Johannes Vermeer and his influence on modern painting

In addition to Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Vermeer van Delft - also Johannes Vermeer - is one of the most admired Dutch artists and Dutch painters of the Baroque .

The Dutch artist shortly - a profile

He was part of the Golden Age of the Netherlands , an era of political, economic and cultural upswing. Although Verme's total work with only 37 known pictures is comparatively small, further titles from old auction records have been handed down. The rare works of the Dutch are among the greatest treasures in the best museums in the world.

While he initially created history pictures, he is primarily known for his genres scenes, which make up the majority of his works. Vermeer began his career in the early 1650s with the painting of large -format biblical and mythological scenes, but most of his later paintings - those for whom he is most famous - show scenes of everyday life indoors. These works are characterized by their purity of light and shape, qualities that convey a calm, timeless feeling of dignity. Vermeer also painted city landscapes and allegorical scenes.

His best -known works include the " Delft view", "Major Major with Milk Krug" and " The girl with the pearl ear hanging", which is known worldwide today.

Due to the small number of his works, pictures of other artists were incorrectly attributed to him in the 19th century. Today, however, it is generally recognized that Vermeer was a master of his subject.

The artistic legacy of the Dutch baroque artist Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) is now almost undisputedly considered one of the most influential in art history. He has unique techniques of painting that give his painting a liveliness and a feeling of reality. He captured the light perfectly in his paintings, which makes his work appear so realistic and alive. His techniques are still very popular among artists today and are still used frequently in modern paintings.

His famous paintings, which offer a unique combination of realistic details and subtle color pallets, have had a sustainable influence on modern painting and significantly inspired countless artists after him. He revolutionized painting and taught us how to catch light in paintings and make them something unique. His distinctive style has preserved through the centuries and is still an important part of the art world.

To the surprise of many, the painter was little known in his time ...

Johannes Vermeer - a detailed artist portrait - life and work

In fact, Vermeer was relatively unknown even until the middle of the 19th century. The mystery of his life and the continuing anonymity of his work brought him the nickname "Sphinx from Delft" . It was only in the 1870s that he was "rediscovered" .

However, Vermeer sold his paintings during his lifetime. Pieter van Ruijven (1624–1674), the brewer born in Delft, was an enthusiastic collector of the artist's works. Van Ruijven had no less than 20 Vermeer.

The main reason for his life and legacy, which has been in the dark long in the dark, is probably justified by the fact that he only produced a small number of pictures, perhaps about forty -five (of which are now known as six) - mainly for a small circle of patrons in Delft.

As already mentioned, about half of the painted works by Vermeer was acquired by local collector Pieter van Ruijven. Although Verme's work was known to other connoisseurs in Delft and the neighboring Hofstadt and some of his paintings were sold to persons (Antwerp and Amsterdam), most Dutch painters made hundreds of pictures for a much broader market.

The fact that his teacher was unknown and obviously had no famous students also contributes to his image as an isolated figure. However, the artist was a respected member of the painter guild in Delft, and he exchanged image ideas with contemporary painters who worked in this city (especially Pieter de Hooch in the 1650s) and in the region (e.g. Frans van Mieris in Leiden).

His early years

Delft , where Vermeer was born and spent his artistic career, was an active and wealthy place in the mid -17th century, the wealth of which was based on his flowering Delft porcelain factories, tapestries and breweries. was flanked by the imposing town hall and the towering church tower of Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church") It was also a venerable city with a long and important past.

The Dutch painter was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk. His father, Reynier Jansz, was a weaver who produced Caffa He also worked as an art dealer. Until 1641, the family was wealthy enough to buy a large house with an inn called Mechelen on the market square. Vermeer inherited both the inn and the art trade shop after the death of his father in October 1652. At that time, however, the painter must have decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a painter .

In April 1653, Vermeer married Catherina Bolnes, a young Catholic woman from the so -called Papenhoek or the Papist corner of Delft. The marriage to Catharina Bolnes (1631–1687) led to a total of 11 children. The modesty of the scenes he painted is certainly in a strong contrast to the reality of his lush household.

