The Dark Art of the Rijksmuseum: Witches, Demons & Rembrandt

On a recent cruise ship gig – talking about Dutch art as we sailed the misty waters of the Netherlands – I was able to sneak on shore and visit one of my favourite temples of art.

Arriving in Amsterdam – having spent the previous day in Rotterdam – I got the chance to revisit and spend some quality time at the Rijksmuseum, one of the world’s great museums.

Watch the video below, or check it out on my YouTube channel

The Rijksmuseum is, of course, packed with the great names of Dutch art, including the triple bill of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh (alas, it should be a quadruple bill including Frans Hals – why is there no love for poor old Frans Hals with the majority of tourists?).

But, as someone with a penchant for the Gothic, I naturally went in search of the museum’s darker and more unusual works as well – the witches, the demons, the spooks and the spectres – and there was plenty to find.

The Virgin as Mater Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows) at the Rijksmuseum.

Cultural adventurer Mark Rees at the Rijksmuseum. — The Virgin as Mater Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows) at the Rijksmuseum.

There’s the wonderfully bonkers 16th-century Saul and the Witch of Endor – a real highlight as you’ll see in the video, with its owls, skulls and bizarre creatures crammed into a single scene.

Elsewhere there were some folk horror-type medieval creations, depictions of disaster and suffering, memento mori, sublime Gothic ruins, not to mention shipwrecks – perhaps not the kind of art you want to be contemplating before heading back out to sea.

And then, of course, there was Rembrandt’s Night Watch. You can hardly go to the Rijksmuseum without paying your respects, especially when, in my case, it was one of the main subjects of my talks on board the big old boat – and who could ever get tired of looking at it? What a painting.

I offer bemoan superstar paintings – who wants to queue for six hours for a six minute selfie with the Mona Lisa? – but the Night Watch deserves all the hype and crowds and fanfare.

Talking abouts crowds – darn, it was busy, and considerably more exhausting than I remembered. The biggest names attract enormous crowds – I’m looking at you, Vermeer – but sometimes the best thing you can do is walk away from the scrum and find a painting that nobody else seems interested in — preferably one with a Gothic full moon in it.