On Friday, 28 September 2007, NCCJ was very pleased to present a special program on the occasion of the Rijksmuseum Exhibition in Tokyo. Mr. Taco Dibbits, Head of the Fine Art Department of the Rijksmuseum, gave an exclusive talk to NCCJ members and guests in The National Art Center, Tokyo.

Mr Dibbits started his talk mentioning that a lot has been written about this painting. Most critics look at Vermeer’s work as a window into 17th century Netherlands, reveling in the painting’s stillness. Mr Dibbits, however, told the 28 attendants from the NCCJ and their guests that he wanted to deconstruct the image of the Milkmaid by Vermeer in order to show us that the painting is really not a snapshot of a historical reality, but a very well thought out construction by a technically brilliant painter. We were told that only 34 paintings are known to exist by Vermeer, and most of his work has a strong narrative to it, most of them featuring maids in ordinary household settings.

Mr Dibbits took us through a fascinating analysis of the work, looking at the elements that make up the composition of the painting as well as Vermeer’s usage of claire obscure. Claire obscure, we learned, is a painting technique for expressing contrast between dark and light. Looking at the Milkmaid painting closely we could see how Vermeer used the contrast so that we, the spectators, feel the scene to be real, so real that we almost feel like voyeurs, present, yet distant. Furthermore, the way the milk pours out of the jug shows us that Vermeer was a very careful observer. The suggestion of movement of the milk as done by Vermeer in the still image, in comparison to other painters of the time, showed all of us what a masterful painter Vermeer really was. After this excellent talk we were given tickets to view the exhibition courtesy of NCCJ where we not only could view the painting of the Milkmaid, but many related paintings, prints, household goods and musical instruments of Vermeer’s time.

Milkmaid by Vermeer and Dutch Genre Painting – Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Exhibition Dates: September 26 – December 17, 2007

The National Art Center , Tokyo – http://www.nact.jp/english/vermeer.html