A unique window into the world of Vermeer

Posted on 19th May 2023

With the exhibition at the Rijksmuseum museum sold out for months, this film is now the only chance to see the largest grouping of the artist’s work ever assembled. It’s hard to argue that the experience is better than seeing the real paintings, but there’s a lot to said for this leisurely examination of nearly every painting he produced, if only to avoid fighting your way to the front of what will be a very crowded showing in Amsterdam.

What we get instead for company is a host of curators and critics, ruminating over the pictures that is both illuminating and thought provoking.  We get a brisk run-through of Vermeer’s history – not that we know much about him – after which each painting is discussed in turn. The film leaves enough space for the viewer to listen intently or sit back and simply take in the astonishing detail often missed when navigating the practical concerns of a visit. Some of the technical details presented here are fascinating – how light is as important as colour, layering different shades as he reworked the paint on the canvas. The film even speculates on his use of camera obscura as an explanation of his preternatural understanding of focus. The jury is still out whether the theory holds up, but the effect is astonishing.

What emerges is the narrative strength of his work, be that in the locations, the fabrics or the props. Most tellingly, it is the unknowable subjects that sit at the heart of the commentators’ incisive analysis. There is something uniquely haunting about his work that perhaps only Vilhelm Hammershoi and Edward Hopper have come close to replicating. Vermeer’s pictures are like miniature movies just waiting for the medium to be discovered.