Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection

Norton Museum of Art announces the exhibition Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection, a presentation of more than 70 works by 27 artists from The Leiden Collection — one of the world’s most important private collections of 17th-century Dutch art. On view from October 25, 2025, through March 29, 2026, it will be the largest show of privately held Dutch 17th-century paintings ever organized in the United States.

Envisioned to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam on the island of present-day Manhattan, the exhibition at the Norton will draw from The Leiden Collection’s unique strength, namely the depiction of humanity in all its facets — from portraits and character studies to genre scenes and historical subjects. It will also offer a rare opportunity to contemplate exceptional works spanning the full career arc of the groundbreaking Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. With 17 of Rembrandt’s paintings on display throughout the galleries, the exhibition will reveal the renowned artist’s singular ability to capture human expression and emotion, as well as fascinating evolutions in both his style and technique.

Organized thematically, Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time will invite visitors to explore the breadth of the painters’ skill and the timeless resonance of their works, as well as to learn more about the day-to-day activities of citizens from that period. Through the prism of the 17th-century Netherlands and its leading artists, the exhibition will shed light on a crucial era of innovation in the history of art. Indeed, the creative breakthroughs and transformative impact of Rembrandt and his peers can still be felt today, having altered the trajectory of art from Impressionism and Expressionism, all the way through to modern and contemporary movements.

“One of the most remarkable facts about Rembrandt and his circle is that their artworks continue to connect with audiences, hundreds of years after they were painted,” said Elizabeth Nogrady, Curator of The Leiden Collection. “These artists had an uncanny ability to tap into the continuity of human experience, which makes them continually relevant — even in very different times.”

The exhibition reflects The Leiden Collection’s mission of building bridges through art and will follow its blockbuster shows at some of the most prestigious national museums in the world including the Louvre, the Pushkin and Hermitage museums, the National Museum of China, and Louvre Abu Dhabi.

“An exhibition like Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time has never been seen before in our region. Viewers will be enthralled not only by the artistry of Rembrandt, but also the depth of talent of other 17th-century Dutch artists,” said Ghislain d’Humières, Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO of the Norton Museum of Art. “It is an honor to host this impressive exhibition at the Norton, the first of its kind in America.”

Of considerable prominence in the exhibition will be Rembrandt’s magisterial Minerva in Her Study, 1635, the most important of Rembrandt’s history paintings in a private collection; the master’s exquisite oval Young Girl in a Gold-Trimmed Cloak, 1632; and his Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes, 1634, which presents a young Rembrandt staring directly at the viewer. 

Special highlights include Vermeer’s Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, circa 1670 – 1675 — the sole example of the artist’s work in private hands, which was featured in the Rijksmuseum’s transcendent show of 2023, Vermeer — and Hagar and the Angel, circa 1645, the only privately-held painting remaining of Carel Fabritius — Rembrandt’s greatest pupil and the inspiration for Donna Tartt’s 2013 acclaimed novel The Goldfinch. The exhibition will also showcase works by other Amsterdam artists intimately connected to Rembrandt, including his influential teacher, Pieter Lastman, and talented students such as Ferdinand Bol and Arent de Gelder.

Additional treasures in the exhibition include formal and fantastical portraits, scenes of markets, music-making, biblical stories, labor, play, and other dynamic subjects by various artists from the Dutch city of Leiden. 

Prominent works include 

Jan Lievens’ Boy in a Cape and Turban, circa 1631, depicting a youth wearing a luminous, fanciful costume, 

and his ravishing Self-Portrait, circa 1629 – 1630; 

Gabriel Metsu’s monumental Woman Selling Game from a Stall, circa 1653 – 1654; 

Frans van Mieris’ profoundly evocative Traveler at Rest, circa 1657, capturing a confident young man relaxing on the roadside; 

and magnificent works by Jan Steen including his joyful Self-Portrait with a Lute, circa 1664 

and most solemn Prayer Before the Meal, 1660, of a pious family breaking bread. 

Also represented in the show will be painters who worked in other Dutch artistic centers, among them Hendrick ter Brugghen in Utrecht, Frans Hals in Haarlem, and Gerard ter Borch in Zwolle.

The Leiden Collection, assembled over the past two decades by Thomas S. Kaplan and his wife, Daphne Recanati Kaplan, comprises more than 220 paintings and drawings by many of the finest Dutch 17th-century artists. Named after Rembrandt van Rijn’s native city, The Leiden Collection illuminates the personalities and themes that shaped Dutch art over five generations.

