All language subtitles for CLOSE TO VERMEER (2023) ENGLISH

Look at these two.

They would be great together.

Dresden with...

The Milkmaid.

Buckingham Palace...

Let's leave that down here.

Hasn't been loaned out for ages.

But this exhibition is so important
that I think they'll miss something...

if they don't let their baby
travel to the party.

Exactly.

The first two Vermeer paintings
I ever saw with my own eyes...

was when I visited London
as a schoolboy.

The moment I saw the Vermeers
I actually fainted.

The National Gallery has Lady Sitting
and Lady Standing at a Virginal.

I was just blown away.

The lady is bathed in light.

And the shadows
have exactly the right tone.

Leonardo da Vinci said,
"Just use black,"

but Vermeer uses color in the shadows.

He seems to know that warm yellow light
has cold blue shadows.

The best exhibitions I've ever seen...

didn't just determine my life
during the two hours I was there...

Sorry.

This is...

A good exhibition should sweep you away.

It should change the way you look.

Your view of the world changes.

As you're drawn into this other world...

and you're almost floating.
Vermeer can really do that.

These painted bricks
make me very happy.

Under the microscope
they stop being bricks.

They're just dots of paint
in different colors.

The fact that so much is left open
makes it interesting.

I want to understand...

...how he was able to paint
these wonderful pictures.

Take this red shutter, possibly the most
beautiful shutter in the history of art.

If you imagine this painting
without the red shutter...

it's much less...

captivating.
The red shutter stops you...

from leaving the painting here,
so you keep looking.

No Vermeer in here!

Wow!

I think it's a really exciting piece,
which was attributed to Vermeer...

when it surfaced
between 1933 and 1935.

They thought it was a self-portrait?
Or just painted by Vermeer?

Both.

There was a huge Vermeer hype going on.
Everyone was looking for new Vermeers.

It would be interesting to know
what he actually looked like.

What he looked like?

I think we have the need
for this "personal” approach.

Rembrandt has about 80 self-portraits...

and we just have Vermeer's back.

We don't have any letters or diaries
by Vermeer.

We know he lived in Delft,
had 14 children...

and was only 43 when he died.

That's all. We don't even know where he
learned how to paint, or who taught him.

All we have are his paintings.

One thing I've never understood
about Vermeer's painting

is that the scale is so small

that even
the tiniest bit of dust,

when it falls into the paint,
it gathers paint,

it attracts the paint,
and really ruins the surface,

where, when you look
at Vermeer's paintings,

you never see
those little dust particles.

I was 18,
and I wanted to be a painter

because I thought
I was artistic, you know?

I did a course
on Baroque painting.

I just knew Rembrandt, Rubens.

Never heard of Vermeer.

And all of a sudden,
a Vermeer came on,

and I said, "That's it."

What is this mysterious object
that I've just seen?

It looks like it came from Mars
and landed down

and wanted to say
something to me.

All I could say,
it just seemed right.

Everything just seemed to fall
in place, as if by magic.

I have no idea what really
makes a Vermeer a Vermeer,

because you could say
the light, the perspective,

but there are so many things
that, when you add them up,

the composition,
you put them all together,

I think then you get a Vermeer.

So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17...

18, 19, 20, 21 are definite.

From very early on people abroad
started collecting Vermeers.

France, England,
Germany and America.

The United States alone has about
one third of his entire oeuvre.

So there's a lot to be brought in
from abroad.

So, Pieter, it's your
first time here, right,

since we moved
to Frick Madison?

Yeah, so I haven't seen
your new installation yet.

Then you get into
the 17th-century Dutch paintings

which are the three
Rembrandts together.

- What a gallery!
- Yeah, it's amazing.

This is amazing.

You have these big,
grand pictures, you know,

so kind of imposing
and life-size,

and then the last room
on this floor

is the Vermeer room,

and suddenly you're in this
totally different dimension.

This is stunning.

Yeah, no, its pretty great.

This is really well done.

It's really... I very much like

the balance
between the two of them,

and then the Mistress and Maid
in the center.

I was a little worried
because they're quite big walls

and sort of empty walls
but small pictures,

but they really hold
their place.

I don't think you can do that
with every painter,

but I think
with Vermeer you can.

- Yeah.
- And if you have single walls

in the exhibition
or single works,

you can say that the idea
came from Frick Madison.

Yeah.

I always find this painting,
I mean,

I find it
a little menacing as well.

I find, you know,
the male figure,

it's so kind of towering
over her,

and the idea
that he's in shadow,

there's something more dark.

You know, what's the message,
what's going on?

