Vermeer at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
From 10 September 2021 to 30 January 2022, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden is organising the largest exhibition of the work of Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) ever presented in Germany.
Vermeer - Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window - 1659Vermeer - The Little Street - 1658-61
Source: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. Images: Johannes Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter at an open window, 1659 (including the previously hidden figure of Cupid). Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden ·· Johannes Vermeer, The little street (Het Straatje), c.1658-61. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Gemäldegalerie has made a remarkable effort to bring together a wide selection of paintings by Vermeer, a painter to whom only about 35 works are attributed. Among the loans are "Woman reading a letter" and "The little street" from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, "Woman holding a Balance" from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, "Lady standing at a Virginal" from the National Gallery in London, "The Geographer" from the Städel in Frankfurt, "Girl with a Pearl Necklace" from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, and the "Girl with the wineglass" from the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig.
Of course, the two Vermeer works in Dresden's own Gemäldegalerie are included in the exhibition: "The Procuress" and "Girl Reading a Letter at an open window". The latter is arguably the centrepiece of the exhibition, as it is presented to the public for the first time after four years of restoration. Two rooms show audiovisual documentation on the restoration itself and the scientific research carried out as part of the restoration project, which has revealed that a figure of Cupid, covered by layers of paint and discovered by X-rays in 1979, is indeed the work of the painter, and that the layers of paint covering it were added after his death, and have therefore been removed.
The exhibition is divided into nine sections, each focusing on a painting by Vermeer, with titles such as "Reflections of the Soul", "Reality and Deception", "On the Paralysis of Time", "The Language of Love" and "Messages from the Heart". The last room is dedicated to "Girl Reading a Letter at an open window" and its recently completed restoration process.
The exhibition also includes 50 works of genre painting by artists related to Vermeer to a greater or lesser extent, such as Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Dou, Frans van Mieris and Gerard ter Borch.

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