Open until June 24th in the Museum of Lázaro Galdiano in Madrid, we now have the chance to see for the first time a selection of thirty seven etchings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) that have never been exposed before. The exhibition, curated by Carmen Espinosa, offers the audience an overview of the process and evolution of the painter by showing works from his different phases. In the first of them, Rembrandt’s strokes are brief and restrained; but, with the passing of time, they’ve become freer. The exhibition is divided into different topics: self-portraits, biblical themes, portraits and genre scenes. It shows us an artist that never stopped looking for new ways to compose, study light, represent human emotions, and reinterpret his own paintings with elements from everyday life.
Rembrandt, a Painter of Intuition, Heart and Spontaneity
Rembrandt is one of the best storytellers in the history of art. He’s skilled at representing the human being in a wide range of emotional states and dramatic scenes. He’s able to masterfully capture the soul of those who he paints in his portraits. Throughout his life, he makes several self-portraits that can be seen in the exhibition. In them, Rembrandt represents himself while happy and thriving, as in the ones made during his most glorious times, economically speaking, but also when devastate and ruined. And he paints them in a way that makes the audience engage with the hardships of living without a single penny, harassed by creditors. Only the artist’s gaze is needed to communicate this backdrop to us, infusing his painting and etchings, in a unique manner, with the presence and reality of life.
The Dutch artist makes an extraordinary use of light, shadow, and chiaroscuro. Masters, as Rembrandt, are timeless. Their works are always revealing new things; to see them again is to relive the first time. And it’s awe-inspiring. Through this exhibition, he has told me something new about his work. “The Artist Drawing from the Model” (1637-1641) seems to be incomplete in its lucid nakedness, its strokes, as a map full of signals, it shows us how the master used to mark his lines with faint traces, to paint even the shadows with textures that go in different directions. By doing this, we can follow the painstaking trail of his way of scratching the metal plates.
Rembrandt, the Storyteller
Rembrandt didn’t only know how to capture and represent the soul of his models; he was also a master of picking the appropriate background to pair with the characters he painted. This became evident in the works of his later years, and we were able to deduce it when, in October 2014, we went to London with the sole purpose of going to “Rembrandt: The Late Works” in The National Gallery, an exhibition dedicated to the works of the artist’s final phase. During his last period, the painter reveals in his preparations that he could and actually used a very particular set of backgrounds, as a tailor uses different fabrics for his suits, opting for one or the other based on what he wanted to highlight in the portrait or the scene, making it a crucial part of the painting and delighting himself both with the background and the figures. Thanks to this, Rembrandt manages to make the audience want to lose themselves in his backgrounds, as they are full of stories immersed in gloom.
Rembrandt for Me
After visiting the exhibition and talking about Rembrandt and his works, we will have a one-meter by one-meter paper on top of our experimentation table. We will make a self-portrait, recreating ourselves both in the figures and in the background. Using a mirror and a lamp, we will choose what we want to draw attention to in our portrait, on a game between lights and shadows. Let’s take a look at how important light is in our portraits, will we be able to create an evocative background of gloom?
Photography: Oscar Rivilla
Conceptual Design: Carolina Verd
Fashion;
Main picture;
earring Chrysler and necklace Décó by Catalina D´Anglade
courtesy of Globally:
dress by Molly Bracken
courtesy of Finally:
sandals by Haníbal Laguna
Second picture;
courtesy of Globally:
dress by Intropia
sandals by Catwalk
Third picture;
necklace Décó by Catalina D´Anglade
courtesy of Globally:
dress by Zadig y Voltaire
sandals by Grace Land.
Fourth picture;
pearl necklace by Suárez
courtesy of Globally:
dress by Ba&sh
sandals by Catwalk
Carolina Verd 