[HN Gopher] Rijksmuseum to Stage the Largest Vermeer Exhibition ...
___________________________________________________________________
Rijksmuseum to Stage the Largest Vermeer Exhibition in 2023
Author : Kaibeezy
Score : 186 points
Date : 2021-12-14 10:38 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.rijksmuseum.nl)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.rijksmuseum.nl)
| kmstout wrote:
| If you like Vermeer, you might also appreciate the works of Han
| van Meegeren (and it's possible that you unwittingly do).
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren
| mudil wrote:
| Tim's Vermeer is an excellent documentary that looks at the
| possibility that Vermeer used optical technology to produce his
| paintings. Pretty convincing documentary, imo.
|
| https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3089388/
| cafard wrote:
| A fine reason to visit Amsterdam. I'm sure KLM will be telling us
| all about this soon.
|
| The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, had a big Vermeer
| exhibition 25 years ago. It unfortunately overlapped with a
| government shutdown, which made it inaccessible for some days,
| until a private foundation came up with the money to reopen it.
| My recollection is that we visited the exhibition while it was
| running on donated money, meaning that it was the only part of
| the National Gallery that was open. But it has been a while.
| technothrasher wrote:
| I was just thinking of that weekend 25 years ago when a group
| of us drove down to DC from Boston to see the exhibit only to
| get there right when they closed the government and locked the
| doors. Ah well, I have been to the Rijksmuseum to see the
| Vermeers they have on permanent display and it is well worth
| the visit even without this planned big exhibit.
| Moosdijk wrote:
| Be sure to check out the excellent restaurant in the rijksmuseum
| while you're there.
| alamortsubite wrote:
| Right now it's likely also the most COVID-safe restaurant in
| Amsterdam.
| laegooose wrote:
| Can you elaborate?
| alamortsubite wrote:
| Capacity is heavily reduced in the cafe. There's also a
| protocol for the servers to deliver your food to an empty
| table near to you, which you then fetch yourself, so the
| servers aren't in close contact with the diners. Obviously,
| you order via QR code and the museum website, and everyone
| in the place has shown an EU COVID pass and valid ID to get
| in.
|
| The cafe is also very open and airy, though it is still
| indoors. I guess swallowing a herring standing outside
| overlooking a gracht is even safer, so it's fair to say I
| exaggerated, but it's also easy to find a packed bar in
| town, and similarly a kebab shop with indoor dining where
| they don't give a rat's ass about your COVID certificate.
| [deleted]
| Vinnl wrote:
| The Mauritshuis, the regular home of The Girl with a Pearl
| Earring, is also well worth your while. It's a lot smaller than
| the Rijksmuseum, so you don't need to set aside as much time, but
| additionally has The Goldfinch by Fabritius (recommended
| companion read: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt) and The Anatomy
| Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt.
| legitster wrote:
| Came here to say this. If anyone feels compelled to visit
| Amsterdam because of the Vermeer exhibit, I certainly hope they
| make the trip to The Hague which has some amazing museums and
| far less of the drunk tourists.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Taking in mind that he painted like thirty oils in their entire
| career, that will deserve a visit if you are near, for sure. The
| man was the Aardman studio of his age.
| yitchelle wrote:
| That is an incredible level of perseverance. Was he working on
| these 30 oils continuously?
| mtts wrote:
| No, he died really early
| rocmcd wrote:
| I can't hear about the Rijksmuseum without thinking of the
| presentation Rob Erdmann did at Pycon on how they imaged
| Rembrandt's Night Watch:
|
| https://youtu.be/z_hm5oX7ZlE
|
| Incredible work being done there. I'm glad to see they're
| continuing to make headlines.
| abruzzi wrote:
| I think the exhibition should include the Van Meegerens. The fake
| Vermeers are famous enough that seeing them alongside real
| Vermeers would be fascinating.
| alamortsubite wrote:
| The 2014 documentary _The New Rijksmuseum_ is also worth a watch
| before you go. Not a ton of Vermeer content but a fascinating
| look at the beleaguered decade-long gutting and rebuilding of the
| museum leading to its reopening in 2013.
| MomoXenosaga wrote:
| Interestingly Vermeer died penniless and nobody liked his
| paintings until they were rediscovered in the 19th century.
|
| A common theme in the Netherlands. I always joke that it's better
| to be an artist in Iran. Culture is a waste of time and artists
| are just lazy bastards who need to get a real job. A merchant
| Republic like Venice but it never lost its focus on money for
| fashion.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Too much fun making babies leads to money vanishing fast.
|
| With a family of 14 living only from their income as artist he
| was reasonably paid for the time, probably.
| [deleted]
| Someone wrote:
| His paintings were more overlooked than "not liked".