And as someone who spends
the whole of his life,

his career,
painting these scenes

and these rooms
over and over again,

you know, why?

This is a painting instead
that has had some changes

over time,
not necessarily all by Vermeer,

and I'm really happy
it's coming to Amsterdam

for analysis
ahead of the exhibition.

You know, one big question
that I hope we can answer

in Amsterdam is, you know,
was the bird cage added?

- Exactly.
- And I think

in this specific case,
it's going to be very important

to try and answer
some of these questions.

I found it very moving,
actually

realizing that it's
the first time in 200 years

that this picture
is in the Netherlands.

And I'm you know,
also amazed, you know,

an artist like Vermeer
that is so well studied

and people talk about
the whole time,

the fact that we're
still making discoveries,

the idea of pushing
the scholarship and the research

to the next level
is what really excites me

about this project.

So here we're looking
at some of our XRF scans,

and our research suggests

that the bird cage
is probably a later addition.

I think it's extraordinary.

But it's really funny, I mean,
how that bird cage

was part of the interpretation
of this painting

for quite a long, long time.
- Absolutely.

Talking about what he wanted
to tell with this.

- Yeah.
- And now, well, it's not him.

There are shelves and shelves of literature
about Vermeer.

I think organizing a Vermeer exhibition...

without being able to show
any new insights, would be a shame.

Yeah.

Vermeer has been called
"the Sphinx of Delft" since the 19th century,

because it's a mystery
how he achieved this.

Her head, for instance...

looks a little
like a 19th-century photograph...

with everything in ochre, Grey, pink.

But that's not the main thing.

Looking at it closely, you see
the eye has been done without any lines.

It's purely a shadow of skin color...

which makes the eye and
eyelashes visible...

without having been painted in detail.

We have no idea
what knowledge he had.

He must have had
some kind of optical instrument...

with mirrors and lenses
to be able to see this kind of effect.

Wow, take a look.

Hold out your hand again. Wow.

It's only 30 to 50 centimeters,
but the difference...

Your hand is all vague,
very vague contours.

While your face and your necklace
are really well-defined.

Now you're all blurry
so I must try to somehow...

get you in focus
by changing the distance.

- Watch your step.
- I know that step.

It's funny...
- How does it work?

A camera obscura
is basically a dark box.

When you take off the lid,
you see this dark room here.

The lens is here and
the image falls on this mirror...

which is at a 45 degree angle.

It reflects the image
onto this ground-glass screen.

It's really parchment
and should be quite translucent.

When I look through this,
I can suddenly see that as an image.

Cool.

What you can see in this way,
fascinates me here too.

Particularly with this shadow.

Vermeer has that too. He knows that if there
are several window panes...

the curtain no longer throws one shadow,
but in this case...

Three.

He didn't paint with the camera obscura,
he observed.

He did exactly this and wondered:
Wow, what's happening here?

So, do I look like
the Girl with a Pearl Earring now?

Almost.
- I knew it.

We had one day
to have the painting here

up in the studio
for photography.

So I had the honor
of carrying the Girl.

First of all, I had the honor
of unframing the Girl.

So, with my gloved hands taking
the painting out of the frame,

that was such an amazing moment
for me after a year

of doing this research
and preparing for this.

It was the first time I'd seen
the back of the painting.

It was the first time
I'd seen her out of the frame.

It was my first encounter that
was, you know, very different

from what everyone else
had experienced before me.

In 1994, they took
tiny samples, paint samples,

from the background
of the painting,

and this is what they saw,

that the background
must have been green.

And that was really
revolutionary at the time

to know that the Girl isn't
in a, you know, in a black space

but that there must have been
some green color there.

Now we have such different

and improved
scientific technologies

than they did in 1994
that we could go a step further,

we suddenly notice
that there are

some diagonal lines
here in the corner.

We expected
that the background was flat,

was black,
with a greenish glaze on top,

but now were thinking, "Hmm,
there's something going on",

brushstrokes going on
in a specific direction."

How could I live
without... playing cards?

Only $29.95.

Okay, I can deal with that.

I'm gonna do a video
on Vermeer merchandise

on my website.

Sort of tongue-in-cheek
kind of thing.

I don't want to be
too moralistic,

but, you know, point out
the fact that there are dangers.

I'm worried that she is going
to become too iconic.

And here she is.

Every time I see her,
she always looks lighter

than what I've imagined, right?

Well, here's now your chance
to get close.

No one around to...

no one around
taking their selfies.

Wow.

One of our new findings was...

were these lines
in the top-right corner.

Mm-hmm, these look like folds.

Yeah.

That was our conclusion as well

because we know it was green,

and there are these folds
with highlights and shadows,

so we think that she's standing
in front or sitting in front

of a green curtain.

