Vermeer ...
Quote of the week
“Vermeer found a life’s work in the corner of a room.”
Irwing Greenberg
Hello friends,
On Saturday I started my trip towards Amsterdam and the “once in a lifetime” exhibtion of Vermeer’s work. Kastrup, the Copenhagen airport was calm, but the flight control was out of staff and that caused a few confusions. Arriving at the airport I got a message that we leave from gate A6. I quietly sat down with a cappucino and a book, until I got a message that the gate was changed to E5. That is a 15 minute walk to the other side of the airport. I set out, and halfway to terminal E, I got another message that the new gate is A20. Just to turn around. The gate was full of people, but on the board it said Air France flight to Paris. It was waiting for a new slot to start. Full confusion, nobody knew what was going on. At the time of the initital departure, we got at message that the gate was moved to A15. At least the same terminal. We were an hour late nevertheless, but arrived safely in Amsterdam. I took the train to the Central station where Martin was waiting for me. Ready to meet Amsterdam and two exciting exhibitions; Vermeer and van Gogh.
Preparing for Vermeer
The Sunday was spent in splendid isolation. Martin went into town to visit a few museums I was not interested in. I spent the morning with my blog and writing, and then took a walk in the big park behind the camping. A relaxing day.
On Monday morning we bought a 3-day ticket for the public transport and went downtown. We aimed at the Hermitage Amsterdam museum which temporarily hosted several exhibitions due to renovation of various museums. I especially enjoyed the history of Netherland/Amsterdam which told the story from the Golden Age of the 17th century up until today. There was also an exhibition of Rembrandt and his contemporaries, part of the Leiden Collection.
The Leiden Collection was founded by Thomas S. Kaplan and Daphne Recanati Kaplan. Kaplan is an American billionaire businessman, philantropist and art collector, and the world’s largest collector of Rembrandt’s works. It is one of the largest and most important collections of seventeenth-century Dutch art in private hands. It contains more than 175 paintings and drawings, biographies and essays. The couple is very generous with lending their art to exhibitions, of which we are very grateful. Rembrandt was born in Leiden, the Netherlands, and that is why the collection has this name. It was interesting to see how Rembrandt, himsself inspired by other painters, but also inspired a lot of followers. In seeing these works of art you could see the influence of Rembrandt, but also discover new painters and their works, developing in different directions.
The one and only Vermeer
The big day had come. I had waited for this for three months, and it was with great anticipation we went up at 7 a.m. to be in time for our time slot between 9 to 9.15 am. Not to be late and miss the chance to see this exhibition. We decided to have breakfast downtown, and found a wonderful little coffee shop, Back to Black, where we had a cappucino, youghurt with granola and berries, pain au chocolat and a banana bread. One has to have a full stomach to manage a several hours in a museum.
We walked over to the Rijksmuseum, a fantastic, imposing building, so big it seems to stretch over several blocks. Waiting in the line and finally getting in. Following the instructions of leaving your jacket and over sized bags in the lockers, slowly walking up the marble stairs and enter into the rooms of the exhibition.
Each room is dark, with dark walls displaying information on Vermeer and his paintings. Only few paintings were displayed in each gallery. The paintings were hung in chronological order, giving you an idea how his skill developed over the years.
Starting with two of his most perfect paintings: A View of Delft and The Little Street. Already here the room was full and you have to await your time to be able to come near the paintings. These two are some of my favourites. A View of Delft is a masterpiece in lighting and shadows, providing a picture of how Delft looked at the time. As regards The Little Street it is not entirely known wether it is Vermeer’s own house or another one. Under the link is a review of the book that follow available clues on where it stood and who lived there.
We slowly went with the flow through the galleries. His earlier paintings were with religious motives, and was probably aimed for that circle. He converted to catholicism when he married his wife Catharina Bolnes. Each gallery had a different theme, like music, letters, domestic life. Domestic chores are his master pieces. He gives us a look into his time, how the Netherlands reached out to discover new worlds. With symbols he tells a great story, all hidden in his, as it seems, domestic situations.
I think we are all familiar with Tracy Chevallier’s The Girl With the Pearl Earring telling a story around this painting. It was included in the exhibition from the beginning, but from 1 April it went back to Martinshuis museum in Den Haag. Luckily for us, we saw it there last year. Otherwise, one of his most famous paintings is the Milk Maid, pouring milk into a bowl, possibily to prepare a bread pudding. Somehow he manages to give the impression that we see the milk flowing from the canister to the bowl, by highlighting the white paint. It is amazing.
Once at the end, I went back to the beginning to view the paintings one more time, especially some of my favourites. It was a fantastic possibility to be able to see 27 of his 37 paintings that have survived. It was crowded, you had to be patient to be able to take a photo of the paintings without a head in front of it. That is why the photos are as they are.
To end the visit to the Rijskmuseum we took a small tour to the honour gallery, where you can see some of the best painters of the museum. We took another look at Rembrand’s amazing painting The Night Watch. It was under restauration so it was not possible to come too close …
… just a little bit.
The Maritime Museum
Leaving the Rijksmuseum we decided to go to the Maritime Museum. It was really worth the visit, especially for me who am writing, or trying to write, a novel set in the end of the 17th century, where I have a Dutch adventurer and captain of an East India ship as a protagonist. They even have a real ship to visit which gave me an idea of what it looked like. Furthermore, a very interesting cartography section. It is so interesting to see old maps, and how people in the 16th and 17th centuries saw the world.
End of the day
Totally exhausted we returned to our camping and found a small Italian restaurant to end the day with a good dinner and a glass of wine. Tired, but satisfied, after a day full of interesting things, we slept very well.
The next day we went to the van Gogh museum, but that is something for next week.
The Blog
Only one blog post this week, and that is a review of Daphne du Maurier’s The Parasites. Enjoy.
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
This is another I'd been saving. Oh my! I would have loved that exhibition. Vermeer has always been a favorite. I have two "Vermeers" in my house! One is a needlepoint of the Milkmaid that my mother did and when I finally saw the real painting at the Rijksmuseum years ago, it was like seeing a dear friend. The other is a small oil "forgery" of the Pearl Earring. A friend of my dad's wanted to learn to paint like the masters -- mixing the paints and colors much as they did (as possible) and painting their work. He gave my mom his small canvas version, which I think is quite magnificent. I'd love to see the real deal! I presume you've been to Delft to the VanGogh Center there. It doesn't have any originals, unfortunately. He didn't have all that many and they've been scooped up by the larger museums. But it's a fascinating walk through his times and how he painted. If you've never been, it's worth a visit. (And they have a good gift shop with lots of books!)