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Legacy:
|
| _"Originally, Vermeer 's works were largely overlooked by art
| historians for two centuries after his death. A select number
| of connoisseurs in the Netherlands did appreciate his work, yet
| even so, many of his works were attributed to better-known
| artists such as Metsu or Mieris"_
|
| His financial problems also were at least in part because he
| was unlucky. As an art dealer, he sat on paintings he couldn't
| sell because of the Franco-Dutch War
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War). https://en.wi
| kipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer#Wars_and_deat...:
|
| _"In a petition to her creditors, his wife later described his
| death as follows:
|
| ...during the ruinous war with France he not only was unable to
| sell any of his art but also, to his great detriment, was left
| sitting with the paintings of other masters that he was dealing
| in. As a result and owing to the great burden of his children
| having no means of his own, he lapsed into such decay and
| decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had
| fallen into a frenzy, in a day and a half he went from being
| healthy to being dead."_
|
| (That wife gave him 15 children, 11 of which lived long enough
| to be baptized, so yes, that might have been an expensive
| family to run)
| phgn wrote:
| Interesting to see an article written in the future ;)
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| I knew you'd say that.
| stefanvdw1 wrote:
| If you are curious to see some of their art, I've made a website
| which will show you a random object from their collection per
| button click: https://randomrijks.com
| the_biot wrote:
| If you're a basic techie with little appreciation for the fine
| arts, watch a film called "Tim's Vermeer". It will make you want
| to go to this exhibition.
| alangibson wrote:
| Tim's Vermeer was directed and produced by Penn and Teller.
| While I loved it, I can't shake the feeling the whole thing was
| a hoax.
| willhinsa wrote:
| This article [0] would seem to agree with that feeling you
| can't shake; not that it's a "hoax" per se, but that it's
| _bullshit_ ;)
|
| > So what does it lack? The film implies anyone can make a
| beautiful work of art with the right application of science.
| There is no need for mystical ideas like genius.
|
| > But the mysterious genius of Vermeer is exactly what's
| missing from Tim's Vermeer. It is arrogant to deny the
| enigmatic nature of Vermeer's art. If this art looks
| "optical", it can also look abstract. It is an act of seeing
| nature, not a work of copying it. Whether or not he made use
| of optical instruments, Vermeer looked at the world with a
| uniquely penetrating eye. He was able to paint what he saw
| with a delicate hand. If you can't see the astonishing nature
| of his talent when you are standing in front of his paintings
| you should walk away from them - not make a film about how
| easy they are to replicate.
|
| > Tim's Vermeer is the equivalent of someone hanging a
| painting-by-numbers version of a masterpiece over the
| mantelpiece and claiming it's as good as the real thing. At
| last, an art film for philistines.
|
| [0] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblo
| g/2...
| mlyle wrote:
| I think the article and this comment misses the point.
|
| As far as "just use the right optical tricks and you can be
| Vermeer" -- sure, this is bullshit.
|
| As far as showing that an optical method was a real
| possibility for how Vermeer created his work-- sure! A
| layman using the tricks was able to get very close, but
| lacked the artistry himself to put in Vermeer's unique
| magic in: this establishes that the optical techniques were
| a plausible way for the works to be created.
| boppo1 wrote:
| I'm a painter, and it was bullshit. Camera lucidas suck and
| just get in the way and Hockney is a modernist hack of a
| painter.
| fsloth wrote:
| "basic techie with little appreciation for the fine arts"
|
| Why would interest in technology negatively correlate with
| interest in art?
|
| That presumes a very specific correlation between chosen
| profession and cultural interests.
|
| The document is very fun! But just trying painting will quickly
| educate a person of the pragmatics. Starting painting is really
| simple nowdays with IPad, Apple Pen and Procreate. There are
| tons of resources and courses available - and the problematics
| in digital art if using traditional art analogues map quite far
| into oil painting (even though physical medium does have it's
| specificities).
