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September 02, 2015

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In the Museum Centrale Montemartini in Rome.

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Nobody's boy, Hector Malot

My childhood version. The Dutch title translates as: Alone in the world When I was little, my parents had a big blue book on their bookshelves with beautiful drawings. I loved the story of the young orphan Remi who was sold by his mean stepfather when he was ten years old to a musician, Vitalis, who travelled around with Joli-Coeur the little monkey and the dogs Capi, Dolce and Zerbino. Nodoby’s boy is a beautiful story and I read it many times. Only later did I find out this was a world famous French classic, translated into many languages. The story is probably known: Remi is an orphan and that is why he does not belong to anybody. But fortunately for him he does encounter many people who help him, sometimes for a short while, but often for a longer period of time. Vitalis is a good man, but during a cold winter’s night when they could not find shelter, he dies. Gardener Alcuin takes Remi into his family, but when a heavy storm destroys the glasshouses, fat

Jan Altink, an artist I love

In 1918 a group of artists in the nothern city of Groningen came together. They wanted to paint in a modern way and not follow in the footsteps of the 19th century painters. This group called themself De Ploeg, meaning The Plough. They wanted to plough the country to make it fertile for a new beginning. Their inspiration came from Vincent van Gogh, but also from German expressionists like Ludwig Kirchner. Since it has been a hundred years ago De ploeg started, there is a huge exhibition in Groningen. I visited this a couple of weeks ago and I really loved it. It was very divers and huge, over 250 works could be seen. I really like De Ploeg and how they painted portraits, the landscape of Groningen (I was born there), and citylife. My favorite painter is Jan Altink (1885-1971). He was one of the founding members of the group. In the exhibition, I always liked his paintings the most. Here are a few examples to show you his work.

Four sisters, Helen Rappaport

When Nicolas II became tsar of Russia in 1894, he and his wife Alexandra had one goal: to preserve the throne and the dynasty. In 1895 their first child was born, a girl, Olga. Nicolas and Alexandra were happy with their healthy baby, but after four daughters they were not so happy anymore. After all, they needed a son to inherit the throne, since women could not reign according to the Russian laws. Although they loved their daughters, they also became a bit desperate, when would they have a son? In 1904 their wish was finally granted, Alexei was born. Threehundred gunshots announced his birth to his people. Everybody rejoiced. Only soon the happiness of the family turned to grief, it became clear the tsarevich was ill. He inherited hemophilia, the incurable disease that prevented his blood to clot. In the fourteen years to come all attention would be on Alexei and on his health. In 1914 World War One broke out and this did not go very well for Russia. In 1917 the tsar abdic

La piovra (1984-1999)

This is a great Italian series about the mafia. In the first four seasons Michele Placido played commissarion Corrado Cattani. He is send to Palermo to deal with the mafia, but in the end it will cost him his family and even his life. The mafia is called La piovra in this series, the octopus , because her tentacles stretch everywhere. It is an uneven battle for the police, everytime they think they can talk to somebody who will help the, the mafia beats them and usually murders that person. It also becomes clear how ‘normal’ people like solicitors and bankers and politicians are bound to the mafia. In series 5 en 6 the leading role is taken over by Vittorio Mezzogiorno who plays Inpector Davide Licata. It must not have been easy to step into the shoes of Michele Placido , but he also did a great job. Other amazing actors were Patricia Millardet who played judge Silvia Conti and of course Remo Girone as banker Tano Carridi. Bruno Cremer played Espinoza and I never could

A lifelong passion, Andrei Maylunas & Sergei Mironenko

The marriage between tsar Nicolas II and his wife Alexandra was an exception in royal circles in the 19 th century. They married for love and they loved each other deeply until the very last day. Their letters and diaries speak of this love and in this book, we can read those letters and diaries. In A lifelong passion you can find the collected and selected letters and diaries of Nicolas and Alexander, but also letters and diary fragments of their children, family members and people from the court and government. It gives a really good insight how the relationships between the Imperial couple and the people who surrounded were. It also gives a very good insight in the times and the historical events of those days. As a Romanov-fan you want to have A lifelong passion on your bookshelves, since it brings the Imperial Family so very close. Years most of these sources were locked away in archives and only when communism fell, these archived were opened and the material c

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