Susie Hodge, alongside co-author Dr Gareth Moore, is the
author of The Art Puzzle Book (White Lion Publishing)The Milkmaid
JOHANNES VERMEER, C.1660
Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 41 cm, The Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, NetherlandsDespite a brief career and the fact only
around 35 works are attributed to him,
Johannes (Jan) Vermeer (1632–1675) is
now revered as one of the greatest artists
in history. During his life he commanded
large sums of money for his work, but
he died in debt at just 43. He and his
paintings fell into obscurity and weren’t
rediscovered until the 19th century.
Spend ten minutes or so looking at the
painting. Write down your thoughts here.SOME QUESTIONS TO MULL:
What are your first impressions?
Do you like this?
What’s happening in the scene?
What’s been included in the scene?
What do you think the artist might be
trying to convey by including them?Once you’ve spent some time with the
work, turn it over to read a bit more about
it (no cheating, mind). Does this change
the way that you look at it? How?different angles (if you’re in London in The
National Gallery, look at ‘The Ambassadors’ by
Hans Holbein the Younger, from the left-hand
side, close up, and see what you discover), and
compare it from far away and as close up as you
can get without alarming security. Take time
enjoying your moment away from the hustle
and bustle of life. It’s just you and the artist.
Now it’s time to look at the label. You might
be surprised how much you know about an
artwork from your general knowledge. Note
the year it was made. What was happening
when and where the work was produced? Art
is a ref lection of society and artists respond
to their own time periods, socially, politically
and environmentally. In general, more
modern or contemporary art is not as easy to
understand as more traditional art, and it can
be helpful to know a bit about the artist and
ideas that inspired the work in the first place.
Of course, the experience doesn’t have to end
in the gallery. Thanks to the internet or your
library, you can follow up on whatever aspects
of the work you found most interesting. Art is
not a science. There are no ‘right answers’; your
interpretation is as valid as anyone’s, and ‘facts’
often change as new things are discovered, new
links made. Art historians frequently revise
their analyses, as new information comes to
light. For instance, for years, The Arnolfini
Portrait by Jan van Eyck (1434, The National
Gallery, London), showing a couple holding
hands, was interpreted as a marriage; we now
know that it wasn’t. Likewise, styles and artists
fall in and out of fashion, and artists are being
discovered and rediscovered all the time. For
example, it was once believed Kandinsky was
the first artist to produce an abstract painting,
but we now know it was a woman called Hilma
af Klint, and that Lee Krasner directly inspired
her husband Jackson Pollock with her intuitive
painting approach. And just look at the
f luctuating fame of Vermeer...PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCKSusie Hodge, alongside co-author Dr Gareth Moore, is the
author of The Art Puzzle Book (White Lion Publishing)
The Milkmaid
JOHANNES VERMEER, C.1660
Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 41 cm, The Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, NetherlandsDespite a brief career and the fact only
around 35 works are attributed to him,
Johannes (Jan) Vermeer (1632–1675) is
now revered as one of the greatest artists
in history. During his life he commanded
large sums of money for his work, but
he died in debt at just 43. He and his
paintings fell into obscurity and weren’t
rediscovered until the 19th century.
Spend ten minutes or so looking at the
painting. Write down your thoughts here.SOME QUESTIONS TO MULL:
What are your first impressions?
Do you like this?
What’s happening in the scene?
What’s been included in the scene?
What do you think the artist might be
trying to convey by including them?Once you’ve spent some time with the
work, turn it over to read a bit more about
it (no cheating, mind). Does this change
the way that you look at it? How?different angles (if you’re in London in The
National Gallery, look at ‘The Ambassadors’ by
Hans Holbein the Younger, from the left-hand
side, close up, and see what you discover), and
compare it from far away and as close up as you
can get without alarming security. Take time
enjoying your moment away from the hustle
and bustle of life. It’s just you and the artist.
Now it’s time to look at the label. You might
be surprised how much you know about an
artwork from your general knowledge. Note
the year it was made. What was happening
when and where the work was produced? Art
is a ref lection of society and artists respond
to their own time periods, socially, politically
and environmentally. In general, more
modern or contemporary art is not as easy to
understand as more traditional art, and it can
be helpful to know a bit about the artist and
ideas that inspired the work in the first place.
Of course, the experience doesn’t have to end
in the gallery. Thanks to the internet or your
library, you can follow up on whatever aspects
of the work you found most interesting. Art is
not a science. There are no ‘right answers’; your
interpretation is as valid as anyone’s, and ‘facts’
often change as new things are discovered, new
links made. Art historians frequently revise
their analyses, as new information comes to
light. For instance, for years, The Arnolfini
Portrait by Jan van Eyck (1434, The National
Gallery, London), showing a couple holding
hands, was interpreted as a marriage; we now
know that it wasn’t. Likewise, styles and artists
fall in and out of fashion, and artists are being
discovered and rediscovered all the time. For
example, it was once believed Kandinsky was
the first artist to produce an abstract painting,
but we now know it was a woman called Hilma
af Klint, and that Lee Krasner directly inspired
her husband Jackson Pollock with her intuitive
painting approach. And just look at the
f luctuating fame of Vermeer...
PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK