Vermeer museum

The Vermeer Centrum Delft is a museum about Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, and it stands in the city where he was born, lived and died. It is located on the Voldersgracht, on the site of the former Guild of St Luke, the association of painters and other artists of which Vermeer was a member and later the head. This link with the guild gives the museum a particular authenticity, even though it holds no original paintings by the artist. Its purpose is to explain his life, his methods and his world.

Vermeer lived from 1632 to 1675, and he spent almost his whole life in Delft, a prosperous, canal-lined city known for its pottery and its markets. Only around thirty-seven paintings are firmly attributed to him, which makes his output very small, and most hang in museums abroad, among them the Mauritshuis in The Hague, which holds the Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which owns The Milkmaid. The centre solves the problem of seeing them in one place by showing reproductions of every one of the known works at full size, so that visitors can compare them and follow his development as an artist.

The displays also explain how Vermeer worked. His quiet interior scenes, with soft light falling from a window onto a figure, are famous for their command of light, colour and composition, and the museum looks at the pigments he used, the way he built up his paintings and the techniques, such as the possible use of optical devices, that scholars have debated. It sets him in the context of Delft in the seventeenth century, a city that was hit by a huge gunpowder explosion in 1654, which killed the painter Carel Fabritius, and that depended on trade and craftsmanship. Temporary exhibitions look at special themes and the afterlife of his best known painting.

The museum shop sells books, Delft Blue pottery and gifts, and there is a cafe. Opening hours, prices and discounts change, so check before you go, and note that the building is accessible for people with limited mobility. Delft itself has much to see nearby: the Markt and the Nieuwe Kerk, the Oude Kerk, where Vermeer is buried, the Royal Delft factory and the canals, which can be toured by boat. The Agneta Park is another attraction in the city.

The museum suits art lovers, students and first-time visitors who want to understand the painter before looking at his work. Allow one to two hours, and consider seeing a real Vermeer at the Mauritshuis or the Rijksmuseum afterwards.