“Since the day Daphne and I founded The Leiden Collection, we conceived of it as a lending library for some of the world’s most consequential artists,” said Thomas Kaplan. “After nearly 15 years of anonymous lending to over 80 museums, armed with a message of Rembrandt as ‘The Universal Artist,’ the Collection has spent the better part of the past decade traveling the world. We are particularly thrilled to be the first to share Rembrandt and Vermeer with my home state of Florida, where I spent a truly wonderful part of my youth. We hope visitors will be as moved as we are by the enduring power of Rembrandt, his students, and his peers.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 150-page catalogue with detailed entries on each painting and an exploration of Dutch life in the 17^th century.

Art and Life in Rembrandt's Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection was jointly organized by The Leiden Collection and the Norton Museum of Art.

Art and Life in Rembrandt's Time at the Norton Museum of Art was curated by Elizabeth Nogrady, Curator, The Leiden Collection, Robert Evren, Consulting Curator for European Art, and J. Rachel Gustafson, Chief Curatorial Officer, Norton Museum of Art.

MORE IMAGES

Gerard ter Barch the Younger (Dutch, Zwolle 1617 -1681 Deventer)

Elegant Man, circa 1660 Oil on canvas

181/2 x 14 3/8 in. (47 x 36.5 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Gerard ter Barch the Younger (Dutch, Zwolle 1617 -1681 Deventer)

Elegant Woman, circa 1660 Oil on canvas

181/2 x 14 3/8 in. (47 x 36.5 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Hendrick ter Brugghen (Dutch, The Hague 1588 -1629 Utrecht)

Allegory of Faith, circa 1626 Oil on canvas

28 7/16 x 22 3/16 in. (72.3 x 56.3 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Gerrit Dou (Dutch, Leiden 1613 -1675 Leiden)

Cat Crouching on the Ledge of an Artist's Atelier, 1657 Oil on panel

131/2 x 10 5/8 in. (34.3 x 27 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Gerrit Dou (Dutch, Leiden 1613 -1675 Leiden)

Herring Seller and Boy, circa 1664 Oil on panel

171/8 x 13 5/8 in. (43.5 x 34.6 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Carel Fabritius (Dutch, Middenbeemster 1622 -1654 Delft)

Hagar and the Angel, circa 1645 Oil on canvas

62 x 53 9/16 in. (157.5 x 136 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Arent de Gelder (Dutch, Dordrecht 1645 -1727 Dordrecht)

Christ on the Mount of Olives, circa 1715 Oil on panel

15 3/4 x 17 in. (40 x 43.2 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Frans Hals (Dutch, Antwerp 1582/83 -1666 Haarlem)

Portrait of Samuel Ampzing, 1630 Oil on copper

6 7/16 x 4 7/8 in. (16.4 x 12.4 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Isaac de Jouderville (Dutch, Leiden circa 1612 -1645/48 Amsterdam)

Portrait of Rembrandt in Oriental Dress, circa 1631 Oil on panel

22 7/8 x 19 7/8 in. (70.8 x 50.5 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Pieter van Laer (Dutch, Haarlem 1599 - circa 1642 Italy?)

Self-Portrait with Magic Scene, circa 1635 -1637 Oil on canvas

311/2 x 451/4 in. (80 x 114.9 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Jan Lievens (Dutch, Leiden 1607 -1674 Amsterdam)

Self-Portrait, circa 1629 -1630 Oil on panel

16 9/16 x 14 9/16 in. (42 x 37 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Frans van Mieris the Elder (Dutch, Leiden 1635 -1681 Leiden)

Young Woman Feeding a Parrot, 1663 Oil on panel

8 13/16 x 615/16 in. (22.4 x 17.7 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch, Rotterdam 1634 -1682 Amsterdam)

Singing Violinist, circa 1660 -1670 Oil on panel

10 5/8 x 7 3/4 in. (27 x 19.7 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Unconscious Patient (Allegory of Smell), circa 1624 -1625 Oil on panel, inset into an 18th-century panel

121/2 x 10 in. (31.8 x 25.4 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Young Girl in a Gold-Trimmed Cloak, 1632 Oil on oval panel

231/4 x 17 5/16 in. (59 x 44 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Bust of a Bearded Old Man, 1633 Oil on paper, mounted on panel 31/2 x 21/2 in. (8.9 x 6.4 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Portrait of a Man in a Red Coat, 1633 Oil on oval panel

251/16 x 20 in. (63.7 x 50.8 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes, 1634 Oil on panel

28 x 221/16 in. (71.1 x 56 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, Leiden 1606 -1669 Amsterdam)

Minerva in Her Study, 1635 Oil on canvas

54 5/16 x 45 7/8 in. (138 x 116.5 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

Jan Steen (Dutch, Leiden 1626 -1679 Leiden)

