The painter most like you

You are most like Vermeer

You like to sit in a quiet room and look at one thing for a long time

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher · ca. 1662

Your nature

You are someone who looks deeply

This is a playful reading of your nature, not a scientific personality test.
The grey lines below come from Vermeer's real life and work.

Your strength
You hold on to one thing for a long time and notice small differences others miss.
The same map, chair and patterned tablecloth turn up again in several of Vermeer's paintings.
When you shine
You shine brightest when you are given quiet time to focus on your own.
The people in his paintings are usually absorbed in one task, such as reading a letter, pouring milk or playing an instrument.
What wears you out
Being hurried, or stuck for too long somewhere loud and crowded, drains you fast.
When war froze the Dutch art market in 1672, Vermeer's household fell into heavy debt.
How you work
You would rather polish one thing to the end than start many. You let go only when it feels right.
He used ultramarine, a costly blue made from lapis lazuli, without holding back.
With other people
You may not talk much, but people feel at ease beside you. You keep a few friends, closely.
He joined the Guild of Saint Luke, the painters' guild of Delft, and served several times as one of its heads.
How you rest
Sitting by a window and watching sunlight move across the floor is enough to rest you.
The woman in A Maid Asleep is resting too, leaning on the table with her eyes closed.

Why Vermeer?

You are not one to hurry. Only about thirty-odd paintings are accepted as Vermeer's today.

His pictures usually hold one room, one or two people, and light coming in from a window on the left. In Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, too, the woman opens the window with one hand while the light settles quietly on her white headscarf.

Vermeer lived all his life in his home town of Delft. After his death he was forgotten for a long time, until a French critic brought his name back in the nineteenth century.

If you would rather look deeply than do a lot, you belong with Vermeer.

Kindred painter · Opposite painter

Among the eight painters,
who is near and who is far

Kindred painter
Rembrandt
You trust a face as it really is, not dressed up
You both take your time and treasure a single ray of light. You could probably sit together in comfortable silence.
See the Rembrandt result →
Opposite painter
Van Gogh
You can't hide how you feel about the things you love
The Van Gogh type, whose hands move before their thoughts, runs at a speed that feels foreign to you. That is exactly why you can learn a lot from them.
See the Van Gogh result →

Spend a day like this painter

Today, like Vermeer

Three small ideas. Trying just one is enough.

Sit by a window and look at a single object for ten minutes. Watch where the light falls slowly move.
Pick just one of today's tasks, set the rest aside, and finish it all the way.
Pour a glass of water this evening and look closely at the light caught on the rim.

Johannes Vermeer

Step into Vermeer's paintings

While you are here, stand in front of a painting for three minutes.
For each one, here is where to look first.

Young Woman with a Water Pitcherca. 1662
How to lookLook from the hand on the window frame to the hand on the pitcher. The white headscarf turns bluish where the light falls.
A Maid Asleepca. 1656–57
How to lookLook through the open door into the room beyond. It has a table too, and a frame hanging on the wall.
Study of a Young Womanca. 1665–67
How to lookAgainst the dark background, find the turned face and the small pearl at her ear.