I am recently back from the Netherlands and part of the reason for going was to take my wife to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. She had gone to Amsterdam in 1994 (long before I met her) to meet with someone from the museum library for a paper she was doing for grad school. But, sometime between the time she made arrangements to go and actually getting there, the museum had to close for asbestos remediation. And in 1994, there really were not efficient ways to find out that a museum in another country was suddenly closed. 1
But in 2023, we were both fortunate to be able to visit the Rijksmuseum. And even better, we managed to go at a time when one of the most special of special exhibitions was going on. And which artist was enthralling the art world? Johannes Vermeer, a Dutch painter who passed away in 1675.
The exhibition was an attempt to get as many of Vermeer’s 34 to 37 (estimates vary) known existing works on display in one place at the same time. The Rijskmuseum succeeded in getting 28 of them, although the number was 27 when we got there. (More on that later.)
My theory on buying tickets for this special exhibition consisted of me saying to myself during one lunch hour “Oh, I guess I should buy those tickets now while I remember.”
Fortuitously, that lunch hour (January 3 according to my email) was very close to the day when the tickets first went on sale. I scored a pair for Sunday April 2 with a 9:30 am entry into the museum. The tickets went fast. The museum added extra times just for the Vermeer exhibit past its regular hours, but by February 11, all of the tickets through the closing date of June 4 were sold out.
Did the exhibit disappoint? No it did not.
There were just nine small unassuming galleries with paintings like the one above. Works of art that take you back to a time and then make you think about just what is going on.
My personal favorite Vermeer is “The Geographer” a masterpiece (in my opinion as I have no art training) in the use of light and color and way ahead of its time in the art world.
Like much of Vermeer’s work, the subject of the work is staring at something we cannot see. We don’t know what this geographer is working on. What is it about the world he wants to describe? Why is he dressed in a blue robe with orange trim?
My wife’s favorite Vermeer is “Woman Holding a Balance” which normally resides at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. This work shows a woman holding a balance, but she doesn’t have anything in it. There is a depiction of the Last Judgment behind, so the Catholic themes are there for people. But critics still disagree as to what Vermeer was trying to tell us.
The most well-known Vermeer was only on display at the Rijksmuseum through March 31. That would be the “Girl with the Pearl Earring.” On April 1, the painting went back to its home museum, Mauritshuis, in The Hague. And on April 3, we took a day trip to The Hague (or Den Haag as the Dutch call it.) The Mauritshuis is a much smaller museum than the Rijksmuseum (most musems are smaller than the Rijksmuseum) and it’s privately run and it could only part with its superstar painting for so long. But in the end found, we found her.
In this much smaller museum, we had more time to read the didactics2 by the artwork. The painting is a "tronie" which is a term to describe an idealized portrait of a face. So apparently, the painting does not depict a real person.3 The painting was not considered an important work until the 20th Century and only in the last 30-40 years has this become the Dutch version of the Mona Lisa.4
It’s hard for me, a guy who is usually writing about trivia about visiting states or weird tiebreakers in the NHL, to describe how amazing it was to get the chance to see so many Vermeers at once.
None of the paintings are overly large. The collection of the work just grows and grows on you as you see more of it. You can either in the future go to see a Vermeer (in the U.S., you can see them in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Frick Collection or in Washington at the National Gallery of Art. Or you can find the one stolen from the Gardner Museum of Boston back in 1990. Or you can find a book about Vermeer to read. Or, be like me, and just happen to get very lucky to get so many at once.
The whole concept of “National Lampoon’s Vacation” wouldn’t work today because you’d probably get a push notification from Walley World that it was closed. Or you would have bought tickets before you left.
That’s what those things are called at museums. I don’t know why, but I’ve heard enough people use the term that I just politely nod that I know what it is.
No, it is not Scarlett Johannson. Also, we don’t definitively know what Vermeer looked like, but probably not Colin Firth.
Unlike the Louvre, the Mauritshuis has about 0.01% of the daily attendance. It’s very easy to see and you can walk right up to it.
Incredibly jealous. It’s been my dream to go to the Rijksmuseum since I was 12. I bought one of their museum catalogues from a garage sale for a dime and have it still. 👍🏻 Thanks for the review.
Well, I'm inspired! How great that you got to see these magnificent paintings.