WEBVTT

00:02.600 --> 00:05.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JUDY WOODRUFF: 2019 marks
the 350th anniversary of
the death of the Dutch
master painter Rembrandt.

00:07.800 --> 00:12.800 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
To celebrate his life
and legacy, museums
in the Netherlands are
dedicating the entire

00:14.000 --> 00:16.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
year to new exhibits
showcasing his work.

00:16.733 --> 00:21.733 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
Jeffrey Brown traveled
to Amsterdam, as part
of our ongoing arts and
culture series, Canvas.

00:23.133 --> 00:27.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The Night
Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn.

00:27.066 --> 00:32.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Every day, thousands of
visitors crowd into Amsterdam's
Rijksmuseum to catch a glimpse

00:34.466 --> 00:37.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
of one of history's most
celebrated art works, a
masterpiece of storytelling,
light and shadow,

00:39.600 --> 00:41.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
on a mammoth scale.

00:41.766 --> 00:46.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
But we got our own after-hours
look at it and the other works
in the museum's extraordinary

00:47.833 --> 00:52.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
new exhibition titled
All the Rembrandts.

00:52.100 --> 00:57.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
It's part of the Netherlands'
celebrations commemorating
the 350th anniversary of his

00:59.700 --> 01:02.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
death, and marks the first
time this world-renowned
museum has made its entire
collection of Rembrandts

01:04.900 --> 01:06.933 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
open to the public.

01:06.933 --> 01:09.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER, Rijksmuseum:
This is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to see it all out.

01:09.366 --> 01:12.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Jane Turner
is curator of prints.

01:12.200 --> 01:16.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER: It's something
you can just come back to over
and over again, and each time

01:16.133 --> 01:19.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
you look, you will see something
new and something different.

01:19.433 --> 01:24.433 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
JEFFREY BROWN: There are
22 paintings, including
grand portraits of
Dutch high society and

01:26.000 --> 01:30.433 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
scenes from the Bible,
60 drawings, and
more than 300 prints.

01:32.433 --> 01:36.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
They span his career, and show
an artist unmatched at capturing
the humanity in his subjects,

01:38.266 --> 01:43.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
even in sketches of
daily life, like this
one of a pancake-maker
and some very hungry

01:44.733 --> 01:46.866 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
children.

01:46.866 --> 01:48.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER: She looks a bit
cynical, and she's thinking,
you will get your pancake

01:48.900 --> 01:50.500 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
when I see the money.

01:50.500 --> 01:53.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
And the young kid
-- it's brilliant.

01:53.133 --> 01:56.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
He's digging in his pocket and
he's really, really digging.

01:56.600 --> 01:59.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And Rembrandt, he's managed --
he makes the leg bent a bit.

01:59.233 --> 02:01.333 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
JEFFREY BROWN: Right.

02:01.333 --> 02:05.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER: And so you
really feel that movement
of trying to find his coin.

02:06.633 --> 02:07.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: But this
is a street scene, right?

02:07.866 --> 02:09.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
I mean, it's just
something he...

02:09.133 --> 02:10.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
JANE TURNER: This
is a street scene.

02:10.366 --> 02:11.900 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
This is something that
he would have seen.

02:11.900 --> 02:13.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
But it's the brilliance with
which he observes humanity.

02:13.966 --> 02:18.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The sketches also
offer a glimpse into Rembrandt
himself and his development

02:19.566 --> 02:21.066 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
as an artist.

02:21.066 --> 02:23.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JANE TURNER: You see the
artist thinking on paper.

02:23.866 --> 02:26.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
There are mistakes, and he
doesn't try to cover it up.

02:26.700 --> 02:29.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
He's not doing it for
somebody else or to sell.

02:29.233 --> 02:31.633 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
He does it for himself.

02:31.633 --> 02:36.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And then you get the raw inside
glimpse of what he thinks,
what makes him laugh, what

02:37.800 --> 02:39.333 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
makes him grieve,
what makes him sad.

02:39.333 --> 02:42.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: One of his
main subjects was himself.

