AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Masterpieces from Rembrandt to Mondriaan will be seen in a new light when the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam re-opens to the public April 13, 2013 following a 10-year transformation. More than 100 pieces are framed with Tru Vue® Optium® Acrylic Glazing.

“The use of Optium is growing rapidly for framing valuable and famous works of art, both graphic art and oil paintings”

“This way of exhibiting works of art on paper is as close as we can get to actually putting the works in the hands of the public,” says Idelette van Leeuwen, the Rijksmuseum’s head of paper conservation. “Tru Vue’s contribution of Optium for all the frames used for drawings, prints and photographs makes it possible for the Rijksmuseum to give the public an optimal view of the art in the new galleries.”

Tru Vue’s international museum and conservation liaison, Rob Lewis, adds, “Museums around the world depend on Optium Acrylic Glazing to protect, conserve and display their most valuable and historic collections.”

Van Leeuwen continues, “The anti-reflective coating of Optium reduces distracting reflections, so that it almost seems as if there is nothing between the artwork and the viewer. The viewer can study the art from a very short distance without endangering it. This allows for a close, almost intimate experience of the art.”

Larson-Juhl provided the Rijksmuseum with Tru Vue’s Optium Museum Acrylic®. “The use of Optium is growing rapidly for framing valuable and famous works of art, both graphic art and oil paintings,” says Mariёtte Van der Pasch, account manager at Larson-Juhl in the Netherlands.

Tru Vue has worked closely with the museum community to develop this product to meet aesthetic and conservation standards. Van Leeuwen agrees, “Optium combines properties that are important to the conservation department: It protects the artwork against light damage because it blocks 99% of UV light. The anti-static coating makes it safe for use with friable media… Optium has the advantage of being shatter-resistant, and the abrasion-resistant coating allows us to re-use the acrylic a number of times, since it will not scratch easily.”

In five halls at the renewed Rijksmuseum, all of the framed pieces of graphic art have been fitted with Tru Vue Optium Acrylic Glazing.

Paper conservators Dionysia Christoforou and Leila Sauvage have been framing artworks with Optium. (Photo: Rijksmuseum)