The Mauritshaus Museum in The Hague, Netherlands, displays a copy developed by artificial intelligence from Vermeer’s most famous painting, and criticisms of this step.
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The girl in the AI panel puts two earrings in her ears instead of the one in the original panel
An artificial intelligence-developed version of the painting “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, which is considered one of the most famous works of art in the history of painting, is sparking controversy in a Dutch museum, in light of the expansion of this technology to various sectors around the world.
At first glance, the seer notices the same luminosity, the same symbolic gaze of the girl in the original painting, but upon closer examination, strange striking details emerge.
The girl in this painting has not just one earring, but two sparkling earrings, one in each of her ears, with freckles of an unnatural red color on her face.
The artificial intelligence version of this work is part of an exhibition at the Mauritshaus Museum in The Hague, and the decision to display this painting sparked controversy in the Netherlands and on social networks. An artist wrote on the exhibition’s Instagram page that it was an “incredible disgrace and insult”, a view shared by dozens of other netizens.
Artist Eva Turinent, who campaigns for AI controls, says the technology “contradicts ethics”.
“Without the work of human artists, this program simply will not be able to produce works,” she explains, quoted by the Dutch newspaper “De Volkskrant”.
And last October, the painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” was exposed to liquid matter, by environmental activists, while it was on display at the “Mauritius Museum” in The Hague. The painting was not damaged, as it was protected by glass.
