Nine o'clock sharp I arrive at the
former bicycle passage underneath the Rijks museum where its entrance is
situated already there are two long rows of tourists patiently waiting for the
door starting to revolve. Owning a museum card clearly has its
advantages, within two minutes I am inside the building. I decide to start at the attic
trying to avoid the crowd anticipating that most people will start downstairs.
It turns out to be my lucky
day.
Just in time before the door closes I
jump into the elevator, which is already occupied by three other early birds.
One of them asks me where I am heading to when I explain my strategy he urges
me to revise my plan and to start my journey at the Hall of Fame, promoting it
as an unique opportunity to experience this part of the building while it is
still empty.
As we leave the elevator my advisor
starts to lecture and point out some details to the other two persons. It turns
out that the two American tourists have hired him for a private
tour and although I realize it is probably rather impolite I decide to
stick and to join the club.
We enter the Hall of Fame a huge
space loaded with 17th century paintings in the back I see a deserted
Night Watch patiently waiting for the crowd to come.No soul has arrived yet and
there is an unreal silence only our professor is talking, talking like crazy about Johannes Vermeer, feeding us with exciting stories revealing the inside secrets of
the three Vermeer paintings that are hanging in a row next to each other.
Our guide makes us aware of details I
never noticed before such as the double shadow in 'The woman in
blue' or the strange shape of the table in the painting of 'The Milkmaid'
that seems an invented form rather than a copy from reality. And are we aware that
in 'The love letter' the tiles are made of marble, not a common floor for a
17th century family house, the marble is probably edited into the space to give
it an upgrade. And what about the peculiar way the objects on the floor are arranged creating a barrier that looks like it protects in a symbolic
way the two women.
Endless details draw us deeper and deeper into the world of Vermeer.
Endless details draw us deeper and deeper into the world of Vermeer.
For almost twenty minutes I listen to these
revelations, mesmerized, when I become aware of my environment again I see and
hear that it is transformed into an overly crowded space, there are people
discussing, tour operators explaining, film cameras panning, microphones
interviewing, this introvert sanctuary has in no time opened up into a busy
microcosms.
It is interesting to witness all
these dynamics and the general atmosphere is quite lively and positive,
everybody seems to enjoy himself, it doesn't feel at all like a dull museum
with 'old' art.
What I learned after this visit is you either start early and run for the Hall of Fame or when you can't avoid the crowd you better surrender, forget about making a plan go with the flow and join whatever guide sounds interesting to you.