Oh, right, so that's the curtain
that hangs down here.

It would have been very dark.

It wasn't like, you know...

- Bright green, no.
- ...bright green or something,

but it would've stayed
in the background.

Absolutely.

- That's amazing.
- Yeah.

Yeah...
and what's this line is black?

Yeah, this line
is super interesting.

Yeah, look at that.

The contour
of Girl with a Pearl Earring

is where Vermeer left
the brown underlayer exposed,

and here is where that dark
underlayer is showing through

between these brushstrokes.

Okay, okay, great.

Then, of course,
the tiny details,

like the dots on top.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's so hard to do.

As a painter,
you want to get your highlights

because they make
things work, right?

Yeah, otherwise you have
a sort of, you know,

the highlight in the eye
and the highlights in the...

It's so much fun, right?

You're definitely speaking
as someone who's painted

and knows...
you are the Vermeer expert.

I mean, even the experts
in our field are all going

to Essential Vermeer
for the first information

about the painter as well.

Now to move on
to the burning question

that revolves
around Vermeer always,

"What about
the camera obscura?"

Yeah, thank you, Powell.

Something which I found
which is new for me

is the presence of the Jesuits
next door to Vermeer.

And what I found is that
the Jesuits are very, very busy

with the camera obscura and all
the other optical instruments.

Here are the drawings, Gregor.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited.

You've never seen it?
- No.

Ahh, wow.

I must take off my glasses.

Portrait of an Old Woman as Saint Apollonia.

I think it's very strange.

But she was drawn by Vermeer's neighbor.

Vermeer lived at Oude Langendijk,
next to the Jesuits...

So Vermeer knew this artist.

Yes. And you could draw this
using a camera obscura, for instance.

So I wondered if this could have been done
by tracing a projection.

But then the parchment
must have been so translucent...

as to be transparent.
- In this case I think that's a bit...

So will your theory be confirmed?

Okay, let's see if this filters through.

Perfect!

You can clearly see it.
This is incredible. Wow!

This is what you wanted to see.

Yes, this is evident.

It's easy to trace it now.

This is so important to me!

I mean it. We've never been closer
to this theory...

Very close to Vermeer
thanks to this neighbor.

We knew Vermeer had some kind of link
with the camera obscura...

but we didn't know how or through whom.

But now the riddle has been solved
by the neighbor.

There are so many things
going on

in a painting like this.

I don't ever have the idea that
I'm in front of a canvas, right?

Paintings, even as a painter,
you always see a painting

as paint on canvas,

where, this, I don't see
the canvas anymore.

I see buildings,
I see people waiting,

I see clouds about to move.

Here are all these... the sum
of all these little things

that give you one moment,
one moment.

I've never really understood

what makes this painting
a Vermeer.

It looks like a work
of a young painter,

it looks like a work
of a not-experienced painter,

in my opinion.

His early paintings are
just one big question mark.

Are these Vermeers?

He's doing saints,

he's doing mythological scenes,

hes doing different styles.

I don't understand
the first paintings.

He's all over the place.

So, I don't know
what he was doing.

Once we get to
the Officer and Laughing Girl,

then I start to see
Vermeer Vermeer.

Composition
the color, the light.

Those effects
that no other painter

in Holland would actually get.

He was making
these like mini worlds,

mini universes
in a corner of a room

where everything
is so important.

And then, afterwards,

he has a brief rise in painting

where it becomes
extremely ingenious.

These are
really complex paintings,

and he really changes.

Compositions just become
outrageously interesting.

Even a painting
like The Lacemaker,

that's a complex,
really complex painting,

and its about this big.

Why would he have put
so much time.

So much effort, so much skill

into a painting
that would not have got him

a lot of money, right?

It's just too small.

This painting is very "Vermeer-ish."

Some things are very special here,
as we know him.

Other things seem a bit more crude.

Like the folds of the yellow shawl.

We know he might have done them
a bit more elaborate.

They're not badly done,
but they're not exceptional either.

Well,
in the Counting Vermeer project

that was done a few years ago

based on x-rays of all
of these Vermeer paintings,

they did find a few roll-mates,

so paintings that came
from the same roll of fabric.

There's the Young Woman
Seated at a Virginal

and The Lacemaker.

They were made
from the same roll of fabric,

and they are roll-mates
to each other.

And one would assume
also all made by Vermeer,

but since Vermeer
bought his canvas

probably with the ground
already applied on it

from art suppliers in Delft
or somewhere around there,

it could also have been bought
by somebody from his circle.

There's still a tiny bit
of doubt, you never know.