Prayer Before the Meal, 1660 Oil on oak panel

21 3/8 x 181/8 in. (54.3 x 46 cm) The Leiden Collection, New York

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, Delft 1632 -1675 Delft) Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, circa 1670 -1675 Oil on canvas

101/16 x 715/16 in. (25.5 x 20.1 cm)

The Leiden Collection, New York

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Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream

The Museum of Modern Art

 November 10, 2025–April 11, 2026

 The Museum of Modern Art presents Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream, the most extensive retrospective devoted to the artist in the United States, on view at MoMA from November 10, 2025, through April 11, 2026. Spanning the six decades of Lam’s prolific career, the exhibition includes more than 130 artworks from the 1920s to the 1970s—including paintings, large-scale works on paper, collaborative drawings, illustrated books, prints, ceramics, and archival material—with key loans from the Estate of Wifredo Lam, Paris. 

The retrospective reveals how Lam—a Cubanborn artist who spent most of his life in Spain, France, and Italy—came to embody the figure of the transnational artist in the 20th century. Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream is organized by Christophe Cherix, The David Rockefeller Director, and Beverly Adams, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, with Damasia Lacroze, Curatorial Associate, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and Eva Caston, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints. 

“Lam’s visionary commitment to making his painting an ‘act of decolonization,’ as he put it, forever changed modern art,” said Cherix. “He insisted on placing diasporic culture at the heart of modernism—not as a peripheral influence, but as central, a generative force.” 

Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, Wifredo Lam (1902–1982) emigrated at age 21 to pursue training as a painter in Madrid. Organized chronologically, the exhibition begins with a selection of his early paintings made during his time in Spain, including Lam’s first overtly political and monumental work on paper, La Guerra Civil (The Spanish Civil War) (1937), on view in the US for the first time. 

In 1938 Lam fled the war in Spain for Paris, where he met artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso and André Breton. After escaping to Marseille during the Nazi occupation of Paris, Lam collaborated with Surrealists who were also awaiting safe passage out of Europe. Among these collaborations, Lam created imaginative line drawings for Breton’s poetry volume Fata Morgana (1941) as well as a number of cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) and collective drawings, which are on view in the exhibition.

 “His radically inventive works continue to speak to us across time,” said Adams. “The realities he confronted—colonialism, racism, exile, and displacement—remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.” After almost two decades abroad, Lam returned to Cuba in 1941 via Martinique, where he met his future collaborator and lifelong friend, the poet Aimé Césaire. 

The retrospective sheds light on how Lam’s return led to an absolute reinvention of his work and the creation of some of his most important paintings, including La jungla (The Jungle) (1942–43). Arguably his best-known work, which has been in MoMA’s collection since 1945, La jungla’s densely active composition foregrounds the Caribbean landscape, its inhabitants, and its histories of slavery and indenture. During this time, the artist also sought new ways to visualize the fluidity between physical and spiritual space by depicting landscapes and figures in moments of transformation and transcendence. Paintings from this prolific and experimental period include Omi Obini (1943), Mofumbe (1943), and Ogue Orisa (1943), all of which express his interest in Afro-Caribbean spiritualities. 

Lam would later transition to a much darker and earthier palette, making way for new compositions that balanced abstracted figures and forms in paintings like Bélial, empereur des mouches (Belial, Emperor of the Flies) (1948) and Grande Composition (Large Composition) (1949). This pivotal work, which has not been shown in more than 60 years, will make its US debut. 

Marking his return to painting on kraft paper, Grande Composition is the artist’s most ambitiously scaled work. In 1952 Lam returned to Europe, marking yet another key moment in his artistic practice. While living in Albissola Marina, Italy, he produced a series of ambitious, large-scale works that radically shifted toward abstraction, notably the Brousse (The Bush) series (1958), also on display in the US for the first time.

 By the early 1960s, Lam renewed his approach to figuration, developing a distinctive visual language marked by tangled, elongated figures that appear in Les Invités (The Guests) (1966) and the final major painting of his career, Les Abalochas dansent pour Dhambala, dieu de l’unité (The Abalochas Dance for Dhambala, the God of Unity) (1970), both of which will be on view in the exhibition. 

In his final years, Lam continued to push the boundaries of his practice, actively experimenting with ceramics and printmaking. The retrospective concludes with a selection of his late ceramic works, along with his collaborations with some of the most notable literary voices of the 20th century, including illustrated books with Édouard Glissant, René Char, and his print portfolio with Aimé Césaire, titled Annonciation (Annunciation) (1982). 

PUBLICATION

Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogueedited by Beverly Adams and Christophe Cherix. The landmark publication features contributions by Anny Aviram, Miriam M. Basilio Gaztambide, Terri Geis, Jean Khalfa, Damasia Lacroze, Laura Neufeld, María Elena Ortiz, Lowery Stokes Sims, Catherine H. Stephens, and Martin Tsang; fresh insights into Lam’s relationship to Surrealism, Négritude, and other literary, cultural, and poetic movements; extensive new photography of Lam’s art; and the first in-depth conservation analysis of his best-known painting, La jungla (The Jungle) (1942–43). 266 pages, 225 color illustrations.  ISBN: 978-1- 63345-178-0. Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and available at MoMA stores and online at store.moma.org. Distributed to the trade through ARTBOOK|D.A.P. in the United States and Canada, and through Thames & Hudson in the rest of the world.

IMAGES

 

Wifredo Lam. La Guerra Civil (The Spanish Civil War), 1937. Gouache on paper mounted on canvas, 6’11 ¼” x 7’9 ¼” (211.5 x 236.9 cm). Capriles Cannizzaro Family Collection © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

“I am drawing a painting of big proportions . . . an anti-fascist subject, not very beautiful but very true and real,” wrote Lam of this painting, originally commissioned for the 1937 Spanish Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale in Paris. The flat, churning scene depicts a violent confrontation during the Spanish Civil War,

in which figures with grimacing, masklike faces struggle against one another. While forced
to paint on kraft paper due to wartime scarcity, Lam responded creatively to the medium, using it to explore the boundary between painting and drawing. This work’s interplay of material, scale, line, and blank space would become a hallmark of his practice. 

 

Wifredo Lam. Fata Morgana, 1941. Illustration from an unbound proof of an illustrated book with letterpress text and seven line block illustrations with hand additions in colored pencil and annotations in ink, sheet (closed): 11 × 9″ (28 × 22.8 cm), sheet (open): 11 × 17 11/16″ (28 × 45 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

 

Wifredo Lam. La jungla (The Jungle), 1942-43. Oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas, 7’10 ¼” × 7’6 ½” (239.4 × 229.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

Lam glued together two large pieces of kraft paper to make the support for La jungla. He first sketched the composition in charcoal
and then used layers of thinned oil paint over the initial drawing. Lam’s figures feature faces reminiscent of African masks, handlike feet, elongated legs, and male and female attributes.

They are placed within a Caribbean landscape, intertwined with broadleaves, tropical fruit, and sugarcane. This setting recalls Cuba’s history of slavery and indenture, while also signaling the resilience of Afro-Caribbean cultures. 

 

Wifredo Lam. Harpe astrale (Astral Harp), 1944. Oil on canvas, 6’10 ⅝” × 6’2 ¾” (210 × 190 cm). Private collection.  © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

Afro-diasporic religions in the Americas were often formed through the strategic entangling of African religions with Catholicism in order to ensure their survival under colonial rule. Sprouting horseshoes and small horned heads, this painting’s winged, spectral beings simultaneously suggest the presence of angels and Afro-Cuban orishas, or deities. The painting’s play of shadow and light evokes a sense of movement between the earthly

and spiritual realms. In the final year of his life, Lam returned to the theme of genesis in a collaboration with the writer Aimé Césaire. 

 

Wifredo Lam. Grande Composition (Large Composition), 1949. Oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas, 9’6 ½” × 13’9 ¾” (291 × 421 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired in memory of Gustavo Cisneros through the generosity of the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Endowment Fund, Mimi Haas, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift (by exchange), Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund, The Werner H. Kramarsky Endowment Fund for Drawings, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Emilio Ambasz, Anne Dias Griffin, Agnes Gund, Richard Roth, Tony Tamer, Candace King Weir, The Dian Woodner Acquisition Endowment Fund, the Frances Keech Fund, Joshua and Filipa Fink, Ann and Graham Gund, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Richard S. Zeisler Fund, Adriana Cisneros de Griffin, Glenn D. and Susan Lowry, and Marnie S. Pillsbury (as of September 2025) © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

 

Wifredo Lam. Je Suis (I Am), 1949. Oil on canvas, 49 × 42 15/16″ (124.5 x 109 cm). Private collection © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

 

Wifredo Lam. Untitled, 1958. Oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas, 8′ × 11’3 ⅞” (244 × 345 cm). Private collection © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

 

Wifredo Lam. Les Invités (The Guests), 1966. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 6’10 11/16″ x 8’2 7/16″ (210 x 250 cm). Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

 

Wifredo Lam. Les Abalochas dansent pour Dhambala, dieu de l’unité (The Abalochas Dance for Dhambala, the God of Unity), 1970. Oil on canvas, 6’11 ⅞” × 8′ (213 × 244 cm). Private collection. Courtesy McClain Gallery © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2025 

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