Urban Salon’s latest exhibition project, ‘Rembrandt: The Late Works’ has opened at the National Gallery.  The exhibition is open until 18 January 2015 and is organised by the National Gallery in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum. The show focuses on the passion and innovation of Rembrandt’s late works and features approximately 40 paintings, 20 drawings and 30 prints including key works lent by European and North American museums.

Visitors enter the exhibition through a full height supergraphic showing a detail from Rembrandt’s 1662 group portrait The Syndics.

Different colours are used to reflect the exhibition’s different sections and themes with light tones used for the sections exploring Rembrandt’s techniques and darker tones for the sections exploring more emotive topics such as reconciliation and conflict.   

A key feature of Urban Salon’s design is six entrance tunnels that line the existing doorways to the different rooms within the gallery space. The tunnels are made from textured timber veneer which contrasts with the coloured walls of the gallery. The angled doorways frame dramatic vistas and enhance the key works of art for each room. Lighting within the doorways creates a chiaroscuro effect, which together with the textured surface of the doorways echoes a key element of Rembrandt’s work.

Urban Salon collaborated with graphic designer, graphic designer, Martin McGrath and lighting designers, dha design. This project marks the first time that Urban Salon has worked for the National Gallery.

Betsy Wieseman, Curator of Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery said:

‘I wanted something that was simple and modern, but at the same time respectful of Rembrandt's work, because the exhibition contains many beloved 'icons' of 17th century Dutch painting.  Working with a very quirky space, and a lot of objects, Urban Salon has come up with a design that expresses essential messages of the show in a very simple, direct and elegant way.  The chiaroscuro effects and textured surfaces of the entry 'tunnels' immediately signal to the visitor key elements of Rembrandt's art. The wall colours work beautifully with paintings, drawings and prints - no easy task - and the variation from room to room propels the mood of the exhibition towards its dramatic conclusion.’