Ongoing and Upcoming Vermeer-Related Events

last update: June 10, 2023

Close to Vermeer (Dicht bij Vermeer) comes to American theatres

CLOSE TO VERMEER
Directed by Suzanne Raes
DOCMAKERS

For more information about tickets and viewing scedule in the United States, click here

Click here for an (English) interview with the director and writer Suzanne Raes

Press kit

USA CINEMA (June 2023)

WATCH NOW!

WATCH NOW!
(England only)

In Close to Vermeer, award-winning director Suzanne Raes gives us a unique insight into the realization of the largest Vermeer exhibition ever. She films Rijksmuseum curators Gregor Weber and Pieter Roelofs and conservators Abbie Vandivere and Anna Krekeler in their mission to shine a new light on Johannes Vermeer. For although The Milkmaid and Girl with a Pearl Earring are world-famous, we know little about the painter himself. No self-portraits, no letters, no notes; a small oeuvre is all that the Dutch Master left behind.

This fascinating documentary shows everything from the quiet diplomacy required to get the Vermeers to the Netherlands and the new knowledge gained by scanning the paintings layer by layer, to the shocking world news that one work may not be by Vermeer after all. Slowly we discover how Vermeer was able to depict reality so differently from his contemporaries. But above all, Close to Vermeer shows the infectious love of the curators and other protagonists for Vermeer’s art. As Weber lovingly puts it, "A good exhibition should change your view of the world. Vermeer can really do that."

Suzanne Raes  studied Cultural Studies in Amsterdam and began her career as a researcher and chief editor for various television programs. Since 2001 she has worked as an independent director of creative documentaries on subjects such as illegal cleaners, old activists and artists. She makes accessible and engaging films that are screened worldwide and have a long life even after broadcast.

CLOSE TO VERMEER is a Docmakers production in co-production with NTR, supported by CoBO, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive, the Netherlands Film Fund, Fonds 21

Reviews

"Can’t Get Enough Vermeer? A New Documentary Reveals the Behind-the-Scenes Drama of Planning the Rijksmuseum’s Historic Exhibition"
Sarah Cascone (Artnet News - June 2, 2023
<https://news.artnet.com/art-world/close-to-vermeer-documentary-behind-the-scenes-rijksmuseum-exhibition-2313652>

"Close to Vermeer: The Next Best Thing to Being There"
Liz Braun (Original Cin - June 1, 2023)
<https://www.original-cin.ca/posts/2023/6/1/close-to-vermeer-the-next-best-thing-to-being-there>

"Close to Vermeer Review: The Question of Authorship: When is a Vermeer painting really a Vermeer?"
Pat Mullen (Point of View Magazine - June 2, 2023)
<https://povmagazine.com/close-to-vermeer-review-the-question-of-authorship/>

"Close to Vermeer, BBC4 — behind the scenes of a landmark show" (Financial Times - May 30, 2023)
Dan Einav
<https://www.ft.com/content/7e735fbf-78f5-4cd7-bf68-5b0b27b7b350>

"Close to Vermeer" (Spectrum Culture - May 31, 2023)
Pat Padua
<https://spectrumculture.com/2023/05/30/close-to-vermeer-review/>

"Close to Vermeer" (Roger Egbert.com - May 26, 2023)
Sheila O'Malley
<https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/close-to-vermeer-movie-review-2023>

"Little Is Known About Vermeer, but the Guy Is a Rock Star" (The New York Sun - May 26, 2023)
Mario Naves
<https://www.nysun.com/article/little-is-known-about-vermeer-but-the-guy-is-a-rock-star>

"Close to Vermeer uncovers the painter's mysteries"
Cassandra Bauer (Film Obsessive - May 24, 2023)
<https://filmobsessive.com/film/film-analysis/film-genres/documentaries/close-to-vermeer-uncovers-the-painters-mysteries/>

"'Close to Vermeer': The 17th-Century Artist Remains a Mystery" (Bright - May 22, 2023)
Micchael Clark
<https://www.theepochtimes.com/documentary-review-close-to-vermeer-the-17th-century-artist-remains-a-mystery_5282833.html>

"Close to Vermeer" (Eye for Film - 25 May 2023)
Jennie Kermode
<https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/close-to-vermeer-2023-film-review-by-jennie-kermode>

A new look at Vermeer's life, his use of the camera obscura and his ties to the Jesuit community in Delft

Johannes Vermeer: Faith, Light and Reflection
Gregor J.M. Weber
2023
<https://www.rijksmuseumshop.nl/nl/johannes-vermeer.-faith-light-and-reflection>

Little is known about the personality of Johannes Vermeer, one of the most famous Dutch painters of the 17th century. We do know that he married the Catholic Catharina Bolnes, whose family was closely associated with the Jesuit community in Delft. In this book, Gregor J.M. Weber, former head of visual arts at the Rijksmuseum, shows that Vermeer himself actually pursued a Catholic lifestyle. The relationship between the artistic ambitions of the young Vermeer and his Catholic surroundings is also discussed. Vermeer's unique treatment of light, perception and perspective is examined and linked to the Jesuits' special interest in the camera obscura, the instrument of light and vision par excellence. With his research, Weber places Vermeer's person and art in a new context, which until now has only been touched upon in passing.

