A Brilliant Beyond Brilliant Idea by the Dutch

Photo by Mary Vee, Kinderdijk near Amsterdam

This is an idea on steroids. Why am I especially excited about what I am about to share?

In my newsletter, distributed earlier this week, I took readers on a virtual tour of an old style windmill. We climbed the interior floors, touched the sails, watched the water pumped from the land out to the river. The water was then pumped out to sea.

We had such fun. (You can get a copy of the newsletter and take the trip with me still by going to this link and signing up: Virtual Tour of Netherland's Windmills )

Anyway, today's brilliant idea is the restoration of a famous painting. Rembrandt's Night Watch.

Ah, I hear you saying, BORING.

Not so.

This is different. Way different.

The artist/s commissioned to do the work will begin July 2019 and work in full view of the public in the Rijksmuseum located in Amsterdam. Right on the main floor of the museum. Talk about ultimate pressure. BUT there is more! This restoration will be streamed so that anyone with internet, anywhere, can watch the process!

Click in, watch a bit. Leave. Come back another time.

The marketing is truly amazing. Thousands will plan trips to watch the process. I would.

Imagine witnessing the rebirth of a 1642 painting that spans 12.5 feet by 15 feet. This massive canvas weighs 743 pounds and is considered one of the most famous paintings in all the world. The director of this Amsterdam museum says it belongs to us all so everyone should have an opportunity to view the process.

Why is this painting so famous? Rembrandt broke the established rules of the time. Subjects in typical pieces of the day were posed, standing or sitting. Rembrandt painted his figures in action. Subjects pointed, discussed, played drums.

Movement in the painting draws us in. We ask questions. Walk to the left. To the right. There is so much to see.

Rembrandt's masterpiece will be protected in a glass chamber throughout the process. I would imagine the artist/s will set up their studio, including palettes filled with paints, brushes, drop clothes right there for all to see. Perhaps it will be sound proof so when that finite stroke is started no one will startle the artist.

How exciting to witness!

Even more than Disneyland.

Plan a trip sometime to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam sometime between July 2019 and, oh, I don't know, I'll guess 2022. The estimate is that the work will take years. Hopefully not as long as it took Michaelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, four years.

For more information about this exciting event go to:

Rembrandt's Night Watch Restoration

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one-word: Brilliant Idea

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