Rembrandt van Rijn

“Rembrandt, His Predecessors and Followers”
at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

For well over three centuries, Rembrandt van Rijn has continued to inspire and enthral viewers with his remarkably astute, wise and philosophical portrayal of mankind and its surrounding world. Each successive generation has developed its own unique understanding of the great artist’s style and imagery, based on its own cultural and spiritual experience. Re-discovering and re-interpreting his work afresh, every generation has, in a sense, created “its own” Rembrandt. In the Soviet Union, a number of exhibitions were held to mark anniversaries of the Dutch genius: 1936, 1956 and 1969 saw such events open in Moscow and St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). Since the last of these, however, almost 40 years have passed, and the wealth of new material published by specialists during this period clearly requires us to take a fresh look at the immortal works of the master and his pupils. The time has come to re-examine the legacy lovingly preserved in a number of countries, and to re-assess with greater objectivity the place it occupies in the history of world artistic culture.