“Inside Rembrandt. 1606 – 1669” Cologne, Wallraf Richartz Museum. Until 01.03.2020

Rush Hour in the Museum

“Let’s go just before Christmas”. My father said, expecting that it might be less crowded in the museum because everyone else would be at the Christmas market or out shopping. Far from it. It was really crowded that Wednesday afternoon in the museum. And the offered curatorial tour was unfortunately already fully booked. Tightly packed we pushed our way through “Inside Rembrandt”. The special exhibition organized by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt Harmenszon van Rijn. And the great Dutch painter is indeed still very much alive and highly topical. Which also speaks for the immense public interest, despite the pre-Christmas hype and in the middle of the week.

The exhibition “Inside Rembrandt” aims, according to the museum’s website, to portray a “dramatic artistic life between tragedy and comedy”. Cologne has some Rembrandt works in its permanent collection. And of course they are all there. Loans from other museums attract even tried-and-tested Cologne museum-visitors to the special show. Above all, the impressive painting “The Scholar in the Study” from the National Gallery in Prague.  And, of course, there is also a lot from Rembrandt’s environment. Works by contemporaries and students such as Jan Lievens, Govert Flinck, Gerrit Dou and Ferdinand Bol.

A life in five acts

So there’s a lot to see. Masterly painting and spectacular lighting in vivid works. Histories, genre paintings, many portraits and so-called “tronjes”. True character heads with striking features, faces with sparkling eyes and fine wrinkles. Shiny fabrics, shimmering velvet, golden brocade and soft fur. The works are arranged in five acts. Act One describes the beginning of Rembrandt’s career in Leiden, Act Two is devoted to portraits, also in comparison with the works of his contemporaries. The third Act follows, focusing on Rembrandt’s professional peak in Amsterdam, artistically and economically. Whereas Act Four, under “Workshop and Radiance”, deals with Rembrandt’s influence on the painting of his time, and Act Five concludes with Rembrandt’s late work.

One show in five acts, so. The special exhibition describes Rembrandt as a “virtuoso, genius or star”, sees itself as a “tribute to the master”. And, according to its own statement, the show wants to pursue the question of why Rembrandt still fascinates so many people worldwide after 350 years. The virtuosity of this painter certainly comes into its own, the artistic achievement is immediately perceptible, to be seen, even over time and in direct comparison with his companions and students.

“Inside Rembrandt”?

The painter’s unique “Stardom”, as the undisputed master and darling of the public, and Rembrandt’s wildly eventful life between soaring success as a pompous art entrepreneur and deepest bankruptcy unfortunately come a little too short. As well as the personal and family circumstances of his work, such as the death of his first wife, his new marriage, alimony disputes and debts.

The explanatory notes or the timeline naturally refer to these events, but it remains more or less colourless. And so there is a little lack of staging and thus “making tangible” his personal biography, but not least his time. Because this Dutch “Golden Age” is also from today’s point of view a highly exciting epoch. By the way, it is discussed and evaluated very controversially these days – not only in the Netherlands.

“Golden boy” in “The Golden Age”

Rembrandt and his workshop were indeed one of the “big players” in a now commercial art market that was forming in a completely new way. Moreover, it no longer served only the nobility and the clergy. With a bourgeoisie that was growing stronger, hungry for education and a higher profile. Thus, more people who could and wanted to afford works of art. With the commercialisation and the now gigantic demand of new groups of buyers, 70,000 paintings per year were actually produced in the Netherlands during these years. Landscapes, seascapes, everyday scenes and portraits were added to the biblical and mythological scenes or large-format history paintings that had been “common” until then. The workshops rationalized work processes and often specialized in specific motifs, prefabricated for an anonymous (mass) market.

Rembrandt, as one of the top producers, was able to demand top prices for its work. In his high season in Amsterdam, which was his strongest in terms of turnover, he invested a lot of capital in the art trade of Hendrik Uylenburgh, a relative of his wife Saskia. The artist became a partner and skilfully combined workshop and art trade. In the years of this approximately four-year collaboration, Rembrandt painted almost half of his portraits. So he was highly productive, but lived all the more lavishly. All the more dramatic was the crisis that Rembrandt experienced after these extremely successful years. Up to the point of bankruptcy and then the – gradual – restoration of his affairs he spent on a much more modest level.

shortly, the Cologne show stays a bit short and outside, so it’s not very “inside”. Especially at the end of Rembrandt’s life, where he created numerous self-portraits.

Eye contact

Among these self-portraits is one of my personal favourites, his “Self-portrait as Zeuxis” (around 1662), which is in the holdings of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. He looks very mischievous, and seems to never let you out of his sight. No matter where you are in the room. And that is indeed suddenly very “Inside Rembrandt” again.  And, by the way, also very suitable for the “Art of slow image viewing”.

So, make sure you go. Because the pictorially rich exhibition with a whole series of impressive examples of Rembrandt’s great pictorial art is worthwhile in any case. Even without “Night Watch” or the “Anatomy of Doctor Tulp”. Have fun!