GIRL SURPRISED WHILE READING
The painting "Girl surprises while reading" is based on "Woman with a pearl necklace", which Johannes Vermeer painted in 1664.
The painting "Girl surprises while reading" is based on "Woman with a pearl necklace", which Johannes Vermeer painted in 1664. The woman in Vermeer's painting may be his wife Catharina.
X-rays have shown that a map was originally painted on the wall behind the woman. Apparently Vermeer had come to the conclusion while painting that he did not need this for his composition. Instead, he painted a bare, plastered wall.
In the work "Girl surprised while reading", Bart Ocket was inspired by Tracy Chevalier's novel, "the girl with the pearl earring”, on which Peter Webber’s brilliant film of the same name is based. In this story, the maