Johannes Vermeer

I remember an art school trip to Germany in the late 80s. In a museum in Berlin i remember sitting on a bench in a rather dark room watching enchanted a Johannes Vermeer painting. Today i went through the complete catalogue and saw there are two Vermeer paintings in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie: The Glass of Wine and Woman with a Pearl Necklace. I especially like the latter one. The white washed wall fills the center of the painting. Curtains on the left, the table at the bottom, a chair to the right with a girl staring at herself in the mirror opposite holding a pearl necklace in front of her.

I also do remember drawing the Girl with a Pearl Earring at art school. Together with Whitney Houston and myself. This was in the second year at art school in 1987-1988.

After the time i said goodbye to the art world, in 1994, Vermeer did stand out as a truly magical painter to me. I don’t like every painting. Only a few weeks ago i saw The Guitar Player in the Kenwood House in London. The Rembrandt painting Portrait of the Artist hanging in the same room is so much better. But i have to say, even though i appreciate Rembrandt and love some of his paintings, they never touched me as the paintings of Vermeer have.

Johannes Vermeer, 1632 – 1675. He died when he was 43 years old. Young by today’s standards. Born in the midst of the Dutch Golden Age. I should read more about this period. I’m pretty sure i did learn a bit about this period at school, but it has faded away.

I have only seen his paintings here in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam and The Hague. I have seen the ones in Berlin and London as well. But that is it. I do hope to see all of them: New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Edinburgh, Vienna, Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin. This gives me a good list to start traveling more.

Below i have a couple of the best paintings. I know Vermeer deserves more text than i could ever write. Other people are much better in describing his techniques, the time in which he live and his paintings. I simply love to watch the paintings themselves.

A Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window
c. 1657 – 1659
Oil on canvas
83 x 64.5 cm. (32 3/4 x 25 3/8 in.)
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery), Dresden

The Little Street
c. 1657 – 1661
Oil on canvas
54.3 x 44 cm. (21 3/8 x 17 3/8 in.)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

View of Delft
c. 1660-1661
Oil on canvas
98.5 x 117.5 cm. (38 3/4 x 46 1/4 in.)
Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, The Hague

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter
c. 1662 – 1665
Oil on canvas
46.5 x 39 cm. (18 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Woman Holding a Balance
c. 1662-1665
Oil on canvas
42.5 x 38 cm. (16 3/4 x 15 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
c. 1662 – 1665
Oil on canvas
45.7 x 40.6 cm. (18 x 16 in.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Woman with a Pearl Necklace
c. 1662 – 1665
Oil on canvas
55 x 45 cm. (21 5/8 x 17 3/4 in.)
Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Girl with a Pearl Earring
c. 1665-1667
Oil on canvas
46.5 x 40 cm. (18 1/4 x 15 1/4 in.)
Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Geographer
c. 1668-1669
Oil on canvas
53 x 46.6 cm. (20 7/8 x 18 1/4 in.)
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Lacemaker
c. 1669-1671
Oil on canvas (attached to panel)
24.5 x 21 cm. (9 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.)
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Love Letter
c. 1667-1670
Oil on canvas
44 x 38.5.cm. (17 3/8 x 15 1/8 in.)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

PS. When i posted this, i set it in the World category. But this evening, while i was watching Masterchef on the BBC, i suddenly realized Beauty is so much better. It is different from the other posts in that category, but i don’t mind. The meanings of these category names are subject to change. Beauty!