View along the glass-enclosed atrium
After 10 years of renovations, Rijksmuseum is finally ready to open its doors to public this Saturday. In this triumphant return, the museum’s original 1885 Renaissance Revival building has been restored to its former splendor, along with modern facilities one expects at today’s museums. The Spanish architectural firm of Cruz y Ortiz has also boldly reconfigured the museum’s underground levels to create a vast new interior plaza. The final product includes a new Asian pavilion, galleries devoted to 20th century art (first time in museum’s history), magnificently refurbished formal gardens, and nearly double the previous amount of total exhibition space. Restorations took five years longer than planned, and cost close $500 million, overshooting the budget by tens of millions of dollars. They also had to plan around obstacles such as the keeping of a public bicycle path passing through the museum’s large stone arcade. “The architects had initially hoped to reclaim the arcade for the museum and link the courtyards at ground level, but they were thwarted by a vocal Dutch bicyclists’ lobby”, according to WSJ article.
Rembrandt, “The Nightwatch” 1642
oil on canvas, 363 x 437 cm
Now with ample extra space to play around with, the curator of the Taco Dibbits and his curatorial team have completely reorganized 8,000 objects from the museum’s collection (increase of 40% in objects on display) across 80 galleries, 30 of which are devoted to 17th-century Dutch art. One painting, however, remains in its original place. Rembrandt’s greatest masterpiece and possibly the best known painting in the museum collection “The Officers and Shooting Company of Capt. Frans Banning Cocq and Lt. Willem van Ruytenburch” (1642), popularly known as “The Night Watch,” is the only object that remains in its original location, where it hangs benefiting from natural light. Nearby, one of our favorite paintings hangs in the Gallery of Honor as well, Vermeer’s famed “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” (1663-64). Perhaps the biggest innovation of this new installation is that the museum’s collection of sculpture and decorative arts is now displayed side by side with the paintings, just like in the new galleries at Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Unlike other European museums, such as the Louvre, Prado or the National Gallery in London, Rijskmuseum’s collection is not representative of art from throughout Europe. What you see here is Dutch, lots of it but in great quality too. So this spring, a journey to Amsterdam will not be complete without paying a visit this Dutch temple of art.
Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ (1642) in the Hall of Honor, the only work in the entire collection to remain in its original location
Jan Vermeer, “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” (1663-64)
oil on canvas, 46.5 x 39 cm
