Last Friday I visited the Gabriël Metsu exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I was impressed by his paintings of day to day life. More or less to be compared with what we call street photography these days. Also his portraits (inspired by Vermeer) are impressive. Especially the way he uses the light in these paintings. Of course, I couldn’t leave the museum without admiring Rembrandt’s (and Caravaggio’s) work. The true masters of clair obsur. While absorbing their pieces, I realized how much we, as photographers, can learn from their techniques. The way they handled light and dark in their paintings is truely amazing and very inspiring. Probably even more so than the work of photographers.
Anyway, the Gabriël Metsu exhibition can be seen at the Rijksmuseum until March 21, 2011. It’s certainly highly recommended by me. Watch, learn and get inspired!
More information about the Gabriël Metsu exhibition can be found here.