Rijksmuseum Collection

“Something borrowed”

The Rijksmuseum Collection consists of work inspired by art at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and was originally part of the ‘Rijks Studio Awards’ design challenge in 2014. 

The Rijksmuseum encourages the public to photograph their collections and use the images for art purposes. I was born in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum has always been part of my life – working with their collection was an amazing opportunity. The swan I use in my art comes from the painting ‘De Bedreigde Zwaan’ by Jan Asselijn. I extracted the swan from its original background and then superimposed it on a white background. This created a ton-sur-ton (white on white) look and made the cracks and knots in the wood visible.

In my artwork ‘de Nachtwacht Collage’, I selected parts of different paintings from the museum’s collection and included them in an existing Rembrandt artwork. This is how I created a type of collage in which you can find elements of several paintings.

The black & white photos show old Amsterdam, the city where I was born. I like the atmosphere of its old-school way of life and the raw style of photography used in those days. It suits the character of recycled wood to which I added a new and modern shiny surface.