Vermeer's girlfriend finally opens the doors of her Bolognese home, Palazzo Fava, to welcome the many visitors who will come to pay homage to her. There are already 120 people who have booked a seat at “Girl with a Pearl Earring. The myth of the Golden Age from Vermeer to Rembrandt, masterpieces from the Mauritshuis”, exhibition underway today in Bologna, but at least as many are expected by 25 May, the final date of yet another successful event by the art historian Marco Goldin.
Who doesn't know by now "Girl with a Pearl Earring", the 44,5 x 39 cm canvas that the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer painted between 1665 and 1666? Her beauty has been celebrated for centuries and has been made more current than ever by a successful book that changed her name (from Girl with a Turban and Girl with a Pearl Earring) and by the film of the same name with Scarlett Johansson. In art, perhaps as in life, everything is suggestion, falling in love, emotion. And this girl never ceases to seduce those who look at her. No matter how beautiful she accompanies or surrounds her, the other masterpieces of the Golden Age and the wonderful rooms of Palazzo Fava frescoed by the Carracci, pride of the Bolognese Baroque.
She is the queen, a modestly dressed girl and her pearl, a regal necklace of improbable dimensions. A jewel that is perhaps a drop of painted glass, an illusion within an illusion. But who would ever object to a diva carrying a fake designer bag? “It doesn't matter if art feeds on myths – comments Goldin – this is our time and we mustn't be afraid to live it. The painting was once famous under the name Girl with a Turban, but it always seemed trivial to me and less attractive than the Girl with a Pearl Earring, which had a worldwide success”. And since art, in the hands of this genius from Treviso, also becomes business, it is worth believing him.
The exhibition has already visited Tokyo, New York, San Francisco and Atlanta. Bologna is the only European headquarters, before returning to The Hague. Today the girl stays up late and stays awake until 2, then from Monday to Thursday Palazzo Fava will close her casket at 20pm, Friday and Sunday at 21pm, and Saturday at 22pm.
The girl alone enjoys an entire room, with constant temperatures and lights, so as not to alter her moon-like skin and her delicacy. She is obviously surrounded by her bodyguards and by systems that guarantee her safety 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, the divine does not sign autographs, but she leaves an indelible mark on anyone who stares at her. Her magic, or rather that of Vermeer, is to attract the spectator into the paintings where he himself precedes him and to a certain extent is present, to discover an unexpected, everyday moment, therefore more real.
The operation certainly has a great economic value, if one considers that the Mauritshuis has covered a large part of the museum's restructuring costs with the sale of the exhibition. But how much does an operation like this cost? "We don't talk about this - comments Goldin - there are top lawyers who have dealt with the agreements". Will the revenues be proportionate? "Less than you think - he replies - because we have contained the ticket price compared to other cities and have smaller halls". The context of Palazzo Fava is the most beautiful imaginable, but perhaps not the best when art is business. Maybe there will be a day when paintings like this will become so attractive that it will take a stadium to hold the visitors. For now, fortunately, approaching them is difficult, rare and precious, but still possible. Those with cultural and worldly appetites therefore hurry up.
The Bologna exhibition is also a little richer than the others and there are 37 paintings on display: a second painting by Vermeer, Diana and her nymphs, but also 4 canvases by Rembrandt and then works from Hals to Ter Borch, from Claesz to Van Goyen, from Van Honthorst to Hobbema, from Van Ruisdael to Steen, in short, the entire century is retraced through the masterpieces of the Mauritshuis. Ad hoc also the catalog on sale for 25 euros. Thirteen euros is the price of the ticket with reservation, which can be purchased on the Linea d'ombra website.
