Museum Boijmans van Beuningen is a perfect location for a television programme about the many faces of art. The museum has a world-class collection ranging from Old Masters to modern and contemporary art. But the museum does not draw a strict distinction between these periods. The relationship between historical and recent art has been cast in a new light since the installation in early 2007 of a work by the contemporary artist Maurizio Cattelan in a gallery among Old Master paintings. The work consists of a lifelike copy of the artist, poking his head through a hole in the floor, staring at a landscape by the painter Wijnand Jan Joseph Nuyen (1813-1839). Maurizio Cattelan shows us that there is more to this art work than simply the work itself. The relationship between the viewer and the work is every bit as fascinating. This is a wonderful subject for a television programme. When Wilfried de Jong was invited to participate in the development of a programme about Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, he instantly saw the potential of this particular work. The series director, Sander Burger has captured the essence of this work in a programme that is about the experience of art rather than the work or the artist. Cattelan’s work encourages the museum visitor to study the painting by Wijnand Jan Joseph Nuyen in much greater depth. And so, we expect this art programme, which focuses on the experience of art, to stimulate viewers’ interest in art.