The most important of the city's museums is the Rijksmuseum, with the largest and finest collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings in the world. The Vincent van Gogh Museum has 200 paintings and several hundred drawings by the artist himself. Amsterdam was the home of the painter Rembrandt, and his house is now a museum. Amsterdam has a mild, maritime climate. Summers are generally warm with changeable periods, but excessively hot weather is rare.
Winters can be fairly cold with the possibility of some snow.
Rainfall is prevalent all year. The Netherlands shares borders to the south with Belgium and the east with Germany, while the North Sea lies to the north and west. Large areas of The Netherlands have been reclaimed from the sea and consequently one-fifth of the country lies below sea level. The country is flat and level and is criss-crossed by rivers and canals. Areas reclaimed from the sea, known as polders, are extremely fertile.