Anish Kapoor's three blood- and- guts, thickly painted reliefs hang in the Rijksmuseum's Hall of Honor until April 3. According to the museum's blurb "they enter a visual dialogue with Rembrandt's late works such as The Jewish Bride," which hangs in a room opposite. Who can believe that walls covered with what looks like what's been mopped up after a bomb explosion is having a discussion with the intimate, tender but complicated double- portrait below?
Anish Kapoor, after an exciting beginning, has become a globally famous artist whose current work disappoints a number of former fans including this one. Like just about any visual artist he must have been thrilled to be invited to show his work in this spo-- adjacent to those by one of the greatest painters in the history of western art; the artist whose works draws millions to the Rijksmuseum every year. But why in the world was he asked? To help visitors better appreciate Rembrandt? I fear that as answers go this one isn't as ridiculous as it sounds to me.
Since the museum re-opened in 2013, Wim Pijbes, the museum's director has been trying to --well what exactly? Make it more relevant? Sexier? More cool? Or has he been trying to make himself feel those things? He came from a museum without a permanent collection and is about to become director of a not- yet- opened Dutch private museum of contemporary art. It is only a guess and possibly a very wild one, but might it be that although the offer of becoming director of the Rijks appealed to him a lot, the stuff in the place did not, much.
Pijbes deserves a lot of credit for getting the great museum re-opened after a decade of delays; for then leading the way in encouraging free use of images from the collection without restrictions (except for the minority of works still in copyright). But there has also been too much of what looks an awful lot like dumbing down. First it was the folksy labels and wall texts. Then came the misbegotten Hall of Honor "conversations" between works by a living artist with great paintings by the Netherlands' --some would argue the world's-- greatest artist. The series has reached its nadir with the current pus, blood and vomit reliefs by Kapoor. I have no idea who actually extended the invitation. But surely if it was not the director he could--and should-- have just said no.
