The Semper Gallery in Dresden has announced a super exhibition for 2021. Open from 19th March until 27th June, the exhibition will be displaying twelve Vermeer paintings in its recently refurbished galleries. In addition will be works by other Dutch greats such as Pieter de Hooch and Gerald Dou.

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) is one of the really great European artists, characterised by his indoor domestic genre paintings. His work is deliberate with its painstaking detail and very expensive pigments. He produced a small number of paintings and was relatively unknown in his time. His rediscovery in the nineteenth century and subsequent growth in fame has made his works a must see, anywhere in the world. Everyone remembers seeing The Girl with the Pearl Earing!

Amongst the Vermeer paintings on show will be Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (1657), Woman in Blue Reading  a Letter (1663) from the Rijksmuseum, and Girl Seated at a Virginal (1772) from our own National Gallery.

The Semper Galerie (Sempergalerie) is an important neoclassical building in Dresden of 1854, which forms one side of the Zwinger courtyard. This baroque square housed an orangerie and gardens originally but has become a centre for outdoor festivals of music and the arts. Destroyed in February 1945 by the dreadful allied bombing of Dresden, the Semper Gallerie and Zwinger were rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s.

We hope travel will be possible in 2021 and Dresden will be one of our targets, especially a visit to see the Semper Gallery and Johannes Vermeer.