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| One also wonders why anyone with little appreciation for fine
| arts would have clicked on the post at first, but now that
| it's at the top of page 1 there will definitely be a bunch.
|
| Leave off "basic", which I agree is polarizing / pejorative,
| and you go from assuming "basic techies" have low arts
| interest to just the fact of recognizing that _n_ "techies"
| may have low interest, and then the film nicely connects
| those worlds. If you've read this far, there's a good chance
| you'll find at least the trailer interesting.
| mikkelam wrote:
| > Why would interest in technology negatively correlate with
| interest in art?
|
| OP didnt write any such thing. I think you're reading too
| much into his comment.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Because of the world, I have to wonder are people really
| this overly sensitive, or just trolls looking to stir
| trouble?
|
| However, this person seems very confused on what painting
| is. After their insensitivity accusations, they go on to
| claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to painting.
| That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game on iPad has
| insights on the skill of professional golfer.
| fsloth wrote:
| "Because of the world, I have to wonder are people really
| this overly sensitive, or just trolls looking to stir
| trouble?"
|
| Poor sentence building on my part, I get caught up on
| petty linguistics. No harm intended.
|
| "However, this person seems very confused on what
| painting is. After their insensitivity accusations, they
| go on to claim that drawing on a iPad is equivalent to
| painting. That's like claiming someone plaing a golf game
| on iPad has insights on the skill of professional
| golfer."
|
| No, really, modern digital tools are friggin awesome!
|
| What I intended to convey that a person should really try
| painting once in their life, but they don't need to set
| up a studio with good lighting, get solvents and paints
| and brushes and so on.
|
| I say this as a lifelong art enthusiast who loves his
| pens, charcoals, inks, acrylics and oils. And the IPad
| Pro with an Apple Pencil fits there actually really,
| really well. Similar experience can be had on a Wacom
| tablet and Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Krita or what
| ever program that takes into account artistic
| sensibilities in their tooling.
|
| 90% of the problematics constructing a painting can be
| investigated using a digital medium.
|
| Oils bring in the pigments and their interaction with
| each other and medium, but that's kind of an added layer
| of complexity on top of the artistically critical
| elements - shape, color, detail reproduction and so on.
| Because when you paint, it's not an act of photography,
| but a process where one needs to decide on lots of these
| issues.
|
| You can take what ever course or book that teaches oil
| painting, and apply it on a digital medium quite far.
|
| The key tools are 1. a brush that maps pressure to size
| 2. a brush that maps pressure to opacity 3. a blend tool
| to blend the colors. Layers help in keeping things tight.
| It's really nice if the software attempts to provide
| realistic blending of colors, but it's not necessary -
| all of these have been available for decades on digital
| paint tools.
|
| I totally agree a digital painting lacks the feeling of
| an actual oil painting, but the problematics are the
| same. As an example these include shape, tonal mapping
| from the scene to the canvas, choosing a palette,
| choosing which details to render and which not.
| boppo1 wrote:
| Digital painting is in many ways more convenient and
| easier than oil, but he's correct in that many of the
| fundamentals are quite the same.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| I appreciate the recommendation, but I don't appreciate being
| called "basic".
| Biganon wrote:
| If it applies to you, what's the problem?
|
| If it doesn't apply to you, what's the problem?
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| It is your choice to be offended or not to be offended. If
| you choose the former, it's not the OPs responsibility to
| soothe you.
| toolz wrote:
| Would you rather have unique tastes that make you relatable
| to no one or would you rather have preferences that put you
| in a category of people that makes you relatable and
| approachable?
|
| I've never understood this aversion to "basic" - it feels
| like vanity to me when people have a desire to be unique just
| for the sake of standing out. It seems like society would
| collapse if everyone was truly unique. Maybe you or someone
| else can correct me if this desire to be different isn't just
| vanity
| tinco wrote:
| Maybe if you were less basic you would understand, and you
| could join those unique individuals with a grasp on why
| humans are vain.
| toolz wrote:
| Maybe, but alas, I'm basic and wouldn't change it for the
| world. I value other humans too much to try and distance
| myself from them. We're social animals, it seems natural
| and good to embrace that.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Exactly. That's what put Vermeer on my radar. Trailer here -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pCNUu6qFY
| unwind wrote:
| Thanks, that sounds really interesting. Really cool (to me!)
| that it connects Penn&Teller, Amsterdam (where this fantastic
| museum is), and NewTek which was very well-known back in my
| Amiga days. So cool!
| jmkd wrote:
| For a while I worked at Kenwood House in Hampstead, London. Home
| of Vermeer's The Guitar Player.
|
| As you may know, Vermeers are so few and far between that it's
| entirely possible to see every one (~36) if you're able to travel
| the world.
