Enfilade

The exhibition developed from the Women of the Rijksmuseum research project:

Point of View: The Collection Seen from a Gender Perspective
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 5 July — 1 September 2024

Did all 17th-century children wear dresses? Why did women have to fight so hard to wear trousers? And what does the size of your desk say about your gender? Point of View explores how ideas around gender have been visualised through the ages and shows they are constantly changing.

Jacob de Wit, Jupiter, Disguised as Diana, Seducing the Nymph Callisto, 1727, 240 × 205 cm (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, SK-A-3885).

These 150 paintings, prints, drawings, costumes, accessories, sculptures, photographs, and furniture items from the Rijksmuseum collection show that gender is everywhere. See the 17th-century portraits in which all the children are wearing dresses. Discover how, in the 18th century, anybody who could afford it was wearing pink—as well as glitter, frills, and floral patterns. Displayed together, these objects show that our ideas about masculinity, femininity, and gender in its broadest sense are defined by their time and place. The exhibition includes artworks by Gesina ter Borch, Marlene Dumas, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Kinke Kooi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, Maria Roosen, Charley Toorop, and Sara Troost.

Point of View shows there have always been people whose identity, experiences, and mode of expression didn’t fit the conventions around masculinity and femininity. One example from history is Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–1689), who had herself portrayed in both female and male form. The exhibition also features portraits of more recent gender-fluid icons including Robert Mapplethorpe and Grace Jones. The exhibition ends with a contemporary perspective on gender; photographer Bete van Meeuwen worked with a group of 10 college students whose photographs show what gender means to them.