The Nightwatch Lives
- inbegrepen bij museumticket
- ARTIS-Micropia
What’s lives in The Night Watch? More than you might think! ARTIS-Micropia and the Rijksmuseum are joining forces to reveal the invisible life within Rembrandt’s masterpiece. From skin bacteria to soil dwellers: the new installation, The Night Watch Lives, showcases the first microbes to have been cultured, alongside a life-size reproduction of the painting.
The hidden life revealed
Microbes are everywhere. In the soil, in water, on your skin and therefore also on a carefully preserved painting. To investigate this invisible world, laboratory technicians from ARTIS-Micropia and conservators from the Rijksmuseum are taking samples from The Night Watch at around sixty different locations over a period of six months. Samples are carefully taken from the painting. These are cultured in the Micropia laboratory until they form visible colonies. And so the invisible life on The Night Watch becomes visible. From now on, you can view these microbes at ARTIS-Micropia, alongside a life-size reproduction of Rembrandt’s masterpiece.
From skin residents to a bacterium from Japan
The largest restoration project ever carried out on Rembrandt’s masterpiece
The Night Watch is Rembrandt’s most famous painting and is almost 400 years old. To preserve the artwork as effectively as possible, the Rijksmuseum launched Operation Night Watch in 2019: the largest research and restoration project ever undertaken on the painting.
This research is revealing more and more about how Rembrandt painted The Night Watch and how the artwork has changed over the centuries. In collaboration with ARTIS-Micropia, the invisible life within the painting is now also being investigated. In this way, art, science and the tiniest forms of life come together.
The Night Watch Lives continues to grow
And the best part is: there’s still so much more to discover! Over the coming months, new samples will be taken and more and more microbes identified. New discoveries will be incorporated into the exhibition, meaning that the invisible company in The Night Watch will continue to grow. Curious to find out what’s living on Rembrandt’s masterpiece? Come and see for yourself! On display at ARTIS-Micropia from 11 November 2026 until the end of May 2027.
- where
- ARTIS-Micropia
- when
- from November 11
- what time
- the whole day
- price
- included in the museumticket
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