Confrontation in the Netherlands
The art world is in an uproar over the news, published today in Dutch newspapers, that Johannes Vermeer's beloved landscape, View of Delft, has been removed from view at the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Considered by many scholars, and by a host of painters, as the greatest landscape ever painted, the View of Delft (1660) was very clearly not painted outside, under the changeable sky of Holland. This glaring fault has led to the current protest in the Netherlands, evidenced by the clipping (below) from an EU press bulletin.
Dutch Artists in Protest
The Hague
- Apr.15 (KH)--- Johannes Vermeer's iconic landscape painting, View of
Delft, has been removed from exhibition at the Mauritshuis, a
fine arts museum in The Hague.
It was taken down after almost two
weeks of protests by a growing number of Dutch artists who paint
exclusively out-of-doors.
Professor van Coodenkare, Dean
of the Faculty at The Hague's Plein Air School, defended the protesting artists, saying that "studio
paintings are a disgrace to fine art, and the painters will redouble their efforts until not one landscape painted in a studio,
or even just finished inside, remains hanging to embarrass the nation."
The painters have been massing each day in front of all the venerable museums of the Netherlands, particularly in Amsterdam, with the notable exception of the Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh, of course, was famous for painting under the blazing sun, a practice he continued until he went out of his mind, and subsequently shot himself.
The painters have been massing each day in front of all the venerable museums of the Netherlands, particularly in Amsterdam, with the notable exception of the Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh, of course, was famous for painting under the blazing sun, a practice he continued until he went out of his mind, and subsequently shot himself.
The Minister of Culture, who
initially resisted the call to take down most of the 17th, 18th, and
19th century landscapes, has apparently had a change of heart.
He was quoted as saying that "the day of the carefully considered painting is justifiably over. It is time to replace slow and
exquisite maturation with the freshness
of a morning's work, tossed off
out-of doors."
Plans are currently being made by
the painters to carry their action to other museums in Europe. Speaking on condition of anonymity, because of a fear for his life, a
French curator---who was not only conceived in, but also born in an
actual studio in the Batignolles---has been rallying support in Paris with his cry of
"Aux barricades!"
It is yet to be determined how
effective this may be.
