My Rembrandt – My Rembrandt (2019)

Directed by: Oeke Hoogendijk | 97 minutes | documentary

Buy a Rembrandt? It is still possible, and it is even possible to discover uncatalogued paintings by the old master. This is evident from the latest documentary by Oeke Hoogendijk in which she follows various art dealers, connoisseurs and collectors who are happily working with old and new Rembrandts. Oeke Hoogendijk moves in what is known to her as the art world. With the four-part television series ‘Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum’ (2008, 2013), its cinema film version from 2014, and ‘Marten & Oopjen, Portrait of a Marriage’ (2019), Hoogendijk has already captured this world in a beautiful and fascinating way.

Also in ‘My Rembrandt’ (2019) Oeke Hoogendijk shows himself to be a good storyteller and adept of the cinematographic fact that the image should speak for itself and the spoken word should be limited to the essence. You cannot expect less from a film about visual art. Hoogendijk has a nose for a good story, not only does she seem to be everywhere at the right time, she also knows the colorful characters in the back rooms of the art trade – in this case the canal houses of Amsterdam and the capital residences of dukes and barons elsewhere. to seduce intimate confessions or striking statements, which later sometimes get a surprising tail.

We follow businessman and philanthropist Thomas Kaplan, who threw himself into collecting as many Rembrandts as possible and set himself the noble goal of making these works available in the public domain. We see Kaplan smiling broadly in the spotlight among world leaders at media events surrounding his purchases. In visual contrast is the apparently withdrawn Duke of Buccleuch who goes in search of more intimacy in his castle in Scotland with his Rembrandt, the ‘Reading Old Woman’. Once hung in an unsuitable place for fear of theft, he enlists the help of Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits to involve the old woman more in daily life as a true member of the family. Both Kaplan and the Duke are deeply entranced by Rembrandt’s portraits; Kaplan confesses to having kissed a portrait of a woman on the mouth in a fit of emotion, and the Duke’s bond with his ‘Reading Old Woman’ resembles that of a renewed, intimate relationship between a reunited couple who have been separated for too long from have been together.

More exciting is the story of art dealer Jan Six XI, descendant of the first Jan Six, the well-known art dealer from the 17th century whose portrait painted by Rembrandt still hangs on the wall in the family’s home. For Jan, Rembrandt is also a way to make a career and prove that he is more than a household name. And Jan has a nose for it. The film opens with his discovery of an as yet unknown and partly painted over canvas by Rembrandt, followed shortly by a second. He was able to purchase both canvases at an auction for a relatively small amount. The difficult task now remains to prove that these are actually works by the great master and not one of his many pupils. That is why Rembrandt expert and absolute authority in this field, Professor Ernst van de Wetering, comes into play. The first acquaintance with the portrait of a young man becomes too much for him; is it because of Rembrandt’s magic or does Van de Wetering fear that his friend Jan might be wrong? It remains exciting, especially when later Jan Six, drunk on his own success, is accused of cheating by a fellow trader.

Between these personal stories there is also the history surrounding the sale of the wedding portraits of Marten and Oopjen from the family property of Baron Eric de Rothschild, which resulted in a political riot between the Netherlands and France. All the commotion only passes by sideways, but the portraits themselves and the character of Taco Dibbits form a connecting factor in the image and that provides a pleasant feeling of continuity between almost all separate stories.