Anyone can buy
that piece of canvas.

But I try to also stay away
from attribution questions.

The same canvas, apparently.

But The Lacemaker
is one of his masterpieces.

It's like a milestone, it sets the standard
we expect from Vermeer.

So you think, perhaps he didn't finish this
himself or perhaps...

as it was towards the end of his life,
he was ill or a bit weary, I don't know.

The issue is that there are some works...

attributed to Vermeer by some experts
but not by others.

So there are two camps.

As to this work, does it have a place
in the authentic Vermeer canon?

Will we reach the conclusion
that it was painted by Vermeer...

or will too many doubts remain?

And it would be wonderful
if we would be able

to dive into it
a little bit more again.

Yeah.

The first time I saw it,

I was kind of scheming
to get hold of it

'cause it absolutely was certain
to be Vermeer in my mind,

and then, so...

And then it was with Steve Wynn
at that moment.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Steve Wynn bought it
at auction,

and he then had it
in his casino,

and I went down there
for Tom Kaplan,

so I got the price.
I called Tom,

and Tom immediately said,
"Well, is it really a Vermeer?"

I said, "Yes."
He said, "Buy it."

So, it took seconds.

It's amazing.

And I don't begrudge
wealthy people to...

They never really own them
anyway.

They only own them
in their lifetime.

Rich people do a great thing:

They die,

and when they die,
something happens.

The taxes have to be paid,
or they are inherited

by somebody else
who has a different attitude,

and it's like
a big funnel effect.

They all end up in museums.

Sooner or later, they will.

The money is growing

and the art
is remaining stable.

There are no Vermeers left,
except the one that was stolen.

There's only one thing
that could happen:

The price of the paintings
have to go up.

And people readily spend

$100 million, $200 million
for paintings.

- I think it was wonderful.
- I'll give you an example.

At that time,
I did not have the... the...

aspirations
to acquire a Vermeer.

It was still relatively early
in the collecting.

- Well, there was no chance.
- Well, there was no chance,

but also, I hadn't, I mean,
I just started with Rembrandt,

and the Vermeer looked
like a bridge too far,

but the painting
had been acquired by Steve Wynn,

and he said,

"Well, if you want
the Rembrandt self-portrait,

you have to buy the Vermeer
at the same time."

And I thought about that,
and, you know,

there's a little expression...

Sorry!

And I thought about that,

and there's
a little expression saying,

"You can't threaten me
with a good time."

And I said, "He wants
to sell them both together?"

I said, "Tell him: Done."

I thought she was beautiful.

I thought she was
completely enchanting,

the way that he had captured
this... moment

of arrested recognition
and, um...

courtship or love,
affection,

that is perhaps
uniquely characteristic,

in my experience,
to Vermeer.

So one of the things
that would be really interesting

is to examine that painting,

like we try to examine as many
Vermeer paintings as possible,

but it would be wonderful, well,

if your painting
could be involved in that.

Well, um, like I said,

you can't threaten me
with a good time.

As soon as you want her
and you're ready for her,

- she's yours.
- Yeah.

Where do you want it?
- A bit more to the right...

so we can lower the microscope.

Oh, yeah.

This black here ends at the wall,
it doesn't run underneath the hands.

This is strange...

It's so small.
- Yes.

Small and subtle.

I wonder what the technicians...

will be able to reveal.

You mean us. Or...?

You're not sure about the shawl.

It's one of the things, like the nose line.

A number of elements
that give you a sense...

of how extremely well-considered...

and aesthetically conscious
his work can be...

are missing here.
I'm not supposed to say this...

but you get the feeling someone else
came in to complete this painting.

You mean there might be an original shawl
underneath this one?

Yes.
- We've found no indications...

of any changes made to the shawl.

- Hi, Jonathan.
- Hello, Gregor.

- Nice to meet you.
- It's great to see you again.

Wow, we met so long ago.
A year, I think.

Yeah, a year ago.

This painting, we have it in
the studio in Amsterdam, and...

What was your impression?

I mean,
just one-to-one impression.

It is... so difficult to say.

I think it is by him,
but it's... sorry...

it is a less
successful painting.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so the technical
researchers found nothing

which is made in another way
than Vermeer did it.

But I've spotted
quite a number of anomalies.

Number one,
if you take this picture,

you could basically cut it out
and copy it right on top.

It's the same dimensions.

Number one, why would Vermeer
had done a copy and paste?

The face is exactly
the same proportions.

The arms are done
in the same way.

- There's nothing original.
- No.

This is very labored.

Its, uh, it's not
a good piece of painting.

I noticed that we have
this curl here.

