Vermeer's Art: Unveiling Beauty and Emotion

Art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. Art has no limits and has no rules. It is purely what is in your mind and doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. It is the best form to express your feelings without telling the whole story. Johannes Vermeer is a man of many mysteries. No one is exactly sure what he looked like and there are very few known facts known about him.

He was born in a small town called Delft in 1632. This Dutch painter specialized mostly in interior domestic scenes of middle class life.

He only produced a couple of paintings. He worked slowly and put a lot of care into his work using bright colors and sometimes very expensive pigments. Johannes was buries in the same city he was born in1675 (Janson, 2001). The Girl with the Pearl Earring was one of Johannes Vermeer’s masterpieces.

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This painting, created in 1665, was said to be the Dutch Mona Lisa. As said in the name, the pearl earring is the focal point of the painting. This pearl hangs feely and motionless. The oval shape of the earring makes it seem like it has volume and weight.

In this painting, Vermeer paints a picture of a beautiful woman wearing a vibrant blue turban. Since the background is dark, your eye immediately goes to the intense blue turban and the gaze in the girls eyes. Today, the painting is kept in the Mauritshuis gallery in the Hauge located in the Netherlands (Vermeer Project, 2009).

The town Delft where Johannes lived is part of the Netherlands. On March fourth 1665, King Charles ll declared war on the Netherlands. This war became known was the second Dutch war. England started this war in hopes of confiscating the Dutch’s possessions.

The Dutch ended coming out on top and defeating the English. To me, the girl’s facial expression says everything about the painting. Her face looks young enough to be innocent but also worried. These are the types of expressions that he could’ve been seeing on people because of the war. However, even the girl in the painting doesn’t want you to look at her face either. The beauty about the painting isn’t supposed to be about the girl, it’s about the earring. The earring could have the significance that even when there is something ugly going on outside, there is still beauty around us.

Others think that Vermeer was in love with the girl in this painting. Although he was married, this girl symbolized everything that he wanted, simple, but beautiful. What the earring meant to society (beauty and boldness) is what the girl meant to Vermeer (Artreproductions, 2010). Overall, art can be anything you make it and it can mean whatever you want. It comes in many forms and it is the best way to get your expressions noticed and recognized. People will always have their interpretations; some will never know the truth that lies behind it.