This association also led him to convert to Catholicism .

Later in this decade, Vermeer and his wife moved to the bride's house, Maria Thins, who was a distant relative of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert .

Artistic training and early influences

Surprisingly little is known about Vermeer's decision to become a painter. He was registered on December 29, 1653 as a master painter in the Delft Lukasgilde, but the identity of his master, the type of training and the time of his training remains an object of wild speculation to this day.

Since his name was no longer mentioned in Delft archive documents at the end of the 1640s or early 1650s, it is possible that, like many aspiring Dutch artists, he traveled to Italy, France or Flanders. He may also have trained in another artistic center in the Netherlands, perhaps in Utrecht or Amsterdam.

In Utrecht , Vermeer had met artists who had immersed them in the expressive traditions of Caravaggios , including Gerrit van Honthorst . In Amsterdam, he is said to have succumbed to the influence of Rembrandt van Rijn , whose powerful light-dark effects were to strengthen the psychological intensity of his pictures from now on.

Stylistic features of both image traditions - the Utrecht School and that of Rembrandt - can be found in Vermeer's early large -format biblical and mythological paintings such as "Diana with their companions" (around 1653–54; also called Diana and her nymphs) and " Christ in the House of Maria and Martha" (approx. 1654–56).

The most striking alignment of the two traditions shows itself in Vermeers "at the coupler" (1656). The theme of this scene of mercenary love is derived from a painting by the Utrecht artist Dirck Dirck Van Baburen from the collection of Vermeer's mother-in-law, while the deep red and yellow tones and the strong light-dark effects remind of Rembrandt's style.

The weakly illuminated figure on the left side of the composition is probably a self -portrait in which Vermeer takes on the shape of the lost son, a role that Rembrandt had also played in one of his own scenes "fun society" .

In the early 1650s, Vermeer could also find a lot of inspiration in his homeland Delft, where art undertook a rapid change. The most important artist in Delft was Leonard Bramer , who, in addition to small -format history images - i.e. morally edifying representations of biblical or mythological topics, also created great wall paintings for the Prince of Oranien.

Documents point out that Bramer, who was Catholic, served as a best man for Vermeer at his wedding. Although it seems that Bramer was at least one of the young artists' advocates, it is not mentioned anywhere that he was his teacher.

Another important painter that Vermeer must have known in Delft during this time was Carel Fabritius , a former Rembrandt student. Fabritius' impressive, thoughtful pictures and the innovative use of the perspective seem to have had a lasting impact on the Dutch. This connection was found by the poet Arnold Bon, who found in a letter about Fabritius 'tragic death in 1654 at the Pulverhaus explosion in Delft that "Vermeer [Fabritius'] has masterfully followed" .

Vermeer was aware of the work of Fabritius, but there is no evidence that he studied at Fabritius.

scenes of everyday life in the second half of the 1650s . These genre images are the ones with whom he is most often associated. Gerard Terborch , an artist from Deventer, who masterfully reproduced textures in his representations of domestic activities, may have encouraged the artist to pursue scenes of everyday life.

Terborch's influence is certainly in one of the earliest genre pictures by Vermeer, "Letting girl at an open window" (around 1659), obviously, in which he created a quiet place to read her letter to the young woman. In contrast to the characteristic dark interiors of Terborch, Vermeer dived this remarkably private scene into a radiant light that flows in through an open window.

The painting also reveals his growing interest in illusionism , not only in the inclusion of a yellow -green curtain that hangs on a rod that extends over the upper part of the painting, but also in the subtle reflections of the face of the woman in the open window.

Pieter de Hooch 's work , a leading genre painter in Delft at the time. De Hooch was a master in using the perspective to create a light-flooded inner or court scene in which figures are comfortably placed.

Although no documents in Johannes Vermeer and de Hooch combine, it was very likely that the two artists were in close contact during this time, since the topics and style of their paintings were quite similar in these years. Verme's view of the houses in Delft (around 1658; also called the small street) is such a work: As with de Hooch's court scenes, Vermeer has portrayed a world of domestic calm here, in which women and children are calming down their daily life.

