My quest to recreate — longitudinally — the 2023 Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition

“Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) did not produce many paintings - probably only two a year on average - yet every one of the works of this Delft master is an extraordinary creation that elicits fascination and wonder. Vermeer takes the viewer into an introvert, tranquil world. In the interiors he painted, light plays in an inimitable way and the use of colour is always startling. Although Vermeer composes his paintings, selects motifs and alters the spaces, he achieves such a degree of illusion that his pictorial world still feels identifiable and familiar some 350 years later.” So says the Foreword to the Catalog that accompanied the Vermeer 2023 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum.

By bringing together 28 of the artists paintings — over three quarters of his surviving oeuvre — the Rijksmuseum exhibition allowed visitors to gain a “better understanding of his art, his considerations, and his decisions.” 

This was the first time in its history that the museum had devoted an exhibition solely to Vermeer and it was its most successful exhibition ever. A total of 650,000 visitors from 113 countries visited the exhibition during its 6-week run from February 10 to June 4, 2023.

The chart below shows Vermeer's oeuvre and the selection displayed at the exhibition. 

Vermeer Oeuvre (Images of the Timeline presented at 
the 2003 Rijksmuseum Vermeer Exhibition)

The timeline was photographed by a friend who had the good fortune to attend. According to the Catalog Editors, the works on the timeline "are presented in chronological order, as far as this is possible based on the mere five paintings that Vermeer himself provided with dates: Saint Praxedis, 1655; The Procuress, 1656; The Art of Painting, 1666 (or 1668); The Astronomer, 1668 and The Geographer, 1669. All of the other paintings are grouped around these, whereby the curators of this exhibition have made use of dates previously posted in the literature."

The paintings with asterisks accompanying their captions were not included in the exhibition, thus arriving at a final total of 28 works shown.

I had secured a ticket to attend the exhibition but personal reasons intervened. Subsequently I made a commitment to visit these pieces in a geographically and temporally unrestricted exhibition hall; that is, wherever they were. My quest has taken me to exhibitions and museum collections and is still ongoing. I recount my progress to date in the following.

Exhibitions

I was able to see some Vermeer pieces at two exhibitions.

Vermeer’s Love Letters at the Frick Collection

In June of 2025 I made my second visit of the year to the Frick Collection (I was there on the re-opening day) to see their exhibition titled Vermeer’s Love Letters. This exhibition featured three of the artist’s paintings — Mistress and the Maid (Frick Collection); The Love Letter (Rijksmuseum); and Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid (National Gallery of Ireland) — which “explore reading, writing, and exchanging letters, popular subjects in the artist’s circle of Dutch painters.” The exhibited pieces center on an interaction between a woman and her maidservant and were here brought together in a single gallery for the first time.

Johannes Vermeer, Mistress and Maid,
ca. 1664 - 1667

Johannes Vermeer, The Love Letter,
ca. 1669 - 1670

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Writing a Letter
with her Maid, ca. 1670 - 1672

From Rembrandt to Vermeer at Amsterdam's H'art Museum

The first recorded mention of Amsterdam dates back to 1275, when it was granted a charter by Count Floris V of Holland. To celebrate its founding 750 years ago, the city hosted a number of events in 2025. One such event was an exhibition of Dutch Masters from the Leiden Collection titled From Rembrandt to Vermeer. The exhibition included 75 works by 27 artists to include the likes of Jan Steen, Ferdinand Bol, and Frans Hals but pride of place went to Rembrandt (18 works — 17 paintings and one drawing — being shown together in Amsterdam for the first time) and Vermeer (his Young Woman Seated at a Virginal is the only Vermeer in private hands).

Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman Seated
at a Virginal, ca. 1670 - 1672

Museums

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

In August of 2025, I saw five Vermeers at The Met on the 5th and two at the Frick Collection on the 6th. What was amazing was the fact that, at that time, 10 Vermeers were located within 1 mile of each other in NYC: five at the Frick (including the three in the Love Letters exhibition) and five at The Met.

Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman with a
Water Pitcher, ca. 1662 (The Met)

Johannes Vermeer, Girl Interrupted at her Music,
ca. 1658 -1659 (Frick Collection)

Johannes Vermeer, Officer and Laughing Girl,
ca. 1657 (Frick Collection)

Johannes Vermeer, A Maid Asleep,
ca. 1656 -1657 (The Met)

Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman with a Lute,
ca. 1662 - 1663 (The Met)

Johannes Vermeer, Allegory of the Catholic
Faith, ca. 1670 - 72 (The Met)

Johannes Vermeer, Study of a Young Woman,
ca. 1662 (The Met)

Mauritshuis, Den Haag

Mauritshuis is famous for housing Girl with a Pearl Earring and I was able to see that piece plus two others when I visited there after my trip to the H'art Museum.

Johannes Vermeer, Diana and her Nymphs,
ca. 1655 - 1656

Johannes Vermeer, View of Delft,
ca. 1662

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring,
ca. 1664 - 1667

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The day following my visit to Mauritshuis, I visited the Rijksmuseum to view its Vermeers. We have already encountered one of their four Vermeers on loan to the Frick Collection for its Love Letters exhibition. The ones on display when i visited were as follows:

Johannes Vermeer, View of Houses in Delft
(The Little Street), ca. 1658

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid,
ca. 1658 - 59

Johannes Vermeer, Woman in Blue
reading a Letter, ca. 1662 - 1664

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Later in August I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and was able to see the following Vermeer-attributed paintings:

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with the Red Hat,
ca. 1669

Johannes Vermeer, A Lady Writing,
ca. 1665

Johannes Vermeer, Woman holding a
Balance, ca. 1662

I also saw Girl with a Flute, 1669/1675, a painting attributed to Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum exhibition but which, according to the National Gallery, was not painted by that Master’s hand.

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Flute,
 1669/1675

According to the National Gallery, “Her pose, expression, clothing, and surroundings resemble those seen in paintings by Johannes Vermeer. In 2020 - 2021, however, a team of National Gallery of Art researchers - curators, conservators, and scientists - determined that Vermeer did not paint Girl with a Flute. The artist who created this work was intimately familiar with Vermeer’s materials and techniques but was unable to match his delicate brushwork.”

National Gallery, London

In December 2024, I saw the two Vermeers in this institution's collection:

Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman
Seated at a Virginal, ca. 1670 - 1672

Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman Standing
 at a Virginal, ca. 1670 - 1672

Louvre, Paris

I had to return to the Louvre in order to see its Vermeers as, on the day of my initial visit, they had closed — without notice — the section wherein those paintings were housed. The Lacemaker was included in the Rijksmuseum exhibit but The Astronomer was not.

Johannes Vermeer, The Lacemaker,
ca. 1666 - 1668

Johannes Vermeer, The Astronomer,
ca. 1668

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The Rijksmuseum Vermeer exhibition claimed to have brought together 28 of the artists known works but research conducted by the National Gallery of Art has shown that one of these works -- Girl with a Flute -- is not of the master's hand. The total number of Vermeers in the exhibition, therefore, was 27.

As shown above, I have to date viewed 19 of the 27 Vermeers in the exhibition and 20 of the 28 paintings exhibited. The paintings that were a part of the exhibition, and that I have not yet seen, are:

• Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, ca. 1654 - 1655
• Saint Praxedis, 1655
• The Procuress, 1656
• Girl Reading a Letter at an open Window, ca. 1657 - 1658
• The Glass of Wine, ca. 1659 - 1661
• Woman with a Pearl Necklace, ca. 1662 - 1664
• The Geographer, 1669.

Conversely, I have seen Girl with a Pearl Earring, Girl with a Veil, Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, A Maid Asleep, and The Astronomer, paintings that were not included in the exhibition.

The paintings that I have not yet seen and were not included in the exhibition are:

• Girl with a Wine Glass, ca. 1659 - 1661
• The Music Lesson, ca. 1662 - 1664
• The Concert, ca.. 1662 - 1664
• The Art of Painting, ca. 1666 - 1668.