It seems funny to me.
Do we have The Lacemaker here?

You've got the same curl here.

The hairdo
is supposedly similar to this,

but if you look carefully,

it's as if the painter
didn't understand

what was happening here.

Vermeer quotes himself,

but he always adds
something original.

There's no story here.

Here, everything he's done,

he's already done better,
much better.

Why would he requote himself
with so little enthusiasm?

- I totally agree.
- Where did it all go?

Yeah, but I have the problem,

how to name, yeah,
what's the name?

So do I have to write
"Attributed to Vermeer,"

or, "Studio of Vermeer,"
but had he a studio?

- We don't know, right?
- Was it an assistant? And so on.

So this is really a little bit
a problem, of course.

Yeah, but maybe we...

Yeah, maybe at the end,
Vermeer was not capable

to hold his quality.

Pieter.

Wonderful to see you!

I love how things work out.

- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you.

Thank you.

- How are you?
- Nice to meet you.

- Anna Krekeler.
- Tom Kaplan.

- Nice to meet you.
- It's a pleasure, thank you.

- Did you miss her?
- I did, and, you know,

this is the first time that
I've seen her undressed, and...

Without the frame, I mean.

Huh.

It's the enormity
of holding a Vermeer.

And the only one
in private hands.

Literally, yeah?

Very well put!

That's a great turn of phrase.

The only one in private hands.

Yes!

When I first saw this painting,

and I saw it at Sotheby's
the evening it was auctioned,

and I don't know
whether you know this,

but I cast... I put up...
I was the first bid.

I took the paddle
from Johnny van Haeften,

and I said, "Give me that."

And then he saw
I was going to continue,

and he took it from me
and he said, "Give me that!"

He was afraid
that I'll just continue.

Steve Wynn bought it,
and then, of course,

we bought it from him.

So, Anna and Annelies
made some additional research.

On the right side,
we see a shortwave infrared,

and we are showing this
because it kind of takes you

to the initial phase
of the painting.

In the initial phase, this skirt
continued up to the waistline,

and then the shawl
was introduced.

So it becomes clear
that the skirt

was already sort of covered
by the shawl

when the final paint layers
were added.

That is very exciting.

I mean, as you can imagine.

There was always that question,

did the shawl come afterwards,
was it him?

And what essentially this shows
is it was all contemporaneous.

What you've determined here

is really the most important
new information,

I mean, in terms
of the understanding

of this painting
since the determination

that the canvas is the same
as The Lacemaker.

I mean,
from the same bolt of cloth.

Yeah, so it's inherent
to the concept.

Yes, yes.

Yes.

It's him.

It's him, yeah.

Huh.

Um, thank you.

- Thank you, thank you.
- Very welcome.

You know, we'll incorporate
all of this information.

That is really nice
that you're able to do...

Shall we begin?
- Alright.

I can't see anything now.

Can you see anything?
- No, nothing.

You let people come and tell them
they can enter in groups.

Theme parks do that.

More people can watch
if they stand further away.

I would add another 50 centimeters.

No! Will you be able to see anything then?
- That's the question.

Can we try with 15 people?

This seems fine to me.
- Yes, it's not bad.

You want to be able to stand here
and look at it.

Yeah.

But not more than 15 people.
- No, I saw that too.

Here we are.

Paintings you know well.

It's great to see them again.

Yeah, old friends.

This painting was the gift of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman,

but it came
with these restrictions

that none of the paintings
they gave to us can travel.

They always have to be
on view here at the Met.

I think it's stunning.

Absolutely.

And then,
the Woman with a Water Pitcher,

which was the first Vermeer
to actually comes to America,

is a very fragile painting,

so very unlikely
to ever be loaned again.

I feel a kind of sadness
in it as well since it's...

I mean, we know that
we are never being able

to bring paintings like these
back home.

This will be hard.

You're going after this one.
- Yes.

Nice, this little breeze.
- Yes, it's really hot.

This way or that?
- I think it's this way.

Oh, lovely.

They've put the Dutch and the Italians
together.

Do you see this?
- Yes...

Oops, that was the...

I want to see the elephants.
- Here they are.

A collection like this
and there's no one here?

Now I'm seeing something totally different.

It's almost like a shock.

All at once you look into this room.

Wow.

This painting shows three figures.

This man is seducing the lady
in this gorgeous salmon dress...

with a glass of wine.

An online ranking
has this at number five.

Out of 37 Vermeers, that's pretty high.

This painting has a connection
with another piece in Berlin...

which is also a seduction scene
with a girl in a red dress.

The composition is different,
but you can see...

his development, the great strides
he made within a few years.

