Reinventing Vermeer

Salvador Dalí thought Vermeer was the best painter in history. This could be clearly seen in a handwritten board where he assessed virtues like technique, authenticity, genius, inspiration or mystery. Here he placed Johannes Vermeer in a privileged position that would elevate him above Raphael or Velázquez.

Vermeer was an alchemist of pigments and binders, a scientist of composition, an explorer of light, a painter of intimacy. His biography and his work are surrounded by such paradoxes and singularities that raise him as one of the most stunning and original artists in history.

The lacemaker, The milkmaid, and especially Girl with a pearl earring have become true art icons, referential works of art for those that really know painting, but at the same time, very present in popular opinion. Due to all of this, to undertake the exercise of reinventing his creations implies a gesture of admiration and bravery.

Jiménez Carrero rediscovers his canvasses with the subtleness and elegance that characterize the interpretations and versions of great masters he carries out. The allusions to the painter from Delft are almost suggestions, and his themes, versatile. Here, all the stares the young woman receives are not focused on and do not end with the pearl, but rather her loyal dog is the one that complements and becomes the protagonist of the scene. The lacemaker is now an ambitious and delicate embroider whose view is not illuminated by natural light coming in through the window, but by an electric lamp. And the milkmaid defies the viewer that comes close to her in disbelief to check if what they are looking at is a painting and not reality, despite being splashed by the milk spilling out of her jug. Pretended worlds and everyday scenes come together in the usual lexicon seen in Carrero’s work.

Fernando Talaván Morín