|
| So, there exists a subculture of (often) wealthy Vermeer
| completeists who travel the world doing exactly that.
|
| Every month or so at Kenwood, we would be instructed to come in
| early to host such collectors who had made arrangements for a
| private viewing of this Vermeer.
|
| An entourage would roll up around 6-7am to whisk a high-flyer
| into the room the Vermeer was displayed.
|
| More often than not the individual - who was so determined to see
| this painting they'd paid English Heritage who knows how much -
| took a momentary glance and was off again.
|
| I'm talking all that trouble for 1-2 minutes in front of the
| Vermeer so they could check it off their list. And then they were
| off.
|
| I'd happily spend the next 8 hours in front of it observing
| public responses and daydreaming of how to prevent elaborate art
| thefts (the painting was stolen by the IRA in 1974 and IMHO could
| certainly be stolen again).
| AlbertCory wrote:
| "completeists" -- This reminds me of Big Year [1], i.e.
| ridiculous.
|
| I've been to a lot of the world's major museums, but I've never
| been to The Netherlands (or Russia). I really don't get the
| attraction of a "private viewing." As long as there aren't so
| many people that someone's always walking in front of me (like
| at the Uffizi), I'm fine with other tourists there. Once in a
| great while, someone will say something interesting about it.
|
| [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
| jmkd wrote:
| Having worked with countless museums the opportunity of a
| private viewing - especially with a knowledgable curator - is
| never to be passed up.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| "a knowledgable curator" - that would change my opinion,
| too.
| bschne wrote:
| > As you may know, Vermeers are so few and far between that
| it's entirely possible to see every one (~36) if you're able to
| travel the world.
|
| As someone has actually done and made a website about:
|
| https://jlord.us/vermeer/about.html
| lisper wrote:
| According to the movie "Tim's Vermeer", at least one Vermeer
| (The Music Lesson) is in Buckingham palace and not generally
| accessible to the public. How do you get to see that one?
| boppo1 wrote:
| >"Tim's Vermeer"
|
| A neat but sorta terrible documentary. The central claim is
| that Vermeer absolutely must have used a camera lucida
| because his detail would otherwise be impossible. In
| particular I remember the 'expert' claiming that a certain
| smooth gradation was impossible to paint without optical
| tools. Maybe for a modernist like Hockney, but there are
| painters with academic training who achieve that kind of
| work without optical tools.
|
| I'm not saying Vermeer didn't experiment with such tools,
| but the claims to their criticality in his process are a
| joke.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| TIL what Michael Fagan was up to.
| dorkwood wrote:
| According to Wikipedia, it's currently on display at the
| Queen's Gallery, which is open to the public.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _I 'm talking all that trouble for 1-2 minutes in front of the
| Vermeer so they could check it off their list. And then they
| were off._
|
| Reminds me of people who (pre-pandemic) would compete for the
| most country stamps in their passports. They would never see
| many of the countries they visited, beyond the airport's
| passport control facility.
| technothrasher wrote:
| My only check-off for "illegally entering a country" was to
| stop briefly on a sandbar in absolutely nowhere Angola to
| have a gin and tonic before rowing back across the river to
| Namibia.
| pradn wrote:
| There's 9 Vermeers just within a few blocks in New York: 4 at
| the Frick Collection and 5 at the Metropolitan Museum.
| senortumnus wrote:
| Second this! Go see these Vermeers and then decide if you
| should follow it up with a trip to the 2023 show!
| AnimalMuppet wrote:
| If that was all they were going to do, they _could_ have done
| it during regular hours...
| robin_reala wrote:
| Parens with a year after the title is HN style for "written in
| this year", which momentarily threw me.
|
| Anyway, much love to the Rijksmusuem for the amount of CC0
| content they have. It's a staple for covers for my productions
| for Standard Ebooks.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| When do you really ever get the chance? So satisfying. I'm
| taking the rest of the day off ;)
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Hear, hear - I like to pop into Rijkstudio to download images
| to use for QAing uploads in webapps - but it always seems to
| take an hour or two to find the right aspect ratio, for some
| reason...
| dwighttk wrote:
| You woke up and it is 2024! Welcome back.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| If you wish to visit this exhibition, try to plan your visit well
| outside of the tourist season. The exhibition runs from February
| 10th 2023 to June 4th 2023, so my advice would be to aim for
| February, March, or early April at the latest.
