Program Details
Rachel Ruysch: Life and Work - Opening Day Lecture with the Curator
Saturday, April 12 | 2:00–3:15p.m. | Little Theater
Join us in the Little Theater and learn about the remarkable life and career of Dutch still life painter Rachel Ruysch. Ruysch defied gender constraints of her time to become one of the most sought-after and highly paid painters in the Netherlands. Her flower and fruit arrangements highlight global biodiversity in botany and zoology, made possible through Dutch trade and colonial exploitation. Ruysch had a career spanning over six decades, was a working mother of ten children, won the lottery twice, and had her works collected by some of the most powerful noble courts in Europe.
Dr. Robert Schindler, William Hutton Curator of European Art and curator of the exhibition, will take you on the exciting journey of Rachel Ruysch’s life and work.
This event is free.
Whether you’re an art lover, a green thumb, or think bugs are neat, this program offers something for all ages and interests. You’ll get unique insight into the exhibition, the first of its kind honoring the life and work of Rachel Ruysch.
Robert Schindler earned his MA in Art History and Business Administration as well as his PhD in Art History from the Freie Universität in Berlin in 2010. He then served as the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. From 2012-2013, Schindler was the Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He was subsequently appointed to the position of Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. From 2013 to 2022, he served as the Fariss Gambrill Lynn and Henry Sharpe Lynn Curator of European Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. In 2022, he joined the Toledo Museum of Art as William Hutton Curator of European Art where he oversees the Museum’s acclaimed collection of European paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, as well as prints and drawings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century.
Schindler is the originator of the Rachel Ruysch exhibition, which opened in Munich, Germany in fall 2024, and continues to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, after its run in Toledo.