Vermeer at the de Young: A Review
by Brea Weinreb on Feb, 27 2013I’m typically a fan of art museums. I’ve been to the Met, the MoMa, the Guggenheim, and countless others, and have left each one hungry for more. This Saturday was my first venture to the de Young in San Francisco, and I have to say I was quite disappointed.
After spending $22 for a special admission ticket to see “The Girl With A Pearl Earring” I was expecting the painting to leap out at me for such a high viewing cost. It did quite the opposite. It took shoving, pushing, and even a little bickering to get to the front of the room where Vermeer’s infamous painting was showcased. I was expecting the equivalent of the Mona Lisa for all the hype this painting was getting. The result was far the opposite. The painting was relatively small (17.5 x 15 inches) and although the colors were indeed magnificent, it wasn’t even possible for me to look at it for more than a minute before a guard ushered me along to make room for more viewers. In addition, the unnecessary comments by snobby, older museumgoers (i.e. “Wow, the size of her pupils really compliment the pearl!”) were cringe-worthy.
Jan Steen, “The Oyster Eater” (left) and Gerrit van Honthorst, “The Violin Player” (right) were both a part of the Dutch Paintings collection.
The rest of the exhibit, featuring Dutch paintings from the Mauritshuis museum, was only subpar. There were numerous rooms filled with black-and-white woodprints, all seemingly the same with nothing in particular catching my eye aside from the four Rembrandt’s. The two rooms of Dutch paintings, including Johannes Vermeer, Jan van Steen and Peter de Hooch, were the best in the show and worth the trip if you are a fan of this genre.
I did get a laugh on my way out, however, at the sight of the “Girl with a Pearl Earring” jewelry collection. The painting was printed on oversized baubles and enamel plates and sold for upward of $200.
If you’d like to completely disregard my word and see the show for yourself, the exhibit is open until June 2nd. I recommend going just for the beauty of Golden Gate Park and the magnificent view at the top of the de Young Observatory. Maybe avoid my mistake and just pay for general admission, though.
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Hi! I wanted to know if you saw Kiki Smith’s installation: (http://deyoung.famsf.org/about/kiki-smith-near-2005), or in fact any of the other site specific commissions?
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