New study of Vermeer's architectural paintings

Delft: en de Delftse Topografie (Vermeer and the Delft Topography; Dutch with English summary)
Wim Weve
with numerous diagrams and 142 color and black and white images
2023
<https://wbooks.com/winkel/kunst/kunst-oude-kunst/vermeer-en-de-delftse-topografie/>

Wim Weve has extensively studied Vermeer's View of Delft and The Little Street with from a rigorous architectural/historical point of view and discovered new interesting aspects. For example, the View of Delft turns out to be , in fact, an accurate view of that city. Unlike previous hypotheses, Weve demonstrates that Vermeer did not alter or distort any buildings within the painting and correctly depicted the bridge between the city gates.

Moreover, Weve, shows that the house with the stepped gable of The Little Street must have been based on an existing house. Frequently assumed architectural 'errors' can be explained on architectural grounds. To the right of the entrance, the house must have had an inner wall that separated a side room from the front house. Because of the location of that wall, the window on the right is slightly narrower than the window on the left. Through the open doorway, however, Vermeer does not show an inner wall. The artist combined various architectural elements in an architecturally impossible way, probably as a visual counterweight to the house with the stepped gable on the right.

Vermeer retrospective catalog

VERMEER
Gregor J M Weber (Editor),  Pieter Roelofs (Editor)
2023
200 color illustrations

• Rijksmuseum (English) - €35.00 <https://www.rijksmuseumshop.nl/en/detail/index/sArticle/1807>
• Amazon.com (English) - <https://www.amazon.com/Vermeer-Gregor-J-M-Weber/dp/0500026726/ref=sr_1_2?crid=127Z72FU7TL28&keywords=vermeer&qid=1677084487&sprefix=vermeer%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-2>

Published to accompany the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, this is the first major study of Vermeer’s life and work in many years.

Johannes Vermeer’s intensely quiet and enigmatic paintings invite the viewer into a private world, often prompting more questions than answers. Who is being portrayed? Are his subjects real or imagined? What is shown on the map on the wall? What news does a letter bring?

Seemingly unaware of the viewer, each subject―the milkmaid,the guitar player, the girl with a pearl earring―occupies an intimate and private space. Vermeer’s paintings, with their enigmatic interiors and masterful handling of natural light, bring us into a closed, internal world, but with many tantalizing points of contact with the outside world. What details do we know of Vermeer’s personal life? How did it affect his painting style?

This is the first major study of Vermeer’s life and work for many years, bringing together diverse strands of his professional and private life in Delft in the seventeenth century and examining important research that has revealed new ways of looking at his paintings.

Accompanying a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, this volume sheds light on every one of Vermeer’s known paintings, thirty-five in all, with a wide selection of contextual illustrations, commentaries, and

Essential Vermeer goes YouTube!

After months of struggling to tame the formidable learning curve of producing video content, I've launched my latest intuitive: YouTube channel called My Take: Vermeer’s Paintings One by One.

So why on earth did it ever come to this?

Well, in the last twenty years I’ve done my very best to present the most thorough and balanced view of Vermeer’s art on the Essential Vermeer capitalizing on the immense and largely unexplored potential of the internet in regards to art historical issues. One of my top priorities has been objectivity.

However, in recent years I've felt a growing need to communicate my own thoughts and feelings tempered by years of experience as a painter and ordinary person in front of extraordinary art.

The most efficient and effective means to communicate highly personalized content of this type is, I believe, via the video. It has the added advantage of allowing me to express myself with absolute freedom while maintaining the boundaries between the contents Essential Vermeer website and my videos clearly demarked.

I’ve just uploaded the first two videos: one on the Girl with a Flute, which the National Gallery of Art has officially demoted, and the other, A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals in the New York Leiden Collection.

Both presented quite a few thorns.

Have a look and let me know your reactions in the comments.

My Take: Girl with a Pearl Earring
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oU6FCr6K34>

My Take: Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
<https://youtu.be/15PJ_5WQECo>

My Take: Young Woman Seated at the Virginals
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otelenp40oA>

My Take: Girl with a Flute
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67DFAYyvOE8>

up-to-date research by the most distinguished international Vermeer scholars. Vermeer will be required reading for lovers of the most admired of all Dutch seventeenth-century painters and one of the world’greatest

Essential Vermeer Survey — initiated September 19, 2021