Vermeer exhibition in Amsterdam

The milkmaid, 1658/61

In the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam there is a beautiful exhibition about Johannes Vermeer, one of the great masters of the Dutch 17th century. 

He was born in 1632 and died in 1675 in the small town of Delft. His parents owned an inn, but their son became a painter. 

He was a very slow painter because he payed so much attention to details. We do not have a lot of his works today, only 37. Of those 37, 28 can be seen in Amsterdam at the moment. There are works from museum and collections from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, the US and Japan and of course several Dutch museums. 

The exhibition is sold out completely already, so no more tickets are available. We bought ours back in early November because we really wanted to see this, but half of the country also wants to see it. It was very crowded, especially in the first rooms. But later on, the crowds spread a little and that was better. At least we could see the paintings!

I love Vermeer and his calm, light rooms. There is a sense of quiet beauty in his paintings that really speaks to me. He is well known for the use of light and this was beautiful to see in his works. He usually paints women in a room, writing a letter, or reading one, playing music etc. These are very intimate portraits and you feel like you are in the room with them. 

Music interrupted, 1658/61

Woman with pearl necklace 1662/65

He did paint some other works, with a couple, or a professional and some religious works as well.

The geographer 1668/69

Christ at the house of Maria and Martha 1654/56

We loved how Vermeer was able to show the light on fabric, you could almost feel the different fabrics, so very beautiful. 

Girl with a pearl earring1665/67

In short, we absolutely enjoyed this exhibition. Of course it would have been nicer if there were not that many people, but we are grateful we were able to see all these beautiful works together. 

It was hard to make photographs, but these were the best I could do.