- the low countries

The Rijksmuseum has been a major source of inspiration for Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf since his early youth. From 3 July he shows in the Amsterdam museum his photographs in dialogue with Dutch paintings.

‘A Pair of Wedding Gloves’ is one of the hundred masterpieces of early modern Dutch and Flemish art in the CODART Canon.

An overview of the latest museum acquisitions of old Dutch and Flemish Art.

Amarylis De Gryse got inspired by the painting 'The Company of Captain Albert Bas and Lieutenant Lucas Conijn'. She explores the inner life of a militiaman.

Anne Bosveld wrote a prose poem inspired by a panorama of Cape Town.

Anne Marijn Voorhorst looks at a mustard pot made by Jean Baptiste Claude Odiot around 1819.

Anne-Goaitske Breteler wrote a short story inspired by a letter written in response to the abolition of slavery on the French side of Sint Maarten.

Annemieke Dannenberg gives a voice to a brush used in eighteenth-century incantations.

Babeth Fonchie wrote a poem inspired by old wooden stocks and matching iron shackles.

Bart Decroos wrote a short story inspired by a 1708 drawing by Dirk Valkenburg, entitled ‘View of a Mill and Cook-house on a Plantation in Surinam’.

Benjamin De Roover was inspired by the chest of books in which Hugo de Groot escaped imprisonment in the early seventeenth century.

Betül Sefika was inspired for her visual poem by a rice stalk, which is directly descended from rice seeds that were smuggled from Africa to Suriname by an enslaved woman.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Charlotte Remarque took inspiration from a model of a Javanese marketplace.

Chris Lomans gives a voice to machetes from the early 19th century that were intended for sugar cane plantations.

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. We join Daan de Jager as he looks at a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh from 1887.

We join Dagmar Bosma as she questions a cabinet made by Charles-Guillaume Diehl in c. 1867 – c. 1880.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Dagmar Dirkx looks at the painting 'Monk Meditating near a Ruin by Moonlight' by Frederik Marinus Kruseman.

Daniëlle Zawadi wrote a text in response to 'The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa', a painting by Jacob Jordaens.

David Weel invites us to look at 'Dying Adonis' by the painter Hendrick Goltzius.

The year 2019 marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death. Large-scale exhibitions are planned throughout the year.

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Elise Tumba Kiambi wrote a poem in response to Andreas Schelfhout’s painting Farmyard.

Ellis Meeusen took inspiration from the 1863 law, drawn up by King Willem III, that set out the Netherlands’ official abolition of slavery in Suriname.

Elsbet De Pauw wrote a poem in response to an old painting of a doll house.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Emerald Liu wrote a poem about a toilet mirror, commissioned by King William I as a wedding gift for his daughter.

Emma Wiersma wrote a poem referencing the oldest existing collection of plants from Suriname.

Together with Emma Zuiderveen we look at the blue in Claude Monet’s 1884 painting La Corniche near Monaco.

Esha Guy Hadjadj gives a voice to a military painting by Cornelis Troost from 1742.

In her poem Esmé van den Boom gives a voice to an early 17th-century roemer, a wine glass engraved with the words 'Sic Soleo Amicos'.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Eva Salman wrote a short story inspired by a coffee pot.

The Rijksmuseum shows the rise of amateur photography in the Netherlands.

Femke Zwiep has written a poem in response to a balance standard with a counterweight from the workshop of Wenzel Jamnitzer.

The woollen caps worn by Dutch whalers in the period 1740 – 1760 inspired Flora Kenza Nacer to write a poetic dialogue.

Francesca Birlogeanu wrote a short story in response to Hendrick Avercamp’s painting 'Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters'.

Eighteen young writers have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Gus Møystad drew a graphic story inspired by Jozef Israëls’ painting 'The Sand Bargeman'.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. We join Hasret Emine in looking at a dressing table.

In Vermeer's paintings of women writing letters, art historian Gerdien Verschoor hears their pens scratching the paper in a world that is otherwise dead silent.

Jasmijn Post brings the painting 'The Love Letter' by Johannes Vermeer to life. We listen to a woman whose feelings are restricted by social conventions.

Jens Meijen wrote a poem inspired by a contract from 1706 between a plantation owner and a painter.

Johannes Decat gives a voice to the tally marks in an old cash book for a plantation in Brazil.

Eighteen young writers have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Johannes Lievens draws our attention to the inkstand once owned by Baron Chassé.

Jordi Lammers wrote a letter from the perspective of a mouth-bow.

Jordy Spyt chose a passglass – a glass used for drinking games – and wrote an antidote to toxic masculinity.

