Room 0.1 is the best room (Beginner’s Luck)
The best entrance into the Rijksmuseum (quicker than the ‘fast lane’): room 0.1. The paintings and sculptures here make you feel so glad.
The Meeting of Joachim and Anna
Master of Joachim and Anne
You enter room 0.1 and the first thing you notice is two elderly people kissing. What a great way to start your journey!
On display in room 0.1
The Adoration of the Magi
Jan Jansz Mostaert
On entering room 0.1 I spoke with the grey bearded guard. He ended our chat saying: “Nou... succes hè?” Don’t install electronic check-in’s!
On display in room 0.1
See it now in the museum
18 works of art from this collection are currently on display in the Rijksmuseum. View and follow the route using the free Rijksmuseum app.
View this route
Tympanum of Egmond Abbey
anonymous
You walk under this tympan into room 0.1. You look around. Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) got it right: ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’.
On display in room 0.1
Virgin and Child
Adriaen van Wesel
In december 1980 I visited the Adriaen van Wesel exhibition in Rijksmuseum. Hooked for life!
On display in room 0.1
Saint Agnes
Adriaen van Wesel
‘Mary had a little lamb/It’s fleece as white as snow/Everywhere the girl went/The little lamb was sure to go’. (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
On display in room 0.1
The Visitation, Fragment from the…
Adriaen van Wesel
I still cherish the catalogue: W. Halsema-Kubes et al. (eds.), Adriaen van Wesel, een Utrechtse beeldhouwer uit de late middeleeuwen, 1980.
On display in room 0.1
Mary, Joseph and three angels
Adriaen van Wesel
We can see the invisible baby through her loving gaze. This effect was of course not intended by the sculptor. But who cares?
The Death of the Virgin, Fragment…
Adriaen van Wesel
Mary dies in the split second when the censer is floating in mid-air, upside down. This is a freeze-frame shot! (Hitchcock, Capra, John Woo)
On display in room 0.1
The Crucifixion
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen
You walk into room 0.1. With your iPhone in your hand. You see somebody naked and you ask: ‘Who’s that man?’ (Ballad of a thin man)
On display in room 0.1
Mary, Joseph and three angels
Adriaen van Wesel
When the museum was closed from 2003 until 2013, I could live without the Night Watch, but I missed this old block of wood.
Triptych
Pseudo Jan Wellens de Cock
In avant garde graphic novels sometimes the background extends over several panels. Such a smart modern innovation! Or is it?
On display in room 0.1
The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy
Master of the Figdor Deposition
Like in ‘de Calvarieberg’ many chronologically separate things happen here at the same time, stressing the timelessness of those stories.
On display in room 0.1
Memorial tablet
Master of the Spes Nostra
‘I am what thou shall be; what thou art I have been‘. Yes, my friend, we know. And we salute you. Let’s rejoice, for we are not dead yet.
On display in room 0.1
The Holy Kinship
Geertgen tot Sint Jans
Quiet faces, no ostentatious emotions, ovalness as a family trait. In a time of affective bombardments a painting like this is a relief.
On display in room 0.1
The Adoration of the Magi
Geertgen tot Sint Jans
The world was so much simpler then. One road in the background leads to Europe, one to Asia, one to Africa. Who needs Google Earth?
On display in room 0.1
Calvary
Pseudo Jan Wellens de Cock
On the bench in front of this painting, I noticed that on my iPad Pro it was easier to decipher than looking at that thing on the wall.
On display in room 0.1
The Tree of Jesse
Geertgen tot Sint Jans
In 1955, eight years old, I followed my parents on our way to the Night Watch. And then I saw the tree of Jesse. First glimps of surrealism.
On display in room 0.1
The Virgin and Child with Four Holy…
Master of the Virgo inter Virgines
Epicurus sought ataraxia, tranquil pleasure, in his garden. But his pupils were all guys. This is what it should have been. Delvaux agrees.
On display in room 0.1
The Lamentation of Christ
Colijn de Coter
Watched the Parkland shooting on CNN and this mother said: it’s the worst thing that can happen to you: to see your own son, who got killed.
On display in room 0.1
Repentance of Peter
Master of Hakendover
‘Jesus? No. Sorry. Never heard about that guy.’ As a kid, forced to listen to Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, I understood Peter all too well.
On display in room 0.1
Discover the possibilities of masterpieces