At the height of his creative phase

Starting in the late 1650s and in the course of about a decade - a remarkably short period of productivity in view of his enormous call - Johannes Vermeer created many of his most famous paintings , most of them inside scenes. No other contemporary Dutch artist created scenes with such luminosity and purity of the colors, and the work of no other painter was penetrated by a comparable sense of timelessness and human dignity.

When he reached the highlight of his artistic work, the artist was finally honored and honored in his birthplace Delft. In 1662 he was appointed head of the painting suits. Although no orders for Vermeer's paintings are known, it seems that during this period he mainly sold his work to a small group of patrons in Delft.

For example, over two decades after Vermere's death, no fewer than 21 of his paintings from the estate of Jacob Dissius , a Delft collector, were sold.

Jan Vermeer's work - topics and motifs

At the height of his career, Vermeer concentrated on paintings that women , read or write letters, played musical instruments or adorned themselves with jewelry. On these topics, he always looked for paths to express a feeling of inner harmony in everyday life , mainly within the limits of a private room.

In paintings such as "Young woman with a water jug ​​at the window (around 1662)" , "Young lady with pearl neck" (around 1662/64) and "Woman in Blau, who reads a letter" (around 1663), he used the laws of perspective and placement of individual objects - chairs, tables, walls, cards, window frames - to create a feeling for the underlying order of nature .

Verme's carefully selected objects are never randomly placed ; Their positions, proportions, colors and textures work with his characters. Bright light plays over these pictures and further connects the elements.

The emotional power of Vermeer's great “View of Delft” (see picture above in the article) results in a similar way from its ability to transform a picture of the physical world into a harmonious, timeless visual expression. In this masterpiece, the painter Delft represented from the other side of the port, where transport boats were unloaded on inland waters after navigation.

Beyond the shady frieze of the venerable protective walls and massive gates of Delft, bright sunshine illuminates the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk, tomb of the Prince of Orania and the symbolic center of the city. Apart from the use of light, the urgency of the painting also moves from its large scale and the tangible illusion of reality . The buildings get a physical presence through Vermeer Suggestive Art to put small points of unmodulated colors side by side with brush strokes; He used a similar technology to suggest the reflection of water on the sides of the boats.

Although he pulled his inspiration from his observations of everyday life, Vermeer remained a history painter who tried abstract moral and philosophical ideas . This quality becomes particularly clear in "The Pearl Wager" (Illustration see above).

In this remarkable picture there is a woman calmly in front of a table that wears a jewelry box draped with gold and pearl threads while waiting for her little hand scale to come to rest. Although the steamed light that falls into the room and the refined textures of the jewelry and fur -occupied jacket are realistically reproduced, the painting of the latest court on the back wall indicates that the artist has allegorically designed the scene.

When the woman stands next to the jewelry box and the court scene, her calm facial expression indicates a knowledge: she has to preserve the balance in her own life by not allowing comparable secular treasures outweigh permanent spiritual concerns.

Surprisingly little is known about Johannes Vermere's attitude to his role as an artist. However, the philosophical framework for his approach to his craft can be guessed from another work of this time, "the painting art" (figure see further above). Vermeer announced his allegorical intent to this large and impressive work with a large curtain that was withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if he was rejected as if it were recovered as if it were recovered as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he were withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if he was withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn as if it were withdrawn.

The scene shows an elegantly dressed lady - a representation of the allegorical figure of Clio , the muse of history, which is recognizable by its attributes: a laurel wreath as a symbol of honor and fame, the trumpet of fame and a large book as a symbol of history. Johannes Vermeer compared Clio and a large wall map of the Netherlands to show that the artist has brought fame through his historical awareness and his ability to paint sublime motifs, his hometown and his home country.

This painting was so important that his widow tried to withhold it from the creditors, even when the family was Mittellos.