Jorik Amit Galama wrote a text in response to the painting Farm on the bank of a stream in Gelderland by Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Jutta Callebaut was inspired by Jan Veth’s ‘Portrait of Cornelia, Clara and Johanna Veth’.

Kenneth Berth created an audio story in response to Louis Moritz’s painting The Music Lesson from 1808.

Eighteen young writers have brought artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Kenneth Berth invites us around a lavishly decorated table.

Kiriko Mechanicus explores Girl in a White Kimono, painted by George Hendrik Breitner in 1894.

Laure-Anne Vermaercke invites us to take a very close look at the Diorama of the Zeezigt Coffee and Cotton Plantation, made by Gerrit Schouten in c. 1815 – c. 1821.

Eighteen young writers from Flanders and the Netherlands have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Lemuël de Graav found inspiration in Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk’s painting 'The Raampoortje in Amsterdam'.

'Mirror of Reality’ is the first comprehensive overview of nineteenth-century Dutch painting, set within the context of the international art world.

Eighteen young writers have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. We join Maaike Rijntjes as they look at a plate of the Dutch province of Overijssel.

Eighteen young writers from Flanders and the Netherlands have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Mahat Arab wrote a poem in response to a figure called 'Two Fighting Knights'.

Maite Vanthournout wrote a short story inspired by a cradle made by an anonymous craftsman.

Malika Soudani gives a voice to 'Portrait of a woman' by Frans Hals. ‘I wonder if they called it that because it’s a good title or because they’ve forgotten my name.’

Eighteen young writers from Flanders and the Netherlands have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Marian van der Pluijm created an audio story in response to Marie Constantine Bashkirtseff’s painting 'The Arti...

Marie Borremans wrote a poem inspired by a letter from Pieter Mortamer, commander in Luanda, addressed to Johan Maurits, the then governor-general of Dutch Brazil.

We join Marieke Ornelis as she looks at Portrait of a Young Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog, painted by Marie-Thérèse Schwartz

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Marte Hoogenboom wrote a dialogue in response to a painting and a sculpture.

Maxine Palit de Jongh presents us with an Erard Frères pianoforte from 1808.

Eighteen young writers have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. We join Maya Mertens as she looks at a part of a cannon captured at the Battle of Shimonoseki.

Eighteen young writers have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Together with Michael Koevoet we look at the painting ‘In the Month of July’ by Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël.

At least five Dutch museums acquired precious work at the world's leading fine art and antiques fair in Maastricht.

Obe Alkema gives the floor to a festoon of fruits and flowers: ‘We’re fruit, flora, authentic. We want to be seen the way Yotam Ottolenghi sees us.’

Pelumi Adejumo gives a voice to a collar from 1689 bearing the coat of arms of William of Orange.

Phaedra Derhore drew a short comic in response to the painting Still Life with Game and a Greek Stele: Allegory of Autumn by Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os from 1818.

In his short story, inspired by Pieter Lastman’s painting 'Orestes and Pylades Disputing at the Altar', Pieter Van de Walle introduces us to Orestes.

Pim Lammers offers us an insight into Gerrit Schouten’s Model of the Memorial of J.F. de Friderici from 1812.

Visitors to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam can now enjoy The Night Watch in its original form, for the first time in 300 years.

The architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Central Station made an active contribution to the emancipation of the Catholic church in the Netherlands.

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Robin Goudsmit wrote a manual to accompany a painting.

Sanne Aletta van Otten voices a drip-filter coffee pot from 1816, manufactured by the Diemont company.

Sara Mertens created a graphic story in response to an ivory statue of what is thought to be Diana, made by Jean Goujon.

Shimanto Reza wrote a letter inspired by a map of the Bay of Bengal from around 1695.

Eighteen young writers from Flanders and the Netherlands have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Sixtine Bérard wrote a poem to accompany a flask.

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Sophia Blyden wrote her text in response to a sculpture of Lorenzo Bartolini.

Sumai Yahya gives us a look at an Etruscan vase made by Manufacture Impériale de Sèvres in 1858.

Veneboer wrote a dialogue in response to a portrait of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution.

Our best literature stories of 2020, handpicked by the editor.

Eighteen young writers from Flanders and the Netherlands have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Thom Wijenberg shows us the 'Diorama of a Du, Dance Celebration on the Plantation', made by Gerrit Schouten.

The exhibition focuses on slavery in the Dutch colonial era, from the 17th to the 19th century – on three continents and in the Netherlands itself.

Johannes Vermeer was everything but impulsive. The lab research that preceded the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, shows that the artist constantly adjusted his compositions during the painting process.

Rineke Dijkstra’s new film installation Night Watching shows 14 groups of people looking at Rembrandt’s The Night Watch.

Important to know