Closer to Vermeer

And so the Rijksmuseum heaves a huge sigh of relief. 2 weeks ago the doors closed on their most successful exhibition ever in terms of ticket sales and exhibition catalogues. Over 650,000 tickets were sold to see the Vermeer show, and if you include the museum's members and their even more fortunate guests, an even higher number of people managed to see the exhibition in the four months it ran. Besides the curatorial team, significant thanks are owed to the Rijks' staff members & security teams who gave up their evening hours to give as many as possible the experience of a lifetime. It's likely that 28 Vermeer paintings will never again hang side by side and the exhibition earned rave reviews.

To say I was excited to see the show would be an understatement. I was fortunate enough to pick up a combined ticket of a 1 hour lecture: Closer to Vermeer prior to visiting the exhibition. The lecture was a fascinating talk that guided the audience on not simply what we were about to see, but how to look at it. So much of art is in the seeing, and having a little more context & guidance than the painting labels can make such a difference. For me it meant really looking at the two paintings of Delft, the view of the town especially which I might ordinarily have dismissed in favour of the interior scenes. Yet here was clear decision after decision that tells us something more about a man that has remained shrouded in mystery for centuries. Why did he choose to paint the city of Delft at 8am before all the ships entered the harbour and the hustle & bustle that made the trading town so successful had even begun? Vermeer chose to paint a city waking up, the city he called home and potentially never left. The angle too is unusual, this could not have been painted in plein air, only in the studio, but if Vermeer was working to a sketch where & how did he stand to get this view? It's no surprise that many of the show's curators choose this painting as their favourite.

The lecture also pointed out the lack of detail in Vermeer's paintings. He suggests much more than initial glances believe; in many ways the closer you look, the less you see. The Pearl Earrings are largely obscured in shadow with a white blob of paint doing a lot of the heavy lifting in suggesting the pearl reflective surface. It's a similar story with the seeded loaf of bread in the Milk Maid, look more closely and it's largely a myriad of colourful dots suggesting the texture, rather than precise strokes for exact detail.

The more time you spend with Vermeer, the more questions you're likely to have. It's this sense of mystery that continues to drive a love and admiration for Vermeer that's unrivalled by other painters. It's striking how little we actually know about him - we don't know where he learned to paint and more curiously we don't even know what he looked like. Is there a self-portrait hiding in The Procuress? No one can say for sure, but the knowing smile of the figure taunts us all the same. With c.37 known Vermeer paintings, there's also very few of his works to see and authentications of certain paintings remain hotly contested.

The Procuress (cropped)- it's suggested that the man on the far left is Vermeer as he stares directly at the audience. (Image from the Rijksmuseum website).

The other thing that's uniquely Vermeer is the sense of stillness in his paintings. So often we feel like we're interrupting a crucial moment. In the Woman Reading a Letter she stands transfixed by the words on the small piece of paper in her hands. Is it good news or bad? Likewise in the Milk Maid she's pouring the milk with such concentration. There's a tranquillity to Vermeer's paintings - one that we know must have run counter to the domestic and city life around him. Vermeer had fifteen children, four which died very young, his wife would have been pregnant for much of their marriage and we also know his mother-in-law lived with them for a while. This was not a quiet house for painting! As such it's curious that Vermeer paints such stillness: these aren't action packed scenes, even the music lessons appear quiet and intimate. It's a mood the Rijksmuseum wanted to respect through restricted ticket sales, but personally I felt didn't come through.

There were too many people and whilst huddling around a painting together could have been communally rewarding instead it was a (frustratingly) patient experience waiting for people to finish leaning forward and taking all their photos before you could actually see the small canvases. The Prado in Madrid prevents all photography, it would have been a bold call from the Rijks to follow suit but one I wish they had made. Vermeer's works are small but mighty, they deserve our full attention. Now, without being a hypocrite, I did discreetly take photographs for this review, but I wouldn't have been sad had the rules been different and also the photos are poor substitutes for the real thing.

The exhibition feels quite lightly curated, there isn't a heavy narrative to guide you around. Given how much research stands behind this exhibition and is wonderfully detailed in the catalogue, it's a clear decision to let the paintings do the talking. The wall colourings change shade as you move thematically (and somewhat chronologically) through Vermeer's works. The room showcasing the paintings with Letters was a particular highlight, but I also enjoyed the curatorial decision to hang the Woman with a Pearl Necklace opposite the Woman Holding a Balance. There's a moral dialogue happening between them on wealth and vanity. There are recurring emblems like the Spanish chairs which we know Vermeer owned, and the yellow morning jacket with fur trim that appear in several paintings, but there are also differences - look closely and every woman has a slightly different hairstyle. Perhaps having so many daughters influenced Vermeer's works in more ways than we realise!

Which brings us on to the women. Vermeer painted only a handful of men and when contemporaries painted overtly sexualised and promiscuous images of women, Vermeer gives us elegant, refined and beguiling women. Some of Vermeer's paintings, especially the musical lessons, may elude to sexual relationships but they invoke our intrigue. These small women in their homes, with their hats and the jewellery are a constant source of curiosity and affection. They are beautiful and unique. Whilst other painters have similar interior scenes, none can match Vermeer's composition, gentleness and exceptional use of colour.

I saw this exhibition in April and have spent the weeks pondering my response to it. In some ways it's a muted reaction - I wasn't initially blown away by the experience and I put it down to having unrealistic expectations and too many people in the exhibition space. However, the more I reflect on it, the more I appreciate the show. The value for me was standing on the same spot and looking around. For a few hours, it was me & Vermeer - just Vermeer. There were no other artists, no other paintings. Like Vermeer may have closed his studio door and escaped the world around him to paint, so too did I in viewing his works. The Vermeer exhibition will stay with me as a treasured memory but for those of you who didn't see it - a quiet moment in front of any Vermeer will give a comparable experience. Getting Closer to Vermeer is taking the time to sit with him. And for the story-seekers among you, exhibition catalogue is well worth the read.