Rembrandt van Rijn

Whatever you know about painting, forget it, when your looking at a Rembrandt. The “Late Religious Portraits” show in Washington DC, 2004 defined painting for me in a surreal way. It was this self portrait, that against everything in the museum, stood alone with its countenance. No one was looking at this painting, but it revealed a level of intimacy that is uncommon in painting.

When you look into the eyes of Rembrandt in this self portrait he doesn’t meet your gaze, but looks past you. It is a humble gesture, arresting in its gaze, that knocks you off your center. The viewer wants to connect with this painting as if an acquaintance, but it becomes quickly apparent that this is Rembrandt viewing himself. This may sound obvious since that is an essential idea in self portraiture however, in this painting there is objectivity. It is almost sadistic to make such a painting. If you look at his earlier self portraits, you will see the fanciful nature in them or catch a sense of pride even. This painting is much more simple, because there seems to be no motive. The result is a bit alarming, because it is guileless. It manages to stop the viewer dead in their tracks, because you realize your own deluded self in seeing something so objectively human. It is not out of some sinister motive by Rembrandt to ground the viewer, it is more personal for him.

Everything you know about painting, needs reevaluated after looking at something like this. That is art. Nothing in the museum even came close to making a statement like this, everything else seemed like a lie.