The following article is from our family’s travel blog, arttravel.me. It was written by me.
Front façade of the Rijksmuseum, seen from Stadhouderskade.
Introduction
The Netherlands is known for many things. From its famous tulips and windmills to its never-ending battle with the sea to its long-standing liberalism to its tall people, it’s a country with a rich culture and history. This is especially true in its capital, Amsterdam. Here, tradition combines with innovation: 16th-century canals butt heads with shining glass buildings and former churches house nightclubs. And like the country it sits in, Amsterdam is also known for many things.
Of these things, perhaps the most beautiful is its artistic tradition. The Netherlands is home to such giants of art history as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, and Vincent Van Gogh. The development of Dutch art took centuries and arguably culminated in the 17th century, during the Dutch Golden Age, when its art was considered to be second to none—as it still is today.
The single largest collection of these Dutch masterpieces is the Rijksmuseum (pronounced Reichs-museum, a fact I didn’t know until my visit). Boasting over a million works of art, of which around 8,000 are on display, the museum is a gigantic treasure trove of art. At museums like these, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so let’s stick to the highlights of the collection as we travel along a visual history of the Netherlands.
Before reading, note that this article is presented in historical order; in other words, the phases presented below are not in the order that we—and most other visitors—viewed. The route we took and the historic route are both at the very end. Also, note that this isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list and ranking of the Rijksmuseum’s many masterpieces; I will be selecting one or two paintings that are representative of a certain period of Dutch history and discussing them in this article.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the Rijksmuseum collection.
Medieval origins
Memorial Tablet, Master of the Spes Nostra, 1500. Oil on panel.
The story of truly Dutch art begins in the 15th century when an exciting advancement in the arts was spreading rapidly throughout Europe: oil paint. Previously, the International Gothic style, elegant but artificially so, had dominated the Low Countries and Northern Europe. But with oil paints, painters could suddenly add much more detail and nuance to their subjects with translucent, shimmering layers.
Walking through the Rijksmuseum’s medieval art section, which is on the first floor, viewers can see a noticeable improvement in quality post-1400s. One painting that exemplifies this improvement is the Master of the Spes Nostra’s Memorial Tablet, executed in 1500 and exhibiting a fine control of oil painting. From this point on, Dutch art started to move towards what would become its hallmarks: finely executed details, nearly photorealistic depictions, and controlled brushwork.
Independence and Wars of Religion
Fishing for Souls, Hendrick Avercamp, 1608. Oil on oak.
Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Munster, Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1648. Oil on canvas.
With the advent of new technologies like oil painting came the Northern Renaissance, which came from Italy to the Low Countries at the advent of the 16th century. Soon, another phenomenon found its way to Northern Europe: the Protestant Reformation.
The most devastating of the European Wars of Religion, the 30 Years War, happened to coincide with the Dutch movement for independence from the Spanish Empire, the much older 80 Years War. Artistic depictions and allegories of both wars can be seen in the Rijksmuseum collection: an exemplary instance of religious allegory in the time of religious war can be found in Fishing for Souls, by Hendrick Avercamp. Here, Protestants and Catholics alike fish for souls in the great river; the subject matter is unmistakably Protestant-favored.
A second painting that showcases Dutch life at the end of the 80 Years War is Bartholomeus van der Helst’s Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Munster, a mouthful of a name that celebrates the treaty that ended the war between Spain and the Netherlands.
The Dutch Golden Age
The Night Watch, Rembrandt, 1642. Oil on canvas.
Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, Rembrandt, 1662. Oil on canvas.
The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, 1657-58. Oil on canvas.
Coming to the central hall of the Rijksmuseum, we encountered the highlights of the museum collection: the hall was lined with dozens of Dutch Golden Age masterpieces, with the names of art giants like Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, and Frans Hals proudly labeling the masterworks. No wonder; even now, centuries removed from their making, seeing a masterpiece by Rembrandt or Vermeer can become almost a spiritual experience for the viewer. Even now, they still hold an ethereal power.
As the Dutch prospered through their empire supported by the V.O.C., the demand for art grew exponentially in tandem with the growing middle class. From this demand grew two major categories of commissions: group portraiture and still life. The paintings shown above are two examples of these.
Although Rembrandt’s The Night Watch is the most famous example of group portraiture in the Rijksmuseum (and one of the most famous examples of group portraiture ever), it is currently under restoration, with a great metal bar obscuring much of the painting. However, there is another example of Rembrandt’s technique of group painting, one that I would argue rivals The Night Watch, though it’s not as famous. It is Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild.
In his large group portraits, Rembrandt employed a deceptively simple technique that brought them to life, the addition of movement. In all of his group portraits, the sense of motion is present; for example, in The Night Watch the leader of the group motions with his hand, and in Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, all of the members of the guild (except for the leader) glance towards the viewer, while a single man either sits up from or sits down on a chair, almost as if we have walked into a private meeting. This movement breathes life into the composition, and in turn, brings the subjects to a more human level. For this technique, Rembrandt became highly sought after for his skills in group paintings.
The other major genre of Dutch Golden Age art well-known to most of us today is still life. And of course, the master of Dutch still life is Johannes Vermeer, an artist whose paintings are so highly regarded for their realism that some have suggested in the present day that he used a camera to paint his scenes. Vermeer’s most famous painting in the Rijksmuseum is The Milkmaid. From the exquisitely painted lighting that reflects beautifully on the rich blue dress of the eponymous milkmaid to the detailed stream of milk, this snapshot of a passing moment is Vermeer’s most beautiful.
Slavery and the V.O.C.
Model of a V.O.C. ship.
The wealth of the Netherlands that led to the masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age, of course, is intrinsically tied to the colonialism of the Dutch Empire, exhibited most notably in the V.O.C.’s expansion of trade interests all over the world.
Confronting this dark history, the Rijksmuseum has presented artistic depictions of the V.O.C. and colonialism in an elegant, eloquent way. This understandably painful and embarrassing history has nevertheless been presented in a fascinating way. Embarrassing history such as this is still necessary to teach, and the Rijksmuseum, I think, sets a good precedent.
Romanticism, Impressionism, and the modern-day
Self-portrait, Vincent van Gogh, 1887. Oil on canvas.
As the art world moved on to the 19th century, the dominant styles shifted from Baroque to Rococo to Romanticism to Realism to Impressionism. The Rijksmuseum only has one painting by one of the most famous Impressionist artists ever, Vincent van Gogh; it remains very popular in the modern wing.
The Impressionist style, the capturing of the “impression” of a scene, is of course a far cry from the realistic, allegorically driven paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. But it’s also important to acknowledge the similarities between the two styles. Both of them sought to encapsulate the essence of light and tone in fleeting moments; both are intrinsically linked to each other, just as how each and every painting of the Rijksmuseum is connected in a linear pathway of the history of art.
And with this concludes our quick walkthrough of the Rijksmuseum. In its beautiful collection, art history becomes a path, twisting and turning through stone and paint. It is a must-see in Amsterdam.
