It has to be “the biggest Vermeer fair ever” «kleinezeitung.at

A big Vermeer exhibition is planned: paintings from all over the world are being collected for display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

7:12 PM, December 2, 2021

With loans from many countries, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is preparing for an extensive exhibition of the works of the Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer before. “This is the largest Vermeer exhibition of all time,” the museum said Thursday. The exhibition is scheduled to open in the spring of 2023.

The complete works of the world-famous painter from Delft (1632-1675) are relatively small. Experts assume 37 photos. However, such famous works as “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” include such famous works. An on-demand spokeswoman said the number of photos that could be assembled in the private gallery should be “sent only at a later time”.

At Vermeer’s largest exhibition to date in the Netherlands in 1996, 22 works were shown at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The Rijksmuseum owns four vermilions, including “The Maid with a Milk Jug”. In addition, in 2023 there will be loans from Mauritshuis, a participating organization of the exhibition, from Ireland and the USA. The Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main shares the painting “The Geographer”, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden with the lavishly restored work “Girl Reading a Letter”, which will then be presented for the first time in a museum in the Netherlands.

“We didn’t think it would be possible for so many museums to be willing to borrow their lofts,” said Tako Dibbets, director of the Rijksmuseum, according to the announcement. “Through this exhibition we can show a new generation of painting at the highest level and present the results of the latest research.” It is clear that the presentation of the famous Viennese Vermeer in Amsterdam is still a matter of negotiation: “The Art of Painting” is one of the most important paintings in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.