More than 650,000 people have seen the exhibition Vermeer seen in the Rijksmuseum. This makes it the most visited exhibition ever of the Amsterdam museum. Sunday was the last day of the exhibition, which opened on February 10.
The majority of the public (55 percent) came from the Netherlands, but the Vermeer exhibition was also popular with people from France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Other exhibitions that previously attracted many viewers are Late Rembrandt in 2015 (more than 520,000 visitors) and All Rembrandts in 2019 (455,000 visitors).
The retrospective exhibition of the seventeenth-century master (1632-1675) generated a great deal of interest from the start. Never before have so many works by the Delft painter been on display: 28 of the approximately 37 paintings came over from all over the world. There were also seven works that had never been shown in the Netherlands before.
Due to the great enthusiasm, extra tickets were made available and the museum extended the opening hours to 11 p.m. In the last weekend it was even later, until 2 a.m. “Thanks to the lenders and all who support us, we have succeeded in allowing as many visitors as possible to enjoy this to the fullest,” says director Taco Dibbits.
The royal couple and Rutte also visited the exhibition
There were also a number of acquaintances among the visitors, such as the royal couple and Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. American director Steven Spielberg and American actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Jamie Lee Curtis also visited.
Prior to the exhibition, a team of curators, restorers and natural scientists conducted research to learn more about Vermeer’s working method and his artistic choices. The Rijksmuseum will continue this research and in the coming weeks, in collaboration with The Mauritshuis and the University of Antwerp, will study the paintings View of Delft, The Geographer, Saint Praxedis and Christ in the House of Mary and Martha. The results will be presented in 2025.
From June 7 to October 10, six works by Vermeer will continue to be seen in the Rijks. It’s about The girl in the red hat (on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington) and Young woman at the virginal (coming from The Leiden Collection) and the four works by Vermeer from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
2023-06-04 16:53:50
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