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Tag: Rijksmuseum

How Henri Matisse, Jan Sluijters, Edvard Munch, and Moos Cohen inspired The Lover’s Portrait

How Henri Matisse, Jan Sluijters, Edvard Munch, and Moos Cohen inspired The Lover’s Portrait

In my novel The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery, the character Lex Wederstein is a young, talented Jewish artist whose career is cut short by the Nazis occupation of the Netherlands. Lex is based on a real person, the Dutch Jewish painter Moos Cohen. Because I am an American writing about sensitive topics in Dutch history, I didn’t dare make up any historical events or characters yet based them all on actual events and people I learned about while conducting archival…

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Amsterdam: the Perfect Setting for an Art Mystery

Amsterdam: the Perfect Setting for an Art Mystery

Amsterdam is the perfect setting for an art-related mystery, especially one in which the looting of artwork by the Nazis during World War Two plays a central role. My second novel, The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery, is about an American art history student who finds clues to the whereabouts of a collection of masterpieces hidden somewhere in Amsterdam, secreted away in 1942 by a homosexual art dealer who’d rather die than turn his collection over to his Nazi blackmailer. I can…

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Amsterdam: Family Fun for Everyone

Amsterdam: Family Fun for Everyone

Despite its reputation as Europe’s Sin City, Amsterdam is a wonderful destination for a family vacation. For starters, there are a plethora of free playgrounds and parks spread throughout the city you can let you little ones loose in. Most cultural institutions have created interactive exhibitions geared towards young children and several tour companies offer special family tours via bus, boat or foot. As a parent of an active six-year-old, I want to share three of my favorite places to…

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