Experience all the stories you could have lived.
Art is a language through which we can experience everything that could have been. We all get one life; within that life, we can be several people. Yet we can never be all the people we imagine we’d be. Our years limit us, and nobody knows how much of them we get. So while you’re here, let Basart take you on a journey through the lives that Amsterdam has in store.
Basart offers people with a passion for travel and a hunger to experience a journey through stories untold. Don’t expect any regular art tour, Basart shows you a rare side of Amsterdam.
Let’s dive into your favourite artists, eras, and colour schemes. Raise our glass to the artist that secured history for us. And explore what life was like in another time. Expect to open new conversations on what the stories behind art mean for you today. Art is a remembrance of all the lives we have and haven’t lived. So open your mind and amaze your soul.
Travel through your favourite stories
Art knows no bounds, and neither do our tour guides. They take you to alleyways that your regular guide doesn’t know about and are educated beyond the traditional stories. Through art and history, they give you a taste of the stories that others miss.
Book yourself a tour that teleports you through time into Amsterdam at a different age. Get to know your ancestors by learning what life was like for them. What was life like as a milkmaid on a farm, a nanny in the 18th century, or a royal chef in the 17th?
What social issues did we face in different eras, and how can we relate those to today? We may have grown, but did we learn?
Basart tells the stories untold. Our hosts treat their visitors as friends and share their city like a secret. Specializing in international tours, we take you to the road less taken and guide you into hidden corners of Dutch culture.
If life was a museum, our lives were the art.
Meet your tour guide, make a friend
Founder Bastiaan Steverink is a warm, passionate museum educator and art historian. With his lust for art and storytelling, Bastiaan has always enjoyed the finer things in life. No ‘all-you-can’ concepts for him; he thrives on craftsmanship. His creative mind and ambitious character are refreshing to be around.
Still searching for his purpose, Bastiaan started his career in the interior design industry. With a passion for aesthetics, he wondered if creating literal space for people matched his skills. Yet, when he discovered that his hobby was his most powerful set of tools, he turned to the museum industry to hold space for stories waiting to be told.
Bastiaan loves creating tailor-made, private tours. He’s at his best when he can attend to people’s individual needs. He loves discovering what makes them tick and how their lives can be enriched with his knowledge of art. His current favourite art piece is that of Willem Claesz Heda, a 17th-century painter who painted Still Life with a Gilt Cup in 1635. This piece combines cuisine with art, a golden combination if you ask Bastiaan. Bastiaan has a lot of experience with American and German tourists and loves diversity in his clientele and education. His vibrant personality matches most with open-minded and curious people who want to feel at home in Amsterdam.
Whether it is groups of friends, families, or senior couples, Bastiaan tailor-makes an art experience that you will remember for a long time. He makes sure his new friends feel pampered with precious memories. He ensures that no matter the host, his tours provide an extraordinary art experience: the Basart effect.
Types of tours
Grand Amsterdam
An everlasting impression of the city’s best museums, like the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, private boat tour, and a city walk.
Modernism
A tour with a modernistic take past the Stedelijk Museum, Moco Museum, Cobra Museum, and Cobra Lunch, showing architecture from the 17th-21st century along the way.
Jewish Amsterdam
Take a walk on the Jewish side by exploring Jewish life in Amsterdam. During this tour, we visit the Portuguese synagogue, discuss the holocaust, and dive into the story of Anne Frank.
History & Diversity
To enjoy the richness of culture and celebrate diversity, we need to educate ourselves on the dark pages of history. Let us take you on an impressive tour past the Tropenmuseum and share the real stories behind colonialism and slavery.
A Real Taste of History
Real love goes through the stomach. Get your dopamine pumping by learning about art through a robust 17th-century buffet. Eat like your ancestors and time travel through Amsterdam.
Amsterdam for Collectors
A tour through galleries, antique dealers and auction houses for collectors.
Amsterdam Romance
Fall in love with Amsterdam, your date will follow. For all the love birds, potential flings and future romances we offer a love tour: the best date in town
Itinerary examples
Even though life is short, you don’t have to limit yourself to your years. Learn about all the potential versions of yourself. Find out who has walked the ground before you and let your Basart host make paintings come alive. The different museums and cultural venues you will visit tell the tales you missed out on and answer questions you didn’t know you had. So strap your seatbelt and let Basart teleport you into the era of your choice.
Hidden Gems Tour
Get to know the real Amsterdam. The hidden messages, the secret alleyways, the untold stories. In this tour, you will dive deeply into Amsterdam’s artistic side. A tour with a dark academic style and a nostalgic vibe. Have a geeky romance with Basart; search for the unknown
Casually breath-taking afternoon
Let your Basart host take you on a casual hike through the most captivating museums Amsterdam offers. This tour is a light-hearted way to explore Amsterdam, with an elegant lunch and a beautiful glass of Chablis. Imagine yourself strolling through the Van Gogh Museum, while hanging on every word of the painter: the hidden messages they left behind through their art. Your host will explain how our history meets today’s world through the pieces they carefully selected for you. Basart is not here for the hustle-mentality; we prefer to live slowly and enjoy the view.
What else is new?
An opinionated, postmodern tour that compares current actualities with past behaviour. In this tour Basart links historical events and cultural differences to civilisation today. Find out how we relate to the scenes in the art pieces we love. Contemplate what impact slavery had on our stories, for example. What can we learn from our ancestors?
We think we’ve grown, but did we really change? Let’s find out together through this insightful art tour for the wandering mind.
Why Basart?
With Basart you don’t book a tour guide. You book a friend. Our tour guides are carefully selected for their warmth, wit, and trained eye. Whether you’re a chauffeur driving the tour bus or a tourist who got strung along by a friend, with Basart you feel like you belong. Welcome to Amsterdam.
You want to tour with Basart if you wish an open-minded take on art, told in an accessible and inclusive way. Our tour guides have outgoing personalities and authentic characters. They build bridges between history and today and love to wonder about the beautiful things in life.
A spoonful of art
Next to excellent tours, Basart has researched how food changed through art. Stay tuned because soon, we will launch a cultural experience based on historical cooking. Imagine what it would be like to dine in a painting and get an authentic taste of 17th-century dishes.
