Dutch Gold

Soumitra Das checks out the Louvre Abu Dhabi's new exhibition celebrating Rembrandt and other Dutch masters’ works of art.

- Soumitra Das

As a tribute to the great Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), whose 350th death anniversary is being commemorated this year, the fledgling Louvre Abu Dhabi, which has completed a year, is holding the outstanding exhibition, Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre (February 14-May 18, 2019).

Outstanding, because with “95 works, including more than 20 from across Rembrandt’s career and by his workshop, it is the most expansive exhibition of Dutch Masters ever held in the Gulf region,” to quote Manuel Rabaté, director of Louvre Abu Dhabi. He summed up the exhibition saying: “...it surveys his (Rembrandt’s) brilliant artistic journey in Leiden and Amsterdam and his relationships with rivals and peers, including Jan Lievens, Ferdinand Bol, Carel Fabritius, Gerrit Dou, Frans van Mieris, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer.” Leiden is where Rembrandt was born, and the private collection named after this town is one of the largest and most significant of 17th-century Dutch art.

The canopy of eight interlaced layers that forms the dome above this museum was inspired by Arab traditions and palm trees, creating the illusion of being featherlight. The complex geometric structure designed by architect Jean Nouvel creates a firmament of 7,850 stars that animates a ‘rain of light’ on the structures beneath, both by day and night. Facing and jutting into the blue waters of the Persian Gulf, this architectural wonder adds to the mystique of the exhibitions it hosts.