Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt van Rijn painted light that emerges from darkness – and people with all their feelings, himself included.

Life

Born in Leiden in 1606, he moved to Amsterdam around 1631 and quickly became the city’s most sought-after portrait painter. In 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenburgh; in 1642 he completed “The Night Watch”, and Saskia died the same year. Expensive collecting and fewer commissions led to bankruptcy in 1656. Even so, he painted and etched to the end, supported by his companion Hendrickje Stoffels and his son Titus. He died in Amsterdam in 1669.

Style & technique

Rembrandt used light like a stage director: it lifts faces and hands out of deep brown. In his later years he applied paint thickly and roughly, sometimes with a palette knife. Around eighty self-portraits – painted, drawn and etched – show him young and proud, later weary and honest. As an etcher he was just as groundbreaking, with lines that are sometimes delicate, sometimes deep black.

Look closely

  • The light: where does it come from – and what does it deliberately leave in darkness?
  • The surface: in the late works you can see thick, relief-like paint.
  • The etchings: compare delicate lines with deep black shadows.

Timeline

  • 1606: Born in Leiden.
  • c. 1631: Moves to Amsterdam.
  • 1642: “The Night Watch”; death of his wife Saskia.
  • 1656: Bankruptcy.
  • 1669: Dies in Amsterdam.

Works in the museum