Officer and the Laughing Girl
Johannes Vermeer
JOHANNES VERMEER, c.1657. OIL ON CANVAS.
Vermeer’s work lives in the details. Look at the panes of glass, the white wall, the mundane features that for so many other artists serve but as dressing and decoration, considered for their contribution to the main subject but not given the time, respect, and obsession to bring out their quiet beauty. Vermeer was different – amongst the most technically gifted painters in history, he found the beauty in the everyday object and was obsessive in his pursuit to capture it. The light that falls through the open window creates an unparalleled variety of hues within the glass, and the wall moves from an ivory to an eggshell with such depth and subtlety that our eyes read it as reality. There are many theories as to how Vermeer was able to capture such profound detail and how he could seemingly understand light like no other before him, but one needs only to look at his paintings to understand that it was born out of a deep reverence for the everyday beauty he saw all around him.