This exhibition brings together the innovative etchings of Rembrandt van Rijn and the contemporary work by Rhode Island artist, Taleen Batalian, whose practice engages deeply with the Dutch master’s legacy. As one of the most significant artists of the 17th century, Rembrandt explored the dramatic potential of light and shadow across paintings, etchings, and intimate self-portraits known as tronies — the Dutch word for faces.

In dialogue with Rembrandt’s etchings, the contemporary works on view explore themes of tonality, contrast, and degrees of the finished and unfinished. Drawing on personal experiences, Batalian’s pairings invite open-ended conversations between present and past, and contemporary and historical art. Together, these works ask us to consider what endures across time — and what new meaning emerges when two artistic visions, separated by centuries, are brought into conversation.

Museum co-founder Carl Weyerhaeuer first collected Rembrandt’s work while touring Europe as a recent college graduate. Rembrandt’s etchings formed a foundation for his collection that later became the Art Complex Museum, opening its doors in 1971.