Vermeer's painting techniques and working methods

Incomparable use of light

Perhaps the best known characteristic of Vermeer's greatest paintings is their luminosity . Vermeer was able to banish light on objects like no other artist - and this ability has made its name famous all over the world. The fabrics in his paintings shimmer and the shadows on the wall are as real as possible. The Malter skillfully used the use of light to draw our eyes.

Technical studies have shown that Vermeer generally found a gray or ocher -colored basic layer on its canvas or its table beam in order to produce the special color harmonies of its composition.

It was very aware of the visual effect of color and generated translucent effects by inserting thin glazes on these basic layers or on the opaque layers of color that defined its shapes. His work also seems to be permeated by light, since he used small points of unmodized color (a pointillistic technology ) - as in the buildings mentioned above and the water of "View of Delft" and in the foreground objects in other work, such as the crispy bread in "Magdling with Milk Krug" and the endpieces of the chair in "Girl with a red hat" (around 1665/66).

Depth and three -dimensionality

Vermeer was also a master in creating depth , for example by only slightly defined contours. He also played with partially hidden views - in a hallway or through an open curtain - to strengthen the illusion of a three -dimensional space and at the same time increase the viewer's curiosity and ask us: What happens there, especially out of sight?

Lively colors

Although he was not a wealthy man, Vermeer did not buckle when it came to painting materials. For example, he used a pigment made of ground Lapis Lazuli - a very expensive semi -precious stone that had to be shipped from Afghanistan to the Netherlands in the 17th century - to produce its own blue color.

The lively colors still shimmer full of intensity when we look at them today, hundreds of years after painting them.

Vermeer had colors "resound" through a painting to create a harmonious feeling of unity. For example, see the blue of the clothing of the letter reader, which reappears in the chairs, the pear -shaped weight under the map on the wall and even in the shadow areas.

There were no color tubes at Vermerme's time, and he had to mix oil, a binder and finely ground pigments to make his own.

Diffuse highlights à la Camera obscura

The diffuse highlights that Vermeer achieved are comparable to those of a camera obscura , a fascinating optical device that works like a box camera. The Camera Obscura from the 17th century created a picture by giving light rays through a small opening, which was sometimes equipped with a focus pipe and a lens.

Due to the limited depth of field of the device, the projected image has many blurred areas surrounded by blurred highlights. Apparently Vermeer was fascinated by these optical effects and used them to give his paintings a greater immediacy.

Some have argued that Vermeer used the device to plan its compositions, and even that he has traced the images projected on the back of the Camera obscura. However, such a work process is highly unlikely.

Traditional perspective constructions

Instead, Vermeer was mainly based on traditional perspective constructions to create his feeling of space. For example, it was discovered that there are small needle holes in many of its inner genres at the escape point of his perspective system. Threads attached to the needle would have led him to the construction of the orthogonal lines, which would have defined the deepening of floors, windows and walls.

Vermeer carefully placed this escape point in order to emphasize the main compositional element of the painting.

In “The Pearl Wager”, for example, it appears on the fingertip of the hand that the scales holds, and thus increases its overall philosophical message.

Theater compositions of everyday situations

Vermeer composed his scenes as if he were building a theater set in which he would put his topic by acting elements such as pieces of furniture, kitchen utensils, food and human figures in meticulous - every object and every person in these sophisticated compositions are assigned its own importance and role.

In this way, Vermeer managed to captivate our attention - this applies to both people who have often studied his pictures and to those who see them for the first time. Details such as tiles in a corner or a nail in a white wall "appear" sometimes late.

Meticulous way of working and striving for perfection

Johannes Vermeer continuously adapted his compositions and updated them again and again. X -ray examinations of his paintings have revealed objects that were covered by thick layers of paint. These had originally been part of the composition, such as a laundry basket in "service maid with milk jug", where there is now a foot oven.

This striving for perfection is a characteristic feature of the artist. This attention to detail helps to explain the small quantitative scope of Vermeer's creative work, even during its most fruitful time. He has to work slowly and carefully think about the character of his composition and the way he wanted to do it.

