there is to know about the traditional Dutch craft of sailcloth and windmill cloth weaving at the Weaver’s House on the Zaanse Schans. In the eighteenth century, two families lived in the Weaver’s House, right in-between the five looms.
The Weaver’s House served as a weaving mill until the start of the twentieth century. In 2015, the house was reconstructed at the Zaanse Schans and is now used by the Zaans Museum to demonstrate the traditional craft of home-weaving.
Experience how it really was: take a seat behind the loom, grab some rest in the box bed, and come meet the weavers in their traditional costume.
The Weaver’s House also houses a traditional-looking shop filled with unique gift items. Here you’ll find an exciting range of original gift items and tools relating to the craft of weaving and to textiles.
Adults: € 3,50
Children aged 4 to 17 years: € 2
I Amsterdam Card: free
VriendenLoterij VIP-kaart: free
The Cooperage is located at the Zaanse Schans. Here you’re introduced to the old craft of making barrels. The volunteers of the Zaans Museum will tell you all about it!
The interior originates from cooperage and barrel-makers S.R. Tiemstra & Sons from Oostzanerwerf in the north of Amsterdam. Upon his death, the last cooper – Jaap Tiemstra – bequeathed the entire cooperage to the Zaans Museum.
Inventory
The tools, machines, vats, and inventory now have their own special place on the Zaanse Schans and the Zaans Museum has breathed new life into the cooperage of Jaap Tiemstra. Knowledgeable volunteers will tell you all about and demonstrate the old craft of making barrels.
The Zaans Museum was founded in 1998 on the Zaanse Schans to guard and preserve the Zaan heritage.
The Hembrug Museum tells the story of the arms and ammunition factory that was located on the Hembrugterrein in Zaandam.
In 1697, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great stayed in this world-famous house in the center of Zaandam.
