My favourite art museum in the world: Stedelijk Museum

May 09, 2019

Stedelijk Museum was everything I enjoyed, all in one museum — modern art, contemporary art, photography, typography and graphic design. I don't think I can ever fully put into words how impactful Stedelijk Museum museum was. I had always held a steadfast belief that I was not artistically-inclined. After all, my grades proved so — Art was the only subject that ruined my perfect streak of straight A's — and who was I to question the educational system?

But strolling through Stedelijk Museum made me realise that art is subjective. Art is not the grades that I let define me for the past decade. Art is not blindly following a painting and the strokes my teacher showed us. Art is not the punishment my teacher subjected me to because I couldn't follow her instructions. And most of all, unlike Singapore's education system, art is about failing. In fact, art embraces failures.

How many household names out there have failed countless times before creating their masterpiece? How many artists passed away before their names were known to the world? And how many continued painting till their deathbeds despite never producing a known work.

All my life, I associated art with paintings, colourings, drawings — all of which I was atrocious at. But Stedelijk Museum showed me that art is more than that, and that I've been creating works of art without even realising it. Photography is art, typography is art, graphic design is art. Even if you find it impossible to comprehend, contemporary art and modern art is art. You don't have to like it, you just need to respect it.

It sounds silly that I'm raving about how big a difference an art museum made in my life, but Stedelijk Museum allowed me, a girl who never believed in her artistic sense despite having been a designer for distinguished companies, to fall in love with art over again.

I'll let some of my favourite photos do the talking but Stedelijk Museum is literally my favourite art museum in the world right now, and well worth every bit of that €10 ticket I was initially reluctant to splurge on.

P.S. You can get tickets to Stedelijk Museum at €10 as long as you're a student anywhere in the world.