|
| The Rijksmuseum is situated on a square in Amsterdam alongside
| the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk and draws a crowd for its
| special exhibitions and top pieces.
|
| (Edit: Forgot to mention the Stedelijk Museum!)
| tinus_hn wrote:
| Given the state of Dutch COVID politics I'd suggest saving
| yourself the effort and planning a visit to an attraction in
| another country instead.
| FutureZeitgeist wrote:
| Can you elaborate?
| Fnoord wrote:
| For those who don't know: other European countries have a
| similar state of COVID-19 policies, or worse (more
| discrimination between vaccinated and unvaccinated than The
| Netherlands). If you're properly vaccinated, it isn't a big
| nuisance to enter The Netherlands (or European Union for that
| matter) but ensure you do some research before you book (IMO
| you should get informed via your travel agency; it is their
| moral obligation to safely sent you in the right direction).
| If you're not vaccinated, get vaccinated, and ensure you read
| up on your limitations. If I were not vaccinated I would not
| even want to travel to a foreign country. Unless if I am sure
| I am immune due to recent infection.
| tinus_hn wrote:
| Until of course a random member of the fun police decides
| to put out a poll that somehow it is an insult to hospital
| workers to have fun and your planned activity gets
| cancelled by the authorities.
|
| Surely it isn't a big hassle to enter the Netherlands. But
| if you want to visit that museum, better make sure it's
| before 5 o'clock, otherwise it's closed due to lockdown. Or
| whatever rule happens to be active by the time you visit.
|
| I'd instead just plan a visit to a country where the
| population when faced with a failing government isn't
| cheering it on to take away even more rights and implement
| even more rules.
|
| Remember a majority in the Netherlands still believes the
| '15 days to stop the spread' theory, so whatever you plan
| in the Netherlands, it could be canceled at any moment and
| you have no recourse.
| Kaibeezy wrote:
| Go to the RM for the Vermeers, stay for the gigantic-piles-of-
| fruit-with-a-lobster-in-the-corner paintings.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| And outside of the Covid crisis of course; nobody should be
| traveling unless absolutely necessary, and nobody should be
| visiting museums unless fully vaccinated (for their own
| safety), masked up, and there's a strict visitor limit. I'm not
| convinced ventilation would be good enough in a museum given
| they can't open windows.
| alamortsubite wrote:
| To assuage some of your concerns, the museum requires an EU
| COVID certificate and accompanying ID for entry, capacity is
| reduced, and visitors must wear masks except while dining in
| the cafe. Your travel fears are off-topic so I'll leave it at
| that.
| ojilles wrote:
| To add to that list: I'd bet good money the Rijk's
| ventilation and climate control is top notch.
| ghaff wrote:
| People are of course welcome to make their own risk
| assessments. And personally I'd hesitate to travel
| internationally (outside US) at this point given the
| potential for unexpected policy changes/disruption. But more
| generally I've certainly started traveling again and don't
| think people should not in general if they're comfortable
| doing so.
| efdee wrote:
| Make their own risk assessments - to some extent. EU Covid
| Safe ticket is required, as is wearing a mask.
| ghaff wrote:
| My comment was in the context of parent's "nobody should
| be traveling unless absolutely necessary" comment.
| Obviously different locales have specific requirements
| especially to access indoor locations.
| maratc wrote:
| A rather big collection of 10 Vermeer paintings was gathered in
| Gemaldergalerie Alte Meister in Dresden but it was "temporarily"
| closed due to coronavirus outbreak, and possibly won't reopen.
|
| https://gemaeldegalerie.skd.museum/en/exhibitions/vermeer-jo...
| finnchemo wrote:
| <a href="https://waficars.com">Visited by Hundreds of Car Buyers
| Every Month! Waficars is here to assist you to sell and buy new
| or used cars online and offline with the specialization in new
| and second hand automotive sales, including cars sold by private
| sellers and trade dealers aiming to strengthen the trust between
| the dealers and clients based on fair deals.</a>
| d--b wrote:
| If you can read French, I recommend reading Daniel Arasse's
| L'ambition de Vermeer. It's a detailed analysis of most paintings
| which aims at showing how deeply conceptual the paintings were.
| Sadly not translated into English.
| gpvos wrote:
| From a quick web search, it seems that "Vermeer: Faith in
| painting"[0] is an English translation of this book, and there
| are at least German and Italian translations as well.
|
| [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2080511.Vermeer
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-12-14 23:01 UTC)