We will also have this piece,
from the Frick Collection...

where he returns to the theme,
combining it with music.

It's nice to be able to see him
make decisions.

So the Braunschweig piece
is pivotal to this story.

Was that me?
- Sorry.

Hello, Mrs. Gatenbröcker.
- Good to see you.

Good to see you.
- Back in Braunschweig?

Yes, to look up some old friends.

Real old friends and old friends in 2D.

So far we've got 24 Vermeers
for this exhibition, which is unprecedented.

Including the German ones: Two from Berlin,
two from Dresden, one from Frankfurt.

But not this one from Braunschweig.

This coming year we've got the theme
for the Lower Saxony state finals.

All sitting students, for their final art exams,
have to write about this Vermeer.

How many students would that be?
- I don't know.

About 500 sitting students are doing
their final exams in the subject of Art?

No idea.
- Or a thousand.

You could bus them to the exhibition
in Amsterdam.

They will be bussed here.

We'll have to cast another yearning look
at this painting...

swallow hard, and jump
off the nearest bridge, I guess.

I don't think you'll drown.
- No, the river's water level is too low.

There are plenty of other ways.

It's about the story we want to tell,
not the number of paintings.

And for the story,
the Braunschweig piece is very...

Yes, really. It will be so...
- Gosh, Gregor.

Yeah.

I have reached a certain age
and will retire.

Vermeer is the last show
I will do at the Rijksmuseum.

This will be my crowning achievement.

I think most art historians
have some reason why they do this work.

They can be pure scientists
and draw up inventories...

or measure a piece and find that
it's exactly 83 by 67 centimeters.

But that's not what it's about.

What is it about?
- Well...

Of course it's very easy, really,
and very simple...

No, it's not simple.

We are fully focusing
on the exhibition,

which is opening already
in early '23,

so it's getting
a bit exciting now.

So, how many paintings
will there be in the show?

Well, it depends, I think.
It's...

As a friend and colleague,

I just, you know, I want
to support this exhibition

because I think
we all gain from that.

But, at the same time,
you know,

these are what I always call
"pilgrimage paintings,"

you know, the ones that people
make a pilgrimage

to the National Gallery
just to see.

Yeah, I don't think
that all of the paintings

have ever been
out of the building

at the same time.

Yeah.

Would there be a possibility
of a reciprocal loan?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Of a Vermeer at some point?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

We would be absolutely happy
to collaborate with you

on a future
Vermeer project here.

Great.

So you've examined
all four right now.

Yeah.

And what I think is one
of the most striking things is,

well, the way you're looking
at this painting again.

Yeah, and, you know,
as you know,

the attribution of this
painting has been questioned.

That's one of the things that
we really wanted to dig into

and investigate.

And you see
striking differences, then,

to the others.

Um, might be.

The Girl with a Flute,

it's an amazing
little piece of painting.

There's this hat
that you could...

you could feel you could
put your finger under her hat

and flip it off.

You know, you just want
to take the hat off

of the woman's head.

It just really sticks out.

It looks pretty good to me,

but it doesn't really look
like he finished it.

If this was finished,

this would have been,
you know,

one of Vermeer's finest works.

What do you think of this one?
They're not sure.

At the moment, I have no doubts at all

that these two were painted
by the same artist.

Everything I see here says Vermeer.

The use of this green earth near the eye,
no one else does that.

Now, the question is,

why did Vermeer use
green earth in the flesh tones?

And so far,

nobody has really been able
to come up with an explanation.

When you move into the neck,

you can see
it's just fundamentally green.

I think it will be
very difficult to gauge exactly.

No one knows
how this was done.

Even the slightest amount
of green earth here

will just dull down this cheek
a little bit better.

Now...

He was the only painter
using this technique.

I count at least
eight paintings

that are clearly done
with green earth

in the flesh tones.

Well, good morning
to all of you.

It's quite
an impressive moment.

Wonderful to have
so much colleagues from abroad,

especially the Washington team
in the full strength.

What now to do
with Girl with a Flute?

The girl is looking
straight at us,

I mean, has anyone
ever seen a Vermeer girl

look straight at us?

This raking light image
shows you

how lumpy
the paint handling is,

which is a little unnerving.

Generally, you get a sense of
someone who's really struggling,

who hasn't quite got command
of their materials.

The green earth shadows
in Vermeer's faces

seem to be unique to Vermeer,

but on the right,
you can see how they built up

this big, thick mass of green
that almost drips in places.

So, this artist knew that they
should be using green earth

in their skin shadows,

but didn't quite have
the knack.

So, um, close but no cigar.

So, Alex, you want to...

