Some weeks ago I finished my morning jog and instead of heading straight home, I walked into Galeri Nasional Jakarta. I still had my running clothes on, shirt a bit damp, but something told me to just go in.
It’s hot outside but I always look forward to discovering new places and learning something unexpected.
I wandered into this gallery and there was an exhibition about Raden Saleh. Of course the famous painting “The Arrest of Prince Diponegoro” by Raden Saleh also showed there. I’d heard the name before but honestly didn’t know much about him or this painting.
The painting showed a historical event that occurred on March 28, 1830. The Dutch general invited Prince Diponegoro to his house in Magelang for peace talks. Diponegoro showed up. Three hours later, they arrested him. Pure betrayal. No negotiation.
The Java War had been going for five years at that point. Over 200,000 Javanese dead. The Dutch couldn’t beat Diponegoro in battle so they tricked him instead.
There was already a Dutch painting of this moment by Nicolaas Pieneman from 1835. He called it “The Submission of Prince Diponegoro” and made the prince and his followers look defeated, submissive.
Raden Saleh painted something completely different in 1857. He called his “The Arrest”, definitely not the submission. Because Diponegoro never surrendered.
In Raden Saleh’s painting, Diponegoro and the Dutch general stand at the same level. Eye to eye. The prince is wearing a green turban and white robes. You can see his left fist clenched. His whole body says he’s controlling his rage. The Javanese way, maintain composure even when you’re furious.
Raden Saleh deliberately painted the Dutch officers with heads slightly too big for their bodies. Not obvious but once you see it, you can’t unsee it. They look grotesque. All the Javanese figures are properly proportioned though.
The guy had nerve! He painted himself into the scene too. Three times apparently. Once bowing to Diponegoro, once looking at us viewers, once just observing.
Then he gave the painting to the Dutch King Willem III. As a gift! Some people say he was just trying to stay in the good graces of his patrons. But I don’t know. Art, culture, and politic can be so complicated sometimes.
The painting stayed in the Dutch royal collection until 1978 when Indonesia asked for it back. Now it lives in the Presidential Palace in Yogyakarta. In 2014, they declared it part of Indonesia’s national heritage. There was a heist movie about it in 2022 called “Stealing Raden Saleh.”
Standing there in that gallery, still cooling down from my run, I kept staring at Diponegoro’s face. That controlled anger and dignity. This was like a different version of history lesson from school.
Raden Saleh spent years studying in Europe - Holland, Germany, Paris. He learned to paint like the European masters. Then came back and used those exact techniques to challenge the empire’s story.
Prince Diponegoro died in exile in Makassar in 1855, never seeing Java again. Raden Saleh painted this two years later.
I walked out thinking about how complicated everything is. Raden Saleh was educated by colonizers, painted for their courts, and moved in their circles. But he also came from a family that fought for Prince Diponegoro. So where does that put him? All I know is that this is such a complicated tribute from a complicated man.