The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach is now home to a major exhibition titled Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection, marking the most extensive presentation of The Leiden Collection ever shown in the United States. The Leiden Collection is among the largest and most important collections of seventeenth-century Dutch art in private hands, and many of its paintings are rarely seen. This new exhibition gives art lovers a chance to see many of the Leiden Collection works up close and in person. For many, this is a chance not to be missed.
Located at 1450 S. Dixie Highway, the exhibition runs during regular museum hours: Thursdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $18 for adults, with discounts available for students, seniors, and children.
Featuring 76 paintings by 27 artists, this sweeping showcase arrives in Florida after its recent installation at the H’ART Museum in Amsterdam. It commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam (now New York City) and continues the mission of bringing rarely seen masterpieces from The Leiden Collection to the public.
A Young Woman Writing a Letter, ca. 1670
The exhibition offers a vivid look into 17th-century Dutch life, organizing the works into themes that span market scenes, music-making, card games, private study, and ambitious portraiture. At the heart of the show is Rembrandt van Rijn, represented by key works from across his career, alongside paintings by his teacher Pieter Lastman and students Ferdinand Bol and Arent de Gelder.
Also featured are important works from Rembrandt’s hometown of Leiden, including pieces by his contemporary Jan Lievens and pupil Gerrit Dou, along with exquisitely detailed works by masters of the fijnschilder (fine painting) style like Frans van Mieris the Elder and Godefridus Schalcken.
Rounding out the exhibition are genre scenes, religious works, and portraits by renowned artists from across the Dutch Republic, including Frans Hals, Carel Fabritius, Gerard ter Borch, Caspar Netscher, Hendrick ter Brugghen, and Johannes Vermeer, whose Young Woman Seated at a Virginal—the only Vermeer in private hands—is a standout highlight.
Curated by Elizabeth Nogrady of The Leiden Collection and Robert Evren and J. Rachel Gustafson of the Norton Museum, with scholarly guidance from Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., the exhibition is both a visual feast and a rare chance to encounter some of the finest works of the Dutch Golden Age outside Europe.
Self-Portrait with Magic Scene, ca. 1635–37
