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Simon Schama: The Great Gallery Tours

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Simon Schama conducts a virtual tour of fourworld-class galleries.

Simon Schama conducts a virtual tour of four world-class galleries that, sadly, we shan't be able to visit for a while.

Simon Schama:The Great Gallery Tours

Simon Schama: The Great Gallery Tours: The Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum

BBC Radio 4 - Simon Schama: The Great Gallery Tours, The Rijksmuseum

Sir Simon Schama's pick of the great Dutch masters at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Sir Simon Schama's love of  the great Dutch masters is at the heart of this programme. Amsterdam's  Rijksmuseum is more than a gallery - it's an expression of national identity.

Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals are the artsts at the centre of Sir Simon Schama's tour of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It's a place he knows well, having written extensively about Dutch history and about his great hero,  Rembrandt.  

So we are treated to Simon's vibrant take on The Nightwatch - the most justifiably famous group portrait and priniciple treasure of the museum.  We have wonderful accounts too of Vermeer's Woman Reading a Letter and a Frans Hals' sexy marriage portrait.  

There's also a fabulous still life that means you'll never look at asparagus in the same way again. 

With the help of Museum Director Taco Dibbits, Simon sets the Rijksmuseum in context. It is more than a gallery. It is an account of the Dutch past and a 'temple of national identity' - it is where the Dutch go to remember who they were and still are. Duiring lockdown, it was voted the place that Dutch people most missed visiting. 


You can find the names of the paintings and a link to the gallery on the Great Gallery Tours programme website. 


Written and Presented by Sir Simon Schama
Produced by Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4

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