Katinka Lampe, a Dutch artist, is pursuing a remarkable career, filled with many exhibitions and groups of paintings that combine a striking modernity, through her style and subjects choices, with the heritage of the history of painting and the portrait genre – to which the current Dutch scene contributes several worthy representatives, whether for painting or photography. In 2014, she showed an outstanding exhibition at the famous Van Loon Museum in Amsterdam. The museum holds an historical collection of family portraits, spanning several centuries. The descendants, still owners and patrons, remain very involved in the contemporary art world, to which they dedicate temporary exhibitions. This time, they looked to push further, connecting the portraits collection with a large ensemble commissioned from Katinka Lampe. She worked on it for over two years. For the exhibit, she reshuffled the whole display in the museum, so that her portraits mirrored those of the collection, inside the rooms of this big XVIIth century bourgeois mansion, presented with their XVIIIth century furniture and setting. With over 35 000 visits, the exhibition was a resounding success, and resonated deeply with amateurs of both old and contemporary art.
