Original subtitles

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.