Late work and retirement

In 1670 Vermeer was once again elected head of the Delert Malergilde. Vermeer's later style has a clearer character and greater atmospheric clarity than in his paintings of the 1660s. Around 1670, the carefully modulated tones and colors that he used in these previous works gave way to a direct, still bold technology.

For example, he used sharply defined colored surfaces and square rhythms to convey a feeling of emotional energy in paintings, as in "letter writer and maid" (1670/1671) and "The guitar player" (around 1672).

The fate of the artist deteriorated drastically towards the end of his life, mainly due to the catastrophic economic climate in Holland after the invasion of French troops in 1672.

When Vermeer died in 1675, he left a woman, 11 children and enormous debts.

Vermas legacy

Verme's fame was not widespread during his lifetime, mainly because his paintings were collected by local patrons and because his oeuvre was rather small in his quantity. After his death, the paintings were still admired by a small group of connoisseurs, mainly in Delft and Amsterdam. Until the 19th century, a number of Vermere's paintings were attributed to other productive Dutch artists, including de Hooch.

However, when the French painter critic Étiene-Joseph-Théophile Thoré (who wrote under the pseudonym William Bürger) published his enthusiastic descriptions of Vermeer paintings in 1866, the passion for the artist's work achieved a broader audience.

When private collectors and public museums actively tried to acquire his rare paintings in the early years of the 20th century , the prices for his works rose to a sudden. This situation promoted the manufacture of counterfeits, the most noticeable ones that were painted by Han van Meegeren in the 1930s.

was partially fueled by an exhibition of his work in 1995–96 in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and in Mauritshuis The exhibition also attracted the public's attention to the painting girl with pearl earring (approx. 1665), which was on the advertising materials of the National Gallery and quickly became one of the most famous works by Vermeer around the turn of the 21st century.

Since February 10, 2023, the Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam, has been gathering 28 works by Vermere's paintings from all over the world for a blockbuster exhibition . The enormous interest in the exhibition testifies to Vermeer's popularity and the firm position that he takes centuries after his death in the canon of art history.

The great Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer is the celebrated star in the largest exhibition of his works in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. The paintings on display include maid of service with milk jug , "View of Delft" and "The girl with the pearl ear ring" , in a unique meeting that Vermeer could never see in this way.

When I go through the exhibition, it becomes increasingly clear to me how Vermeer creates the perfect illusion ”,

says Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum,

It feels as if you were standing in this room, together with the painting, with the person depicted. ” (AFP)

The appreciation for the remarkably small oeuvre of the artist has therefore only increased over generations. Vermeer found an empire among the coincidences of nature that was permeated by harmony and order, and by giving this empire a visual form, he revealed the poetry that exists in comparable moments of human existence.

He rarely explained the exact meaning of his pictures and instead preferred to allow every viewer to think about their importance. As a result, his masterpieces continue to captivate every contemporary viewer, as they must have employed their viewers in the dolphin of the 17th century.

Other video contributions worth seeing on the master artist:

In this video we see the most famous works by Vermeer:

A art -historical insight into Johannes Vermän's " Maid with Milk Krug ", currently in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Further internet sources:

• The Met - Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
• National Gallery of Art - Who is Vermeer?

Vermeer's influence on art history and modern art

Jan Vermeer can be described as one of the largest impetus for modern art. His works influenced artists up to the 20th century and today's artists. Although Vermeer received little recognition during his lifetime, his influence was undoubtedly recognized later. His works were unique and inspiration for many artists.

His subtle colors, the apparent simplicity and the photographic reality of his pictures were a revelation for many artists of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse . In addition, Verme's influence on modern art has contributed to the fact that today's artists integrate other techniques and styles into their art. His works have asked the following artists to think and paint and paint in a new way and not to focus on the technical aspects of painting.

His works have also had an effect in other arts - so Vermeer's influence is found in music and literature.

It still shows artists how they can combine light and color in an almost symbiotic way to create impressive and realistic images. His works are of an impressive precision that was a great source of inspiration for many other artists. His techniques and ideas were imitated and further developed by many artists, so that they are still popular with many artists these days.

His influence is undeniable and his works are a unique addition to the art world.