Two Spaces for Wedding Portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit

By Cheng Yu Hsieh

This is a project about two buildings designed for two paintings by Rembrandt, located in two different places. It investigates the presence and absence of the two paintings in space.

a model photo showing the facade of the building in Paris

Diploma project Architecture 2025

Project type: Diploma project
Programme: Architecture
Year: 2025

Supervisor:

Neven Mikac Fuchs, Bin Jia

A Story of Diptych

"Portrait of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit" are two life-size paintings of a young couple by Rembrandt. The paintings are jointly owned by The Louvre, France, and the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands.

In 2016, both nations agreed that it is essential to display the two portraits together. To ensure this, the two museums decided to exhibit the paintings on a rotating basis: two years in Paris, followed by two years in Amsterdam.

A Space for Two

Traditionally, diptychs were two hinged paintings that could be closed like a book and carried. Over time, the hinge disappeared, and diptychs became two side-by-side works creating a visual dialogue. In this project, I place the paintings back to back on a wall, introducing spatial experience into that dialogue.

sketches showing the idea of putting two paintings back to back

An Empty Space

Every two years, the paintings move from one place to another, leaving one building with an empty space. How do we perceive the absence of these paintings? And after the paintings are away from the building that is specifically made for them, what would remain in the space?