02:42.800 --> 02:47.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
The exhibition opens with
a roomful of self-portraits
done throughout his
life, smiling, frowning,

02:49.633 --> 02:51.666 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
young, and old.

02:51.666 --> 02:56.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
He used them, in part, to
practice techniques that would
come to embody his larger works.

02:58.666 --> 03:02.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
In other cases, they served
as a statement to the outside
world, one that at times had

03:02.966 --> 03:05.100 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
its critics.

03:05.100 --> 03:05.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
JONATHAN BIKKER, Author,
"Rembrandt: Biography
of a Rebel": They called
him the first heretic

03:05.766 --> 03:07.800 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
in art history.

03:07.800 --> 03:11.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Jonathan Bikker
is curator of research here,
and author of the new book

03:11.766 --> 03:14.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
"Rembrandt: Biography
of a Rebel."

03:14.266 --> 03:19.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JONATHAN BIKKER: A number
of them mentioned that he
broke the rules of our art.

03:20.966 --> 03:22.233 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Which meant what?

03:22.233 --> 03:24.300 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
JONATHAN BIKKER: A
variety of things.

03:24.300 --> 03:29.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Some of the things they accused
him of doing, we wouldn't
think of as radical at all, for

03:30.666 --> 03:33.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
example, painting old
wrinkled women, for example.

03:33.366 --> 03:38.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
What you were supposed to do
was to select the best, the
most beautiful things in nature,

03:40.166 --> 03:42.300 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
and improve upon that.

03:42.300 --> 03:43.966 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
Rembrandt didn't do that.

03:43.966 --> 03:48.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
For Rembrandt, this was
the ideal playing field
for light and dark.

03:50.300 --> 03:54.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: For Bikker,
the culmination of Rembrandt's
achievement is the painting

03:54.233 --> 03:59.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
known as The Jewish Bride, a
portrait of two lovers cast as
the Old Testament's Isaac and

04:00.600 --> 04:02.600 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50%
Rebecca.

04:02.600 --> 04:06.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JONATHAN BIKKER: This is
the greatest painted ode
to love that was ever made.

04:07.466 --> 04:08.400 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The greatest?

04:08.400 --> 04:10.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
JONATHAN BIKKER: The greatest.

04:10.866 --> 04:14.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: It also
shows Rembrandt's technique,
here, the use of thick
layers of richly colored

04:15.800 --> 04:17.000 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50%
paint.

04:17.000 --> 04:18.966 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
JONATHAN BIKKER: It's
modeled like clay.

04:18.966 --> 04:23.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The high point of that technique
is figuratively and literally
in the sleeve of Isaac.

04:26.600 --> 04:31.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
That is the thickest passage
of paint in any 17th century
painting produced in Europe.

04:33.366 --> 04:36.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
Every painting that Rembrandt
did was a different experiment.

04:36.033 --> 04:41.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The celebration
also sheds new light on
Rembrandt the man, walking the

04:41.000 --> 04:46.000 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
streets of Amsterdam,
a celebrity artist in
his own day, in one of
the world's wealthiest

04:46.566 --> 04:48.633 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50%
cities.

04:48.633 --> 04:49.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
LIDEWIJ DE KOEKKOEK, Rembrandt
House Museum: He lived on
quite a large scale . He spent

04:49.700 --> 04:51.166 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
a lot of money.

04:51.166 --> 04:53.733 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
He was an avid collector of
expensive and beautiful things.

04:53.733 --> 04:58.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Lidewij de
Koekkoek is the director of
the Rembrandt House Museum.

05:00.800 --> 05:03.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Rembrandt originally bought
the house at the height of his
fame near one of Amsterdam's

05:03.933 --> 05:08.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
iconic canals, and he used it
as a living space, studio and
workshop for his apprentices.

05:10.366 --> 05:12.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
LIDEWIJ DE KOEKKOEK: Here,
his first wife, Saskia.

05:12.700 --> 05:17.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: A new exhibition
examines his social network,
family, friends and colleagues.

05:19.666 --> 05:23.366 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
LIDEWIJ DE KOEKKOEK:
We have this romantic
idea about Rembrandt
being very grumpy, being

05:23.366 --> 05:24.400 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
a lonely genius.

