What I Learned from the Tragic Rembrandt and Why He is a True Virtuoso to Me?

A Touch of Escapism for the Current Times

Rembrandt is one of my favorite artists among the great masters.

Why? For many reasons, some of which are hard to explain. The main reason is that every time I look at a Rembrandt painting, I feel like I could stare at it for hours and it still wouldn't be enough. Something about his depth and humble virtuosity makes his portraits seem endless. Rembrandt painted himself in self-portraits many times throughout his life, and through these self-portraits, we can learn a lot about his life and his mental state at each point in time.

Rembrandt's story is a classic tragic-romantic tale of the tortured artist: he began as a promising painter, building a reputation as a sought-after and talented portrait artist. However, due to several masterpieces (in hindsight) that were not well-received at the time and his spendthrift nature, he slowly lost his wealth and ended his life in a shabby attic apartment, without money or friends.

Rembrandt immortalized himself from a young age (19), where he appeared arrogant and confident, to older ages where he seemed defeated, exhausted, and increasingly perplexed about life as he grew older.

Rembrandt is a true virtuoso in every sense. My encounter with one of his unknown portraits at the National Gallery in London deepened my understanding of his genius. The portrait is of an older woman dressed in period-appropriate clothing. This portrait is painted with rough brushstrokes emphasizing her coarse features, wrinkled skin, and stern gaze, while suddenly, the white collar of the figure is painted with incredible delicacy and transparency, expressing infinite gentleness and softness. The combination of these two styles in one painting and the ability to execute it "successfully" is, in my opinion, astounding. This is what I call virtuosity.

The ability to be both at the same time—delicate and precise, yet rough and wild—the ability to encompass everything in a single brushstroke on the same canvas is the main thing I take from the great Rembrandt. Like many others, he was not sufficiently appreciated in his time. While people sought "just" a portrait, Rembrandt sought and saw far beyond that. He was misunderstood simply because he was ahead of his time in his understanding of the role of art.