North Carolina Museum of Art | Untitled » Dennis Weller http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled The NCMA Blog Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:38:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc Rembrandt: A Sense of the Soul http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/2011/10/rembrandt-a-sense-of-the-soul/ http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/2011/10/rembrandt-a-sense-of-the-soul/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:08:47 +0000 Larry http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/?p=2706 Over half a century ago, a fledgling art museum mounted its first major exhibition: Rembrandt and His Pupils. Near the end of his remarkable career, a towering figure in the history of American museums and scholarship, W. R. Valentiner, its first director, exerted his vision on shaping a collection, and in a short time the institution was on its way from infancy to becoming a major art museum.

We are reminded of the story of our beginning at the North Carolina Museum of Art today as we open Rembrandt in America 55 years after that first exhibition. With nearly 30 paintings by the master himself, the show assembles the largest number of authentic Rembrandt paintings from American collections ever.

I believe the genius of Rembrandt is readily apparent in this exhibition. It’s the miracle of the human being that begins to be communicated with a sense of the soul, the artistic expression of not only the body but of the soul. It’s easy for us to engage with that, and to come away with an elevated soul of our own after experiencing this stunning collection.

This exhibition represents our Museum at its finest. Our own Dennis Weller, curator of Northern European Art, co-curated the exhibition as well as co-authored the catalogue, also titled Rembrandt in America. Museums and private collectors all over the country have lent works to this important exhibition that has been years in the making.

Rembrandt in America is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you simply must not miss. I invite you to come early and return often. When you visit, take your time, study the details, and feel the awe of being in the presence of one of the greatest Old Masters—right here at the NCMA.

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