The exhibition brings together more than sixty paintings—still lifes, portraits, seascapes, landscapes, architectural views, and genre scenes— by the period’s leading Dutch artists, including Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Willem Kalf, and Rachel Ruysch. They are joined by prints, maps, and stunning decorative objects in silver, porcelain, and more, from the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries. Representing the highest artistic achievement, these works are considered in the context of global exchange and colonialism. The display explores how Dutch preeminence in international maritime trade and the influx of new goods and information transformed life in the Netherlands and led to a remarkable cultural flowering. The art of this period reflects how the Dutch wished to represent themselves, their ideals, and their concerns. Few artists addressed the human toll of colonialism head-on, but many paintings reveal the influence of international expansion on Dutch art and society. The exhibition addresses these complex histories through up-to-date scholarship, contextualizing seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch art in a fresh, compelling way.