Girl with a Pearl Earring Returns Home

Home to the international Peace Palace, 118 embassies and King Willem-Alexander, The Hague is one of the Netherlands most extraordinary cities. This “Royal City by the Sea” is also home to a girl whose face you may recognize – Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Jan Vermeer; Photo by Ivo Hoekstra, courtesy of Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Girl recently returned home from an extensive international tour that included the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, San Francisco’s de Young Museum, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Palazzo Fava in Bologna and The Frick in New York. While she was away the Mauritshuis, which is her home, underwent a two year renovation.

Located in a 17th-century classical townhouse in the city center on the banks of the Parliament Pond, the Mauritshuis is a jewel box filled with a collection of paintings by Dutch and Flemish masters. Here you will find iconic works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Steen and Rubens. The Girl with a Pearl Earring is elegantly displayed alongside other favorite masterpieces including The Goldfinch by Fabritius, Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and Paulus Potter’s The Bull.

The Mauritshuis collection is significant due to its unprecedented quality and the specific focus on painting. Although the collection is not large (just over 800 paintings), it is ranked as one of the top four collections of Dutch paintings in the world alongside the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery in London and the Gem collection in Berlin.

Built in 1644 as the residence of count Johan Maurits of Nassau Siegen, the historic building has been painstakingly restored and renovated to upgrade the facilities. A Royal Dutch Shell Wing was added to the adjacent site and linked to the original building via an underground foyer which is brilliantly lit. The addition doubled the museum’s space and made room for new exhibition galleries and a permanent education area. The seamless blend of old architecture with new only enhances its beauty.

Exterior of Mauritshuis; Photo by Ivo Hoekstra, courtesy of Mauritshuis, The Hague

The magnificent art in The Hague doesn’t stop at the Mauritshuis. The Girl’s neighbors are also impressive. For a true immersion in art, step into the largest painting of the Netherlands and travel back in time to the old fishing village, Scheveningen, as it was in 1881. The Panorama Mesdag is a 360 degree optical illusion of the village painted by Hendrik Willem Mesdag in 1880 with the assistance of his wife and many student painters. From an observation gallery in the center of the room the cylindrical perspective creates the illusion of standing on a sand dune overlooking the beach, the sea and the village. Sand and scattered beach items in the foreground hide the base of the painting making the illusion more convincing. Each viewing is unique as the light filters in at various angles throughout the day.

Detail from the Golden Room; Photo by Ivo Hoekstra, courtesy of Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Panorama Mesdag is the oldest 19th century panorama in the world in its original state and a unique cultural heritage. Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh once said “Mesdag Panorama is the most beautiful sensation of my life. It has just one tiny flaw and that is its flawlessness.”

Panorama Mesdag; Photo by Terri Marshall

Elsewhere in The Hague, the works of Piet Mondrian including his last unfinished work, Victory Boogie- Woogie, are on display at Gemeentemuseum.  Designed by architect H.P. Berlage, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is a pinnacle of modern architecture. This museum features interesting exhibitions throughout the year focusing on the visual arts as well as crafts and fashion, but it’s primarily known for the work of Mondrian. The museum’s collection includes Mondrian’s early, realistic works and chronicles various stages of his career. Throngs of tourists pose beside Victory Boogie-Woogie and that includes President Barack Obama who posed for a photo by the famed work during a recent visit to The Hague.

Sculpture at Gemeentemuseum; Photo by Terri Marshall

Gemeentemuseum also owns one of the largest and most beautiful collections of Delft Blue in the world. Housed in the Style Rooms of The Hague Municipal Museum, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of four centuries of Delft and includes everything from simple plates to elaborate tulip vases.

Delft Blue Collection; Photo by Terri Marshall

Extend your art immersion in nearby Delft, the hometown of Johannes Vermeer and the setting for the Girl with a Pearl Earring. Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 and lived and worked there all his life. Step into the 17th century at The Vermeer Center for a visual voyage through the life and work of this Dutch master. The center has a replica of Vermeer’s studio which shows how he approached his work and how he mastered light, composition and color in his paintings.

 View of Delft by Jan Vermeer; courtesy of Mauritshuis, The Hague

Many of Vermeer’s paintings are about love. Sometimes the love theme is obvious but at other times, it’s obscure. On the second floor of the Vermeer Center the exhibition “Love messages from Vermeer” exposes the secret love messages revealed in his paintings. This exhibition explains the love messages which include romantic love, seducing love, paid love and inaccessible love.

After a few days surrounded by the masterpieces in The Hague, you too will fall in love with the Girl with a Pearl Earring and all of her magnificent neighbors. Welcome home.

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