Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: 28 works for the largest exhibition ever staged

In the run-up to the exhibition, a team of leading curators, conservators and scientists worked closely to conduct new research on Vermeer's paintings using the latest technology available. The insights gained shed new light on Vermeer's life and work, his artistic choices and motivations for compositions, as well as the creative process behind his paintings.

28 paintings from Vermeer's very small work they will be lent by museums and collections in Europe, the United States and Japan. In an extraordinary gesture, the Frick Collection will lend all three of its Vermeer masterpieces to the exhibition: The Girl Interrupted by Her Music, The Officer and the Laughing Girl, and The Mistress and the Maid. The Rijksmuseum exhibition will be the first time all three paintings have been exhibited together outside of New York City since they were acquired more than a century ago. Two paintings underwent extensive examination at the Rijksmuseum prior to the exhibition. Other highlights include

The girl with the Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis, The Hague), The Geographer (Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main), Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid (The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Woman Holding a Balance (The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC), The Glass of Wine (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), Young Woman with a Lute (Metropolitan Museum, NYC) and The Lacemaker (Louvre, Paris), the Girl reading a letter at the newly restored open window of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. The Rijksmuseum itself owns four Vermeer masterpieces: The Milkmaid, The Lane, Woman Reading a Letter and The Love Letter.

All the exhibited works

1. A Lady Writing, 1664–67, National Gallery of Art, Washington 
2. A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, c. 1670–72, The National Gallery, London 
3. A Young Woman standing at a Virginal, 1670–72, The National Gallery, London 
4. Allegory of the Catholic Faith, 1670–74, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
5. Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, 1654–55, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
6. Diana and her Nymphs, 1655–56, Mauritshuis, The Hague 
7. Girl Interrupted at Her Music, c. 1659–61, The Frick Collection, New York 
8. Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 1657-58, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden 
9. Girl with a Flute, 1664–67, National Gallery of Art, Washington 
10. Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1664–67, Mauritshuis, The Hague  
11. Girl with the Red Hat, 1664–67, National Gallery of Art, Washington 
12. Mistress and Maid, c. 1665–67, The Frick Collection, New York 
13. Officer and Laughing Girl, 1657-58, The Frick Collection, New York 
14. Saint Praxedis, 1655, Kufu Company Inc., The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
15. The Geographer, 1669, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main 
16. The Glass of Wine, c. 1659-61, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie 
17. The Lacemaker, 1666–68, Musée du Louvre, Paris 
18. The Love Letter, 1669-70, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 
19. The Milkmaid, 1658-59, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 
20. The Procuress, 1656, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
21. View of Delft, 1660-61, Mauritshuis, The Hague  
22. View of Houses in Delft, known as 'The Little Street', 1658-59, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
23. Woman Holding a Balance, ca. 1662–64, National Gallery of Art, Washington
24. Woman in blue Reading a Letter, 1662-64, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 
25. Woman with a Pearl Necklace, c. 1662-64, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
26. Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, 1670–72, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
27. Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, c. 1670-72, The Leiden Collection, New York
28. Young Woman with a Lute, 1662–64, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) lived and worked in Delft. His work is best known for its quiet and introverted interior scenes, its unprecedented use of bright and colorful light, and its convincing illusionism. Unlike Rembrandt, Vermeer left behind an extraordinarily small oeuvre of 37 paintings.