Golden age without the glitter: Rijksmuseum shows Dutch role in slavery
Dutch NewsTelling ten individual stories to represent 250 years of ‘legalised injustice’, the Dutch national museum has launched a hard-hitting exhibition on the role of slavery in a period typically referred to as the Dutch Golden Age. ‘It’s an exhibition that isn’t about numbers but about people: 10 lives that were part of the system of slavery,’ said Taco Dibbits, general director of the Rijksmuseum, in a press conference. ‘We want as many people as possible to see the exhibition, to dwell together on what the past means for today’s society.’ ‘Slavery’ includes 100 objects on loan from other museums, including modern artwork La Bouche du Roi by Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumè, which recreates a slave ship out of 304 jerry cans and bottles to represent its cargo of African men, women and children. ‘Divisive’ Valika Smeulders, head of history at the Rijksmuseum, said that the exhibition had an urgent role in showing how people can be, and still are, treated differently because of their religion or skin colour.
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Golden age without the glitter: Rijksmuseum shows Dutch role in slavery
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