In 2023, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displayed 28 Vermeer paintings in the largest exhibition ever by this famous Dutch painter of the 17th century.
During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy at his death, leaving his wife in debt when he died at 43yo (due to the stress after the 1672, a severe economic downturn caused by three invasion of Dutch territories) father of 8 girls and 3 boys with a 44yo wife - he and Rembrand are probably nowadays the names of that era that we remember the most on duct painting.
His works were only rediscovered around the 19th century that had an essay saying that he had 66 paintings, but we knows only 34 of them (and three more contested).
This documentary rotates about a dozen or so of his paintings discussing the majority of them, analyzed by experts and critics. It also shows some X-ray and other studies on the techniques used my this master of painting (sadly only showed a couple of them)
Not the most profound documentary but what others say is a repetition of saying the whole time is truth - he was ahead and different on his time paint thought light mostly than colors, in rich and intricated details - I am most of all amazed how he mastered focus on his pictured present on some parts, blurry on others as we do with analogic cameras and digital cameras on our era.
Still very interesting especially if you are a fan of his works or want to know them better. 8.0 out of 10.0 / A-.
