Skip to Content

Arts Intel Report

Rembrandt's Lions: Art and Exile in the Dutch Republic

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Self-Portrait with Raised Sabre, 1634.

Oct 23, 2026 – Jan 31, 2027
225 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA

In 17th-century Amsterdam, as many as 60 percent of residents had come from somewhere else. The Dutch Republic was one of the few places in Europe where religious and political refugees could start over, and Rembrandt, who spent most of his life in the city, was surrounded by these people. Their presence found its way into his work, as did the biblical stories of exile and migration that forever fascinated him. This exhibition of drawings, paintings, and etchings explores how these dynamics shaped Rembrandt’s art. It also includes rarely exhibited works from the museum’s own collection. Look out for the lion, a symbol of the young Dutch Republic, which makes repeated appearances in scenes of exile and refuge. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1905