Today the new director of the Rijksmuseum, Wim Pijbes, took on his function. Yesterday evening he gave an interview on Dutch radio about his plans for the largest art museum in the country. (Met het oog op morgen, 23:00-24:00, 30 June.) The Rijksmuseum is in the throes of an overlong reconstruction, begun in 2003 and scheduled to be completed in 2013. Asked out his thoughts concerning the exhibition with which to re-open the Rijksmuseum, he first hesitated, then came up with a surprisingly detailed project description.
Saying that the theme must be related to the Dutch Golden Age, he suggested a way of connecting that amazing outburst of artistic energy to art in the rest of the world. He proposed an exhibition based on the classic study of 1942 by Horst Gerson on the dispersal of Dutch painting, Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts (The diffusion and after-effect of Dutch 17th-century painting). In addition to the work of Dutch masters, the exhibition would also show that of artists elsewhere in the world who were inspired by Dutch painting. Knowing Pijbes, the scope of the exhibition would not be restricted to classical art, but would also cover later masters who were inspired by the Dutch 17th century.

Needless to say, this notion has great appeal for CODART. We wish Wim Pijbes success in pursuing this ambition.