Yeah, so, you know, with this
new body of evidence, you know,

that we've assembled,

we can say that
Vermeer was not involved

in the creation
of Girl with a Flute.

You know, we know
that whoever painted this

had a very close proximity
to Vermeer,

was likely observing him
as he worked

just as a studio assistant
or a student might.

And this is really exciting,

because there is, of course,
no documentation about this,

but I think
it's an opportunity

to rethink the way
in which Vermeer was working,

I mean, the idea
that he was possibly a mentor

training a next generation
of artists.

That's a little update of what
we've been doing for two years.

I was just gonna say, that's
how we spent our vacations.

I was so impressed
with this painting,

and now I have to hear
you doubt...

We do, yeah.

And this is something new
and I have to slick it.

Swallow it, yeah.

Swallow it, yeah,
it's a big frog now.

You can do it, you can do it.

To hear that, you know,

it might not be
by Vermeer after all,

it was kind of, uh,
kind of shocking.

Was it? Oh, okay.

Yeah, because I've had my
doubts for a long time myself.

So, what do you think?

Do you still want the painting
in your show?

Girl with a Flute?

Now I really believe
it's opening a door.

Yeah.

So if this is not him,
who is it?

But who is it?

Had Vermeer an assistant?

Is it his daughter,
Maria Vermeer?

Well, I mean...

Could it be him
on a windy day?

- You don't believe.
- No, no.

Couldn't it be that it is...

the first try out
of this thing...

I... no.
Could it be that... okay.

No, I mean, we just...
we don't see a scenario

in which this is by Vermeer.

There isn't a single painting
in the whole world

which is as closely related to the
Girl with a Red Hat as the Girl with a Flute.

They are saying, we can see
that he or she makes mistakes

which a trained artist
would never make.

So this could have been an amateur
who did this only once.

With all my knowledge of the Delft,
Dordrecht and Rotterdam Schools...

I can't think of anyone who might have been
capable of painting this.

There's big news
in the art world.

A painting thought to be
by Johannes Vermeer

isn't a Vermeer after all.

That's surprising to me.
...who left behind few works.

You see here
the greenish shadows

in the flesh.

There's not the subtlety
of transition

that we find in Vermeer.

So what? The neck is green?

If you look at the neck
of the woman...

of the guitar player,
it's pretty green.

Looks like a lizard.

But there's no doubt
that that's a Vermeer.

So if this is not a Vermeer,

there must have been someone in his circle
who came awfully close to him

in his or her painting.

And what does that mean?

The whole idea of Vermeer
would have to be adjusted.

It's generally assumed
that no one around him painted like this.

Or this one?
- The Geographer.

These two are interchangeable.
I prefer it this way.

No, I would hang The Geographer here.

Pieter, it's better to put these paintings
with letters closer together.

I say, put this one here.

I want people to get inside Vermeer's head

to give them the chance to see something
they haven't seen before.

I think the Berlin one
would be more powerful here.

Yeah, I can tell you right now
that we are at this moment

with 27 paintings
for the exhibition.

27?

Yeah 27.

That is five more than
in The Hague in '95, '96.

Mm.

But we will have the three
of the Frick Collection.

Oh, all three
of the Frick Collection?

All three of them.

Oh, the Office and Laughing Girl
will be there.

Yeah.

I would go just
to see that painting.

- You're a painter.
- Mm-hm.

An artist.

And you can look
like a painter.

Yes, yes, I always do.

Now, um, you have always
to make a difference

between paintings you love,

because you think that
they are really, really fine,

and then the technicians
are coming to you

and they're saying
the other way.

So I am a scientist,

so in my heart
there are two things bumping,

and so a little bit
the art lover

and the other is, of course,
the scientist.

There are so many enigmas.

There are so many things

that I think both of us
still don't understand.

I think both of us still
are very careful, you know,

we don't want
to tread on facts

and we don't want to make up
our own facts.

I believe that we're both
willing to live with doubts.

Mm.

Vermeer has meant
something different

to every single generation.

I think I've counted
six or seven Vermeers

in the last century.

A long time ago, it was
about Vermeer the leftist.

You could say he's painting
the people, the common life.

And then afterwards,

Vermeer became
an abstract painter, right?

A formalist painter.

Just shapes and colors.

After that, people started
thinking about Vermeer

as a story teller,

as an iconographer.

And the most recent development

is a sort of
a feminist kind of appeal.

Vermeer, who painted women.

The painter of women,

what their psyche was
and he was so near to women.

So, every generation sort of
turns over what's there before,

and so it's hard
to keep up with it.

The idea that these artists
were isolated geniuses

existing in their own world,
creating in this void.