05:24.400 --> 05:26.033 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
But he wasn't at all.

05:26.033 --> 05:30.066 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
I mean, he was obsessed
by art, and art was
foremost in his life.

05:30.066 --> 05:34.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
So he surrounded himself
with people, and that is what
the exhibition shows, people

05:34.233 --> 05:39.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
that shared his interest in art,
that he could discuss art with,
connoisseurs, pupils, artist

05:43.000 --> 05:44.366 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50%
friends.

05:44.366 --> 05:46.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Well-connected,
but not always easy.

05:46.400 --> 05:50.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ALETTE FLEISCHER, Art Historian:
We, of course, think of him
as a genius, but a genius with

05:50.766 --> 05:55.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
- - I don't know, with a
temper, and opinionated, and not
being always a very nice guy.

05:57.766 --> 06:01.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Alette Fleischer,
an art historian, leads tours
on Rembrandt in Amsterdam, and

06:03.300 --> 06:07.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
took us to the Royal Palace,
site of one of the lowest
points of his career.

06:09.366 --> 06:12.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
As the story goes, Rembrandt was
commissioned to paint a portrait
of the first century warrior

06:14.866 --> 06:18.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Gaius Civilis, but his version,
a moody and gritty depiction,
wasn't what his benefactors

06:19.733 --> 06:21.233 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
were expecting.

06:21.233 --> 06:23.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And they pulled the painting
shortly after its completion.

06:23.566 --> 06:27.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ALETTE FLEISCHER: The client
wanted one thing, and he
gave them another story.

06:27.533 --> 06:32.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And he was completely sure that
what he did was the right thing.

06:33.466 --> 06:35.966 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60%
His man was more
truthfully felt.

06:35.966 --> 06:40.966 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
JEFFREY BROWN: While
he continued to receive
commissions, his later
life proved turbulent.

06:42.933 --> 06:46.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Overspending led Rembrandt to
declare bankruptcy, and he spent
the remainder of his life in

06:46.233 --> 06:48.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
relative poverty.

06:48.233 --> 06:53.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
He was buried in a rental grave
here at the Westerkerk, his
remains eventually moved and

06:53.700 --> 06:55.766 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
lost to history.

06:55.766 --> 06:59.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER: It was a
life filled with success,
happiness, great tragedy.

06:59.200 --> 07:04.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: And it's
all there in the artwork,
notably in the portraits
of his wife, Saskia.

07:05.866 --> 07:09.566 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
She gave birth to four
children, but only one
survived to adulthood.

07:09.566 --> 07:14.000 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And she herself died just
shy of her 30th birthday.

07:14.000 --> 07:16.100 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
Curator Jane Turner:

07:16.100 --> 07:18.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JANE TURNER: There are lovely
portraits of her, but there
are also a series of very sad

07:18.833 --> 07:23.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
drawings, when -- before
or after she's lost
one of her children.

07:25.166 --> 07:29.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And this is gritty,
everyday life, and poignant.

07:29.466 --> 07:34.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And you can imagine him wanting
to sit with her because she's
sad or she's ill or whatever.

07:35.600 --> 07:38.566 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
And while he sits with
her, he draws her.

07:38.566 --> 07:41.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: And it comes
through that he loves her.

07:41.566 --> 07:43.000 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
JANE TURNER: He adores her.

07:43.000 --> 07:45.066 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
He absolutely adores her.

07:45.066 --> 07:49.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: For Jonathan
Bikker, it's that ability that
keeps Rembrandt relevant and

07:51.200 --> 07:53.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
beloved three-and-a-half
centuries after his death.

07:53.066 --> 07:56.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JONATHAN BIKKER: We still have
emotions in the 21st century.

07:56.766 --> 07:59.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
It's what defines us,
basically, as human beings.

07:59.900 --> 08:04.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
So when we look at Rembrandt's
paintings, but also his
etchings and his drawings, we

08:06.066 --> 08:07.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
actually experience
our own humanity.

08:07.866 --> 08:12.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The
exhibition All the Rembrandts
runs through June 10.

08:12.366 --> 08:16.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Jeffrey Brown at the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.