Selfies from the Golden Age. The Mauritshuis gives that subtitle with a wink to its new exhibition Dutch self-portraits along. In doing so, the museum seeks a new connection between 17th-century art and today's world. And that attempt has succeeded, thanks in part to the ingenious exhibition design by Jelena Stefanovic of Studio OTW.
Since the 2012-2014 renovation and expansion, the Mauritshuis has had a separate exhibition space in the newly acquired building. Whereas the museum was previously tied to the halls of the old city palace with their emphatic design, the new exhibition hall is "a white box, with which we can do what we want" according to director Emilie Gordenker.
We have seen this over the past year and a half. For example, the museum showed parts from the Frick collection in three linked rooms that suggested the atmosphere of the New York museum, and the study of Rembrandt's Saul and David brought to a room full of small audiovisual presentations. But as extreme as for Dutch self-portraits wasn't the design before. Anyone who walks into the room is immediately face to face with themselves! The 27 self-portraits hang on panels, which are mirrors at the back. Thus, a selfie made very easy indeed. Stefanovic's source of inspiration was the hall of mirrors at Versailles.
What the artist really looked like
But there is more to those mirrors than just their association with selfies. After all, in a time without photography, artists had to paint their self-portraits using a mirror. And that means, in the paintings, we actually always see their mirror image - except for the hands holding brushes and palette, because the painter obviously wanted to be right-handed on the canvas. Since no one is completely symmetrical, we have to look in the mirror to see what the artist really looked like. And that is exactly what makes this exhibition as beautiful as possible, at least if you step over your own view for a moment.
The self-portraits in the exhibition often show cohesion. Thus, we see Rembrandt next to his pupil Carel Fabritius - either in mirror image or not. Ancillary intention, of course, is for visitors to walk through to the main building to The putter of Fabritius or see the other Rembrandts in the collection. There is plenty of time for that, as the exhibition has only 27 works: 24 from museum collections, five of which are from the museum's own collection, and three from private collections.
Highlights
This, too, is a conscious choice by the Mauritshuis: small exhibitions, which leave room for a visit to the permanent collection and force the museum to make sharp choices for only the very best examples.
The latter is abundantly clear. In fact, the 27 self-portraits are all masterpieces, from the slick bravado of Frans van Mieris to the self-deprecating lutenist Jan Steen, from the stern-looking Gerrit Dou in virtuoso framing to the very young Moses ter Borch, from the very relaxed-looking Judith Leyster - the only female self-portrait present - to the proud Adriaen van der Werff, portrait of wife and daughter in his hands.
Still, back to the selfies. A short in-room video explains in detail the similarities and differences with the self-portrait, including tips for the ideal selfie. Big difference, of course, is that an artist took a long time to produce a painting of which there was then one physical copy, while selfies made in a second and spread all over the world. And much has been written about the function of self-portraits, but main similarity with the selfie is no doubt that both serve to showcase something: the painter his talent, the selfie-maker how much fun he and his life are. So now just hope for many times "Selfie with Rembrandt @mauritshuis #hoevetisdat!"
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