Program Details
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art - Opening Day Tour with Curator
Saturday, April 12 | 12:00–1:00p.m. | Levis Gallery Entrance
Dive deep into the luscious paintings of Rachel Ruysch buzzing with life through a tour with the exhibition curator, Dr. Robert Schindler.
Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art delves into the extraordinary life Ruysch led as a Dutch woman still life artist in the late 1600s and early 1700s across a near 60-year career. This exhibition considers the interconnected worlds of art and science at a moment when Dutch colonial trade and expansion brought back diverse plants and animal species to Amsterdam. Ruysch’s connection to this world through her father, a prominent surgeon and collector, gave her a unique opportunity to engage in these discussions. Additionally, the exhibition brings together in conversation paintings by Rachel and her lesser-known sister Anna, an under-researched artist in her own right.
On the opening day of the exhibition, Dr. Schindler will lead an exclusive tour that provides a deeper understanding of these extraordinary paintings and the woman behind the brush. Join us for this unique opportunity to engage with her remarkable paintings and life story.
Registration for this tour is required. If you have signed up and are no longer able to attend, please inform the museum at your earliest convenience.
Members will receive their discount on tickets at checkout based on membership level.
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.