Rembrandt

Today I finally visited the Rijks museum here in town. Eventhough I have been living in Amsterdam for about 20 years I've never been although I have been wanting to go for a very long time.
At the moment there is a very special exhibition of Rembrandt's from all over the world. It's only once every 50 years that such a complete collection is nearby so Simone and I went to check it out. We were not disappointed! :-)

The "Late Rembrandt" special exhibition can be seen in time slots of 2 hours. Since we had the last 2 hours of the day we went early to see some more painting. The painting I really wanted to see was the incredibly famous "De nachtwacht" ("the night-watch"). It's a great painting indeed.

Eventhough it was really busy you can still see the paintings well. You just have to have a little patience.

I liked this one for the karikatures. It's like 6 little devils around Jesus.

This was one of my favourite paintings. I learned that you should not stay too far away from a painting.

Because when you come closer, you start to see more detail that is easily skipped. In this case her face is painted so well it's almost a photograph, especially her eyes are done so well.

Portrait of Titus, Rembrandt's son.

In this painting there was a high level of detail again that was easily missed.

Just after 15:00 we entered the special temporary exhibition with Rembrandts from collections all over the world.

Self portrait.

It's hard to photograph but the painting was so well done. Just like the next one.

The jewelry was sparkling.

Here's another truly great painting. It's a cut-out because the painting is actually a fair bit wider, but these four men are portayed so well. Together they are looking at someone as if they are giving that person the biggest "WTF", ever. Even the gesture of the guy in the middle suggests a big WTF...
Furthermore the face of the man on the left is so real it could be a photograph.
Great painting.

I wasn't aware Rembrandt made beautiful drawings and etchings.

They are quite small, mostly 15-30 cm wide. You really have to come very close and see all the little lines. Each and every one put down perfectly.

I forgot her name, it's a scene from an old story, but she just stabbed herself and is dying.
If you look at her face you can see her sad, peaceful eyes just staring in the distance, numb.
Beautiful painting.

Here's another drawing from a far.

Here it is from close-by. Made up of lots and lots of little lines.

This is also a woman from some story. Beautifully painted, especially her face I think.

I am truly impressed with Rembrandt's work. The museum has paintings of other great painters but Rembrandt does really stand out.

And then it was time for a delicious burger at the Hard Rock Cafe!