Meditating in the face of suspended time in Johannes Vermeer’s canvases requires haste, at least upstream. The contrast between the luminous tranquility of the paintings of the « Sphinx de Delft » and the effervescence that his retrospective provokes in Amsterdam evokes more the most violently Caravaggio tenebrism than his subtle palette, his solar yellows, his clear and silky blues.
A month and a half before the opening, on February 10, of this exhibition-event at the Rijskmuseum, more than 100,000 tickets had already been reserved. After the inauguration, the last slots were disappearing at full speed and the 400,000 seats were all gone three days later! « There are no more tickets available » – no more tickets available… At least until tomorrow. The museum must put on sale, on the Internet, additional entries (it refuses to communicate the exact number), by adding nights to the two evenings already established on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Boxes for 28 paintings
The exhibition ” of the century “ according to some newspapers, met with dazzling success, because the two curators, Pieter Roelofs and Gregor J. M. Weber, achieved an unprecedented feat: bringing together 28 paintings out of the 36 or 37 identified as being by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) . The Dutch artist, no doubt a perfectionist, produced little, only two or three paintings a year, and died young, at 43.
The two curators have been working on this project for eight years. The Frick Collection in New York, under renovation, has given them its consent to release its three paintings for the first time in its history. The Mauritshuis in The Hague has agreed to part with its Vermeers, including the famous View of Delft with “its little section of yellow wall” praised by Marcel Proust, and his Mona Lisa, the lovely Girl with a Pearl Earringbut for only a few weeks (the beautiful leaves at the end of March).
With its own four masterpieces, the Rijks might therefore count on almost ten pieces. Enough to convince other institutions, in Washington, New York, Paris or Tokyo, to follow the movement.
But how to showcase just 28 paintings, often small in size, at the risk of them appearing to float in large spaces? The curators and the French agency Wilmotte & Associés, in charge of the scenography, have chosen to design successive cases, with large curtains revealing for example a single jewel, such as the famous milkmaid or The Reader at the Window. In this canvas from Dresden and dating from 1657-1658, another green hanging creates a distance between the painted scene – this young woman immersed in her reading, her face bathed in the sun – and the spectators.
A very low limit gauge has been set, no more than ten visitors in front of a work, i.e. nearly 300 at the same time in the exhibition. In front of each canvas, an arc of a circle keeps the spectators regarding 1 meter away. An echo of ” barrier “ that Vermeer himself often puts in his compositions: a table adorned with a rich carpet, an open door…
points of light
Small miracle, by waiting a little, everyone ends up finding themselves in front of the work, almost face to face. And can admire details that no smartphone or catalog will ever render: the points of light on the bread of The milk girlthe vagueness of certain frizzy hair, a spectral reflection on a tile, the shine of the nails padding the seats, the pink lips slightly moistened with The Girl in the Red Hat… An inner, intimate life, a religious faith (that of Protestant Vermeer converted to Catholicism) or a faith in painting, suddenly so close and yet unattainable.
“Vermeer”, until June 4 at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands), rijksmuseum.nl
