Whether it was to satisfy market demand or an attempt to satisfy something in his own soul, Rembrandt painted portraits throughout his entire life. Each of his subject’s eyes (often his own) have a characteristic longing. What are your eyes longing for?
A new look at the Dutch master.
He painted portraits all his life. Whether he did it to earn a living or to reach more deeply into the soul of the subject, something remarkable happened. With his sorcery at the canvas, Rembrandt bridged the centuries for us, revealing a world long gone, yet showing how present it remains within each of us. In that sense, the portraits in this show, along with their remarkable detail, are the closest thing we have to a time machine, our introduction to the 17th Century Dutch. The haunting eyes of each of subjects reveal something different, a longing. They stare at us across the void. And we can’t help but stare back.