This falls into the category of "I can't believe we didn't write about it".
In
March we drove to Amsterdam to see the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum,
which gathered together from around the world 27 of the 34 paintings
positively attributed to him. On the blog we skirted around the trip, writing
about meals we ate, sights we saw, and we mentioned the route we took too and
from Amsterdam. We even posted a picture of a Vermeer painting. What we
didn't talk about was the exhibition itself.
We arrived slightly
early at the gate for the special exhibition, but were allowed straight in.
Showing our tickets earned us a paper wristlet each. This was because even
though we had a special entrance we still had to pass security and the
cloakrooms with everybody else.
The exhibition itself wasn't
overcrowded, timed entry working really well. Which is a good thing, because
one thing that being overly familiar with the paintings via TV and
reproductions doesn't prepare you for is how small the paintings are. The
first painting where this became obvious was the very first painting in the
exhibition: View of Delft. I was expecting an almost massive masterwork, but
the painting is 96.5 cm × 115.7 cm (38" × 45½"). Not exactly small, but when
viewed from across the room it's less than imposing. That doesn't detract once
you get up close - it was one of those " I can't breathe properly" moments.
In the same room was The Little Street, which is once again extremely familiar, but full of detail I've never really seen.
The next room held a couple of religious paintings (which didn't overly excite me): Saint Praxedis and a biblical scene of Christ in the House of Mary and Martha. There was also a mythological Diana and her Nymphs, and The Procuress, a painting in a style much more in keeping with what I'd expect is most people's idea of a Vermeer. One thing about these four paintings is that they are quite large (about the size I was expecting all the paintings to be).
After that it all becomes a bit of a blur - so much goodness, but once again so much familiarity. There was a lot of mental "oh! it's that one" going on, and this may mean I ended up paying less attention than I should have. I know I saw the paintings I know and was wowed by the experience, and I would do it again. It just didn't have the impact I was expecting it to have because the images are so familiar and exist everywhere as copies in everyday life.
The layout of the exhibition was interesting - being thematically arranged,
rather than in date order, and there was plenty of space between the
paintings.
Necessary in some places.
One thing Susan and I both noticed is how many of the paintings
contained the same clothing. We assume they came out of the box marked "posh
clothes" in Vermeer's studio, and are actually no indication of the social
standing of the models.
A list of all Vermeer's paintings is here
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paintings_by_Johannes_Vermeer, and we couldn't better the resource from the Rijksmuseum, so here it is:
all the paintings (listed), with all the exhibition notes
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/vermeer/vermeer-exhibition-text
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