It's just not, um, in a way,
relevant anymore.

It's not a relevant question.

We really want to know,
you know,

tell me about this ambiance
that you were in,

and tell me about your wife,

tell me about
your mother-in-law,

tell me about your daughters.

Because women
are such a central theme to him.

But it must have been
a very influential environment

to have all of these women
around you.

And we don't often
think of their role,

though I think this
next generation really is.

Girl with a Flute is by Vermeer after all,
the Rijksmuseum says in Het Parool.

Only last month, American researchers
claimed the work is not by Vermeer.

But now it is supposed to be
a Vermeer again.

Has this painting ever had
so much publicity?

No, never.

"Girl with a Flute is actually by Vermeer
the Rijksmuseum says."

Okay...

"Pieter Roelofs,
Head of Paintings and Sculpture"...

Good photo.

"We believe we are right."

"Our argument is crystal-clear."

You know...
- I thought we were still getting there.

"Girl with a Flute
will not be loaned out as a Vermeer..."

"but we will put it up as a Vermeer."

"The doubts will evaporate
during the flight across the ocean."

What I like about this and what I've been
missing in art history for a long time

is that at last we've got
two opposing opinions again

and people are trying to exchange ideas

which leads to heated discussions.

Hi.
- Good morning.

Pieter is here too.

Yeah.

Nice.

They're on the table,
we can start at once.

What I read in the paper
was a bit of a surprise to me.

So I thought...

I agree with the content
of the newspaper article,

but it's also a matter of
having regard for our colleagues.

And I wonder if this went down well.
Because you do say...

Basically we expressed
what we discussed here.

And it attracted a great deal of publicity,

seeing as it made The New York Times
and The Guardian and so on.

It says something about
Vermeer's status as an artist.

But it's not an ideal scenario.

Good morning,
good to see you.

Perfect.

Good, great.

Okay.

Okay, microphone.

Okay, all right.

Yeah, now good.

It's a pity that it got
into the papers like this.

They've expressed their surprise:
"Guys, what's this we read in the papers?"

So we shouldn't throw it away,
I think.

We thought you had
properly communicated

that in your opinion it should still be
part of Vermeer's oeuvre.

But you hadn't. So then it's a matter
of having it out and moving on.

There you go.

- Thanks, Jon.
- You're welcome.

That was fun.

That was real fun,
wasn't it?

What a good time.

You could have continued
for another two hours I think.

So, whatever it is,

it's quite a convincing
composition, I think.

She's leaning at one side,
so her weight is over,

that's why she's
a little bit diagonal.

I would love
to show you something.

Oh.

Is this it?

It is it.

This is the one
that Vermeer saw.

- Yep.
- Oh...

Yeah, that he saw
with his own eyes.

He saw with own eyes
and thought it was worthwhile

- to put in his painting.
- Yeah.

And very interesting that
he cut it in his painting here,

I would say.

So we have here
the turban on top, his arm and...

So, what is this light part,

that... this is the lightest,

there's sort of
a rectangle here.

- That corresponds to that.
- Yeah, to this one.

- It's really exactly that.
- Right, yes.

Very funny.

I've always been amazed
that you were able

to connect
that little sliver of rect...

I always thought,

"We'll never know
what was this supposed to be."

- Mm.
- And then you discovered this.

Yeah.

I guess I didn't look at it
as careful as you did.

So, we have an object
that Vermeer actually touched.

Yeah.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Do you mind if I touch it
in the corner?

Yeah.

Can I just touch it
just slightly, that...

Oh...

Have I seen
all the Vermeers?

Yes, I think
I've seen them all.

My very last Vermeer
was the one in Berlin.

What was it
a year ago, yeah.

A little bit more
than a year ago.

The Glass of Wine, or
The Girl with the Glass of Wine.

And it was good to have
put this thing off, you know?

You turn 71 and you see
your last Vermeer.

And I was just really moved.

I just walked into the room...

I'm sorry.

And uh...

it was just like the first
Vermeer that I'd ever seen.

1.65?
- No, 1.67, please.

Nice. Let's do this one too,
so we'll have one room done.

Mind the raised edges.

Okay, here we go.

Easy...

It feels very different,
the Mauritshuis without Vermeers.

Is your side in?
- Yes, almost.

My side is in now.

It really comes alive now.
- Yes.

What do you think?

Looks pretty amazing.

I'm looking forward
to having people see them,

compare them, and yeah.

Is it strange to see her here?
- A little.

This is such a treat!

This looks good.
- Yes.

Okay!

Dear colleagues, it's nine o'clock.

The museum is opening to the public.