The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is organizing a Johannes Vermeer exhibition for the first time in its history in collaboration with the Mauritshuis next spring. The museum announced this in a press release on Thursday morning.
With loans from all over the world, the Rijksmuseum promises, it will be the largest Vermeer exhibition ever. The Rijksmuseum itself owns four works by Vermeer, including The Milkmaid and The Street. In the press release, the museum announced a number of loans. Including the Girl with the pearl (Mauritshuis, The Hague), the geographer (Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main), Writing woman with maid (The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), Woman with the scales (The National Gallery of Art, Washington) and Woman reading a letter at the open window (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) will be on display in Amsterdam. The latter painting has never before been exhibited in a Dutch museum.
The last major Vermeer exhibition was held in the Netherlands twenty-five years ago. This exhibition in the Mauritshuis (1996), with 22 paintings by the Delft master, attracted more than 450,000 visitors at the time, making it the most visited exhibition in the history of the museum.
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Small oeuvre
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) lived and worked in Delft. His work is best known for his tranquil, introverted indoor scenes, his unprecedented use of bright, colorful light and his convincing illusionism. In contrast to Rembrandt, Vermeer left a remarkably small oeuvre with about 35 paintings.
There is currently an exhibition in Dresden with works by Vermeer following the restoration of his Woman reading a letter at the open window. This exhibition includes two works by Vermeer, The Street and the Woman reading a letter in blue, on loan from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Parallel to the Vermeer exhibition in the Rijksmuseum, Museum Prinsenhof Delft is organizing the exhibition from 10 February Vermeer’s Delft. In this exhibition, for the first time, the cultural-historical context in which Vermeer’s practice flourished is central to an exhibition. Works by Delft contemporaries are displayed alongside Delft pottery, Delft carpets, archival materials and egodocuments.
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