Amsterdam will be home to a new attraction toward the end of Spring 2021: Rembrandts Amsterdam. In this new historic experience, visitors will be transported 350 years back in time to the 17th century. They will visit a reconstruction of Rembrandt’s last and lost studio, where he created his iconic ‘last works’. Here they will meet Rembrandt, but also lesser known figures such as his mistress Hendrickje, son Titus and daughter Cornelia. Visitors really get the opportunity to relive the life of Amsterdam’s most famous painter.
The company behind Rembrandts Amsterdam is Citysaurus, Experiences with Impact. The start-up, founded by two creative entrepreneurs, aims to develop, manage and operate meaningful, educational cultural experiences about local stories. Thereby adopting modern techniques to create an immersive story driven visitor journey. The founders, Simeon van Tellingen and Martin Poiesz, have both worked for years on creating immersive experiences for museums and other leisure destinations. Despite working on amazing experiences in the past, the goal has always been to start their own company which develops, manages and operate its own culture inspired experiences.
Simeon van Tellingen explains: “This is the story of Rembrandt however we wanted to highlight different aspects of his live, most of them untold or unknown to the general public. For example not a lot of people know that Rembrandt declared bankruptcy. He was forced to give up his grand residence (the Rembrandthuis) and his household effects were auctioned off. In order to ward off creditors, Rembrandt”s wife Hendrickje and son Titus legally became his employers. This enabled him to continue his work as a painter.”
Martin Poiesz continues: “Rembrandt and his family moved into a house on the Rozengracht, near the Westerkerk. During this period, Rembrandt produced many of his best paintings, his ‘latest works’. These paintings had a different style than his earlier work and contradicted the fine, detailed style of painting that was popular at the time. This enabled him to bring emotional depth to his work. This is the story we want to bring to life in an educational yet immersive experience.”
Simeon van Tellingen concludes: “We will not use written text on the wall or audio guides as found in other exhibitions about Rembrandt. With the use of modern video, lighting, audio and special effects we aim at creating a more immersed experience which result in a higher impact of understanding and appreciation.”
Citysaurus aims at creating a high awareness about Rembrandts life in Amsterdam and will therefore also refer to other museums and other interesting places.
Rembrandts Amsterdam will be a permanent addition to the cultural offer of Amsterdam and is expected to open at the end of spring 2021.