An Old Man in an Armchair

Rembrandt painted this portrait of ‘An Old Man in an Armchair’ sometime in the mid-17th century using oils on canvas. It’s a process of layering, of glazing, that gives the painting that luminous quality. Look at the old man’s hand against his face: you can almost feel the weight of his head, the pressure of his fingers. The paint is thick here, built up in layers to create a sense of volume and texture. Notice how Rembrandt uses light to define the form, how it catches the wrinkles in his skin, the folds in his robe. This feels super modern to me, like the way Guston was working with light and shadow, creating these cartoonish figures that were somehow also deeply human. Rembrandt's not trying to give us all the answers, he's inviting us to ask questions, to engage with the mystery of human existence, much like any great painter.