One of the most important exhibitions of recent years is currently on at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Long sold-out and so eagerly awaited, Vermeer is open, and I had the pleasure of seeing it in March. Anyone who has watched my lecture about the artist would know that I have a soft spot for Vermeer, and his works truly occupy a special place in my art historian heart.
Vermeer is perhaps one of the most enigmatic artists in history, and he continues to captivate us. We know so little about him and so many works of his already small output have been lost. The exhibition at Rijks offers an unprecedented opportunity to see 28 paintings out of the known 37 in one place - a feat never before accomplished and unlikely to be repeated in the near future. Barring The Art of Painting, which Vienna museum refused to lend for unknown reasons, all the major works are present. For the first time, Vermeer’s early works, cityscapes and Girl with a Pearl Earring are reunited under one roof.
Much can be said about the exhibition, and it’s most important to praise the work of curators. With any exhibition of such scale, there is always a danger of overcomplicating the narrative or overshadowing works by adding paintings by other artists and period pieces for comparison. Luckily, in the case of Vermeer, curators refrained from adding unnecessary details and focused solely on the oeuvre of the great master. Each painting is carefully annotated to reveal the most important details and each room has a comprehensive analysis of at least one painting on the wall, pointing out minute details or interesting facts. The result is an informative and educational exhibition without being overwhelming, a quality too often present nowadays.
The first room is dedicated to Little Street and View of Delft allowing the audience to compare the two great extant cityscapes by Vermeer. Though the later one is grander in scale and is renowned for his use of white, the former carries a unique feeling of serenity reminiscent of his later works. Sadly, there was always an incredibly large crowd in the first room, making it impossible to look at the works in detail or at close range.
The next room came as a revelation to me and showed his three earliest extant works, namely Diana and her Companions, The Procuress and Christ in the House of Martha and Mary. This was truly a moment highlighting how important it is to see art with my own eyes in a museum. Diana and her Companions is an incredible painting that carries the same sense of frozen moment as his later works and can be only described as ‘magical’. The composition is perfectly balanced, and the light plays on the characters’ skin juxtapositioning them so well against the night sky. The brushstrokes are also incredibly thin and delicate. Looking at the painting, it is hard to imagine that until recently the sky was painted blue.
Another work that truly engrossed my attention was Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. It is another painting that until fairly recently looked rather different. It carries a perfect compositional balance and almost combines the best of Dutch and Italian traditions. The beautiful rendering of materials and clothing do not steal attention from the overall composition and the play of light. The girl seems completely engrossed in reading and is so subtly reflected in the windowpane.
It would probably be impossible to speak of all the amazing works in this exhibition. I was fortunate to visit whilst Girl with a Pearl Earring was on display as it's due to return to Mauritshuis on March 30th. My key discovery was how different the painting looked from each angle. Not only that, but I found it most beautiful when looking from the right, and from this angle the balance of light and dark was incredibly delicate and perfect. Finally, another painting that I have long awaited to see was Woman Holding a Balance which proved to be smaller than I always making its rendering even more impressive but it no way less magical. It is perhaps one of my favourite works by the artist.
It remains incredible that we know almost nothing about Vermeer and there are almost no clues to the identity of his sitters. The curators conducted extensive research in preparation for the exhibition and did shed new light on potential Vermeer’s patrons. However, no groundbreaking information has been unearthed. Interestingly, the exhibition also includes a few works which attributions are still debated by Vermeer scholars.
I would go as far to say that Vermeer is one of the best exhibitions I visited in a long time. Surely, the chance to see so many of his works in one place is astonishing in itself, but the curators also did a tremendous job, truly celebrating the great artist. I would love to say that I recommend that anyone visits, but sadly the museum has recently announced that all tickets are sold out now and there would be no new releases. Nonetheless, those of us living in London are lucky enough to be able to see three of Vermeer’s works at the National Gallery.
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