Girl with a pearl earring, one of Johannes Vermeer’s best-known paintings, will only be on display in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum until March 30. The large Vermeer exhibition, which brings together 28 of the painter’s works for the first time, can be seen from Friday 10 February to 4 June.
Never before has there been so much interest in an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum prior to the opening. On the museum’s website you can read that more than 200,000 tickets have already been sold.
Girl with a pearl earringthat together with The milkmaid is one of Vermeer’s best-known works, will be on display in the museum for only seven weeks. The artwork will then be returned to the Mauritshuis, which wants it back before the tourist season begins.
“Without Girl with a pearl earring we would have to disappoint too many visitors, which means a financial loss,” explains Mauritshuis director Martine Gosselink.
From 1 April there will be a curtain
According to Gosselink, it was clear from the start that the artwork would not be loaned for the full period of the exhibition. According to Rijksmuseum spokesperson Elles Kamphuis, the museum was indeed aware that the work could only be borrowed temporarily, but not for how long.
It is now clearly stated on the ticket site that Girl with the pearl hangs there until March 30. Then a curtain will hang.
