3 Responses to “Vermeer Impressions”

1. Holland wrote on September 15th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
   
   

   Ok, so I hurried over to see The Milkmaid last Friday night after work, as the Met was open til 9:00pm, and because it was raining I thought it might be a little empty. I’d seen the painting in college in the 80s, but was excited to be able to spend more time with it one on one. First, at the entrance to the exhibit, they have a nice super magnified image of it. Wow, the detail on the bread blew me away at first sight. Then they have a full wall of all Vermeer’s works in scale and in chronological order, which was amusing. I overheard several intersting comments here, ahem! The place was crowded, and I was disappointed that there was no bench across from The Milkmaid. I like to sit and observe usually, but with the crowds, I guess it’s not feasible. So, the blue of her skirt. WOW! It’s like it’s lit from within. I can imagine Vermeer carefully grinding his lapis. The wall behnd her is what I think I liked the best of all, with it’s nailholes, cracks and subtle variations of grey/white light. It is truely sublime. I’m glad Vermeer painted out the painting that origianlly hung on the back wall. It’s a tribute to an artist who can make a plain white wall have so much texture and life.

2. ARech wrote on September 17th, 2009 at 9:34 am
   
   

   At the day of the opening (10th Sept) I was in Delft for a meeting of a working group of the Vermeercentrum.

   I saw a report in the Dutch news (of course, concentrating on the visit of Prince Willem Alexander and Maxima at the opening) so that I had at least a small glimpse to the exhibition. But it seemed to me that the Milkmaid – even as a rather small painting – hangs quite alone on an apparently large wall although I am aware, of course, that the centerpiece of an exhibition – and even of such an outstanding one – is always placed at a central place. But to me she looked rather lost there despite the presence of her five ‘sisters’. But I might err. Although I do wish all visitors of this unique chance of admiring and (if possible at the certainly constant crowd) studying six Vermeers at once all sincere pleasure and many new insights into Vermeer’s unsurpassed art, I do hope at the same time that the thousands of daily foreign visitors of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam won’t be too disappointed about the absence of the so highly treasured Milkmaid during the following three months.

   ARech

3. Maggie wrote on October 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
   
   

   I was lucky enough to be in NYC while the Vermeer exhibit was up. It was incredibly crowded both times I was there, but worth the jostle and bustle.

   I’m an artist, and I’ve recently been studying Vermeer, so this exhibit allowed me to get close to a nice cross section of his work. Afterward, I went to the European painting section and spent a couple hours with the Rembrandts and Hals.

   Thanks for this website. It’s really great.

   Maggie

Leave a Reply