May 23, 2013 – de Young Museum

Today John, Sarah and I go into the city to see the exhibit, The Girl with the Pearl Earring. This is probably the best known of Vermeer’s paintings. In fact there was a book and movie made about it. I have never seen the movie but I can tell by the number of people at the exhibition that a lot of people must have.

We are all great Vermeer fans. In 1995 Sarah and I went to the largest ever Vermeer showing at the Mauritshaus in The Hague. John had a conference in Amsterdam and Sarah and I went along and took advantage of the spouses’ program. It was a glorious exhibition! Twenty-three Vermeers were on view. It was also extremely crowded. We moved like a block of people from one painting to the next.

We also had seen one Vermeer at an exhibition at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain in December, 2010. The three of us stood in front of the painting, The Geographer, virtually alone. It was the day after Christmas, maybe everyone was busy playing with their presents. It was a really fabulous experience.

This exhibition has a lot of etchings, many by Rembrandt. Along with the Girl with the Pearl Earring are other Dutch genre paintings from the Mauritshaus. The Mauritshaus is undergoing renovations and has shipped out thirty exceptional paintings to be shared around the world.

We have a great day marred only by my falling on the stairs down to our lunchtime restaurant. Luckily except for wrenching my left side a bit, I am fine. Mostly I am embarrassed. Sigh.

Sarah and John
Sarah and John

Sarah and Mary
Sarah and Mary

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