The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is celebrating the astounding success of its Vermeer exhibition, hailing it as the most triumphant in the museum’s history. Over the course of 16 weeks, the exhibition attracted a staggering 650,000 visitors from 113 countries.
The exhibition was the largest ever dedicated to his work, featuring 28 masterpieces by the renowned Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Among the showcased paintings were iconic pieces such as the Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Milkmaid, capturing the essence of Vermeer’s genius.
To make the exhibition truly special, seven of the 28 works had never before been displayed in the Netherlands. These included three paintings from the esteemed Frick Collection in New York and others from the National Gallery of Art, which organized its own Vermeer blockbuster in 1999. In order to provide the best experience possible, the Rijksmuseum intentionally limited the number of visitors, extending visiting hours to accommodate the overwhelming interest.
Taco Dibbits, the general director of the Rijksmuseum, remarked, “Vermeer is the artist of peacefulness and intimacy. We wanted the visitors to enjoy it to the fullest. This was only possible by limiting the number of visitors.”
Due to the enormous demand, tickets for the exhibition sold out within days of its opening in February. The museum’s website experienced such high traffic that it eventually had to suspend general sales. Tickets were even being resold on eBay at exorbitant prices, reaching as high as $2,724.
With limited availability, more than half of the visitors (55 percent) came from the Netherlands. The top five countries for international visitors were France (17 percent), Germany (16 percent), the United Kingdom (16 percent), and the United States (14 percent).
The exhibition attracted notable guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron during his official state visit, renowned director Steven Spielberg, actors Gillian Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis, and author Min Jin Lee, known for her book Pachinko. The Rijksmuseum’s website received a surge in traffic, with thousands of people frantically checking for updates. The online component of the exhibition, featuring an interactive showcase of all the paintings narrated by actor Stephen Fry, saw nearly 800,000 visitors.
Not only did the Vermeer exhibition captivate audiences in person and online, but it also generated significant sales. The museum’s press office revealed that over 100,000 copies of the Vermeer catalogue were sold, surpassing any previous exhibition catalogue in the history of the Rijksmuseum. The catalogue, designed by Dutch graphic designer Irma Bloom, who has works in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, became a cherished keepsake for art enthusiasts.
Additionally, the Rijksmuseum published the book Vermeer. Faith, Light, and Reflection, authored by the co-curator of the exhibition and the museum’s head of fine arts, Gregor J. M. Weber, as well as the children’s book Miffy x Vermeer. Although sales figures for these two titles were not disclosed, the latter is currently sold out online, indicating its popularity among young readers.
The Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer exhibition will be remembered as a monumental success, attracting a global audience and solidifying Vermeer’s status as one of history’s most revered artists.
