Rembrandt - Caravaggio Exhibition

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
20 May 2006

It's been a while since we visited Amsterdam the last time, and last week we 'need' to go to the big old city two times. The first visit was to meet my good friend from Indonesia. It was a quick visit on Thursday evening. We walked around the famous Red Light District and had a dinner in the Chinatown area. Then we walked to the Dam and went back to the train station. We got delicious pempek from Indonesia, thanks!

The following Saturday we went to Amsterdam again. We visited the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition in Van Gogh Museum. The exhibition was an effort to compare the masterpieces from both great artists side by side, who worked using similar Impressionist style that use lots of light on their paintings.

Before went to the Museumplein, we had Chinese dim sum for lunch. It was not really special, but good enough so we decided to have dinner there after the museum visit. After lunch we took tram to go to Museumplein, and we arrived on time to queue. It turned out to be a popular event based on the long of the queue, and it was full as well inside. Sometimes we need to 'fight' to get to the front of the paintings.

They provided audio tour from where we got explanation in detail and background story for every paintings. The exhibition itself was located on two levels. There were several highlights on the first floor. There was betrayal topic, where we could see the Betrayal of Christ by Caravaggio placed side by side with the Denial of St. Peter by Rembrandt. On the other corner there was seductive women topic, which compared the Blinding of Samson by Rembrandt and the Judith and Holofernes by Caravaggio.

The second floor provided more interesting paintings. The Abraham's Sacrifice by both artists, the emotional expressions on A Schoolboy at His Desk by Rembrandt and A Boy Bitten by Lizard by Caravaggio, and the peaceful Jewish Bride by Rembrandt.

As an extra, there was another floor that filled in by stories connecting Van Gogh to Rembrandt. It was interesting to know that Van Gogh, who claimed that he could only paint real and current events and not something from the past, was still influenced by Rembrandt, artist from two centuries before him. It was known that Van Gogh used to stay in front of the Jewish Bride painting when he visited Rijksmuseum. In the end of his life he adapted the Raising of Lazarus painting by Rembrandt into his own style. It was known as his last work before he passed away.

After about two hours enjoying the paintings, we walked from the Museumplein to the Leidseplein. We stopped there to get some drinks at the nice outdoor seat, enjoying the spring weather of Amsterdam. Then we walked back to the China town area to have our dinner.

Exhibition website: Rembrandt Caravaggio website