Discoveries

May 30, 2023

Rembrandt’s Touch

Listen to Today's Edition

Fans of Rembrandt can get a very special – and painful – gift when they visit the Dutch artist’s house in Amsterdam next month, the Smithsonian Magazine reported.

The Rembrandt House Museum is working with local tattoo artists to offer visitors ink inspired by the art of the 17th-century painter.

For a sum between $109 to $272, tourists and locals can get a variety of Rembrandt-inspired designs, including portraits by the artist, his signature, and the house.

The initiative, known as the “Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project,” is part of an effort to connect with new artists and audiences in Amsterdam.

“It’s about the challenge for every museum: to reach the next generation,” Milou Halbesma, director of the Rembrandt House Museum, told the Guardian.

Henk Schiffmacher, one of the project’s tattoo artists, said the ink he and his fellow artists are applying will pay homage to Rembrandt’s unique style: The renowned painter used a drypoint technique, which involved scratching directly onto the printing plate using a needle.

Born in 1606, Rembrandt was an influential Dutch Golden Age painter who spent many years making art in Amsterdam. He was known for his artwork spanning various mediums and different types of subject matter, including self-portraits and landscapes.

Famed French sculptor Auguste Rodin called him a “colossus of art,” while Dutch post-Impressionist pioneer Vincent van Gogh described Rembrandt as a “magician,” according to My Modern Met.

For Schiffmacher, creating tattoos at the prolific painter’s house is a great honor.

“You can’t get any closer to an artist,” he told local media.

This story originally appeared in the May 30, 2023 newsletter, The Meanest of Streets.