[andy58-in-nh]

Upon seeing The Night Watch in Amsterdam, what I recall most was how HUGE it was. The painting itself is classic Rembrandt: exquisite detail, inspired facial expressions, wondrous motion, all illuminated by single-source light. But I was really amazed to find that it covered an entire wall in the museum. Sort of the opposite of seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre: a tiny little postage stamp of a picture in a frame that appears too large for it.

What really blew me away though about Amsterdam was spending hours looking at all of this incredible art representing the best of the mind of Man, and then walking out onto the public plaza to a horde of dirty, smelly, dope-smoking stoners laying casually about with their rotting backpacks, looking for handouts as usual. That pointed contrast between civilization and the lack thereof has always stayed with me.

[lovecraft]

Been there twice, saw this painting the last time I was there. It really is huge!

[Howie]

I had no idea it was a mural-sized painting. He is my favorite of the “Old Masters”. Rembrandt understood the mechanics of using color like very few painters!