Laugh Now With Banksy At MOCO Museum

I can’t believe that it’s been 7 years since I visited Amsterdam! How is that possible? Last time I was here, the MOCO Museum didn’t exist and the Rijksmuseum was under renovation and only exhibiting the masterpieces. How things changed and yet still feel so familiar.

Museumplein was the first place I wanted Sean to check out. Surrounded by three museums, shop vendors, food carts, a fountain and green space, it was a great way to introduce the city and culture to him.

We hit Netherland’s largest museum, the Rijksmuseum, featuring a collection of over 8,000 objects, including works by famous Dutch artists Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals. The museum had undergone such a transformation that it was like I was also a first time visitor. The Gallery of Honour was absolutely majestic, telling the story of the Dutch Golden Age and culminating in the pièce de résistance, Rembrandt’s The Nightwatch.

After the Rijksmuseum, we walked over to the other side of the museum quarter to see the Banksy and Dali exhibitions at the MOCO. Fun fact: the modern contemporary museum is located in a townhouse designed by Eduard Cuypers, who is also related to Pierre Cuypers, who designed Amsterdam’s Centraal station and the Rijksmuseum.

The Banksy: Laugh Now and Dali: Genius exhibits were the purr-fect pairing. They’re both mavericks and rebels in the modern art world: one in Surrealism, the other in street art. Banksy: Laugh Now exhibit, being the headliner, took up most of the MOCO real estate, while the temporary Dali: Genius exhibit was viewed in the lower ground floor. Not a knock, I’m sure, but I imagine the cost of bringing in Dali pieces (not drawings or sketches) would be so cost prohibitive for a niche museum such as the MOCO.

There were around 50 Banksy pieces, some of which were iconic and instantly recognizable, even if one is not a fan. I believe it’s also the first time a museum has ever hosted such a large collection of Banksy works.

Some favourites:

And one of his most recognizable pieces, Girl with Balloon (2003). Banksy has done variations on this concept, but this metal piece discovered in a south bank stairway wall in London is his most famous – an innocent girl reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon just beyond her grasp.

Exiting the MOCO, there is Banksy’s SWAT truck, with a stencil of a mischievous boy about to surprise a group of armed SWAT officers on one side, and Dorothy from Wizard of Oz on one side.

If you’re a Banksy or street art fan, the MOCO in Amsterdam is a must visit.