The Wall Paintings in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Abstract

The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam will re-open in 2013 after extensive renovations. One of the leading principles of the museum's restoration has been the partial revival of the 1885 interior, which contained paintings by the Viennese Georg Sturm installed as murals. In strong colors, these paintings celebrate national history, civic virtue, and the glory of Dutch art. Sturm's paintings constitute the culmination of nineteenth-century nationalistic decoration schemes in the Netherlands, in which a single, uniform collective memory of national history was taken for granted. Soon after 1885, however, the paintings were criticized, not only because of changing ideas about museum aesthetics, but also because of a growing disagreement as to what constituted national glory, especially among Catholics and socialists. But though critical of nineteenth-century ideas, these same groups appreciated the didactic possibilities of Sturm's wall paintings and commissioned mural paintings elsewhere with different historical themes. The tradition of mural painting continued thus until ca. 1910. The Rijksmuseum murals were finally removed in the 1920s. Their upcoming return will undoubtedly rekindle old discussions.