Rembrandt Self-Portrait Leaves Cologne Museum for Two-Year Renovation

The Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne has been completely emptied for a major renovation, with the last work to leave being a significant Rembrandt self-portrait. The painting, dated around 1662, depicts the artist as a bent old man smiling, an unusual expression for portraits of that era. It may represent the Greek philosopher Democritus, who laughed at the world, or the painter Zeuxis, who reportedly died laughing at a wrinkled old woman he was to paint. The left edge of the canvas shows an elderly figure in profile. The work was packed in a transport crate and moved to a depot, joining around 60,000 graphic works and over 2,000 paintings from Cologne's oldest museum. The museum will be closed for at least two years, with reopening planned for late 2028. During this period, Rembrandt and other works will not be on view. The news also reports on recent auction results: Wassily Kandinsky's 'Villa Seeburg am Staffelsee' (1911), discovered in a private collection in Gelsenkirchen, fetched 4.4 million euros at Ketterer in Munich, more than double its estimate. Ferdinand Hodler's 'Sunset over Lake Geneva from Caux' (1917) achieved 6 million Swiss francs at Koller in Zurich, also double its estimate, marking the second-highest auction price for the Swiss artist. Gerhard Marcks' bronze sculpture 'Sich niedertuende Kuh' (1949), cast at the Barth foundry in Berlin, improved from 12,000 to 22,000 euros at the Ahrenshoop art auctions on August 1.