Out of frame. Works by Dijkstra and Philippe Parreno

This exhibition presents two works by Rineke Dijkstra and Philippe Parreno from the ”la Caixa” Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, interpreting Goya and Rembrandt and offering two different approaches to experiencing a work of art.

The exhibition offers a unique perspective and approach to the art of the past through interaction with the public. Recently, the ”la Caixa” Foundation has acquired two audiovisual works for its Contemporary Art Collection, providing an unprecedented approach to Goya’s Black Paintings and Rembrandt’s The Night Watch.

Night Watching by Rineke Dijkstra (2019) is a video installation that records the comments of different people while they observe Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, without us ever seeing the painting itself. In this work, some students try to determine whether the artist painted the only woman in the piece with the face of his wife, Saskia, and we also see Japanese businessmen discussing the potential of this artwork for tourism. 

Rineke Dijkstra is interested not only in what people say but also in how they say it, so the viewers “see” the painting through the faces, gestures, and comments of the people observing it. On the other hand, La Quinta del Sordo by Philippe Parreno (2021) is an immersive film that takes us to the house where Goya created his Black Paintings. This audiovisual installation – which Parreno himself has called a “science fiction film” – recreates a space that no longer exists. You can hear the sounds coming from outside and the crackling of the flame with which the artist illuminated the paintings, allowing the observer to get as close as a hand’s breadth away.