125 Great Loves. With the Support of the Rembrandt Association

Founded in 1883 by a group of Amsterdam art lovers alarmed by the dispersal of important Dutch holdings at auction, the Vereniging Rembrandt (Rembrandt Association) spent 125 years helping museums across the Netherlands acquire works they could not otherwise afford. To mark that anniversary, the Van Gogh Museum hosted a one-time gathering of 125 of the most significant acquisitions the Association had supported, drawn from over thirty participating institutions. Guest curator Peter Hecht organised the loans into five sections spanning the full arc of the Association’s history, from Old Masters to contemporary art, and designer Wim Crouwel gave the presentation its visual form.

Vermeer’s The Love Letter was among the earliest and most celebrated purchases the Association ever made. At the auction of the Messchert van Vollenhoven and Van Engelenberg collection in Amsterdam on 29 March 1892, the Association’s representative J. Ankersmit secured the painting for 41,000 guilders, of which the Vereniging Rembrandt contributed 15,000, allowing the Rijksmuseum to complete the purchase. The work entered the museum’s collection in January 1893, and its presence in this anniversary exhibition underscored how central Vermeer had been to the Association’s founding purpose of keeping the finest Dutch art in public hands.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue titled 125 jaar openbaar kunstbezit met steun van de Vereniging Rembrandt, edited by Peter Hecht and published by Waanders in both paperback and hardcover editions, with 250 illustrations across 248 pages (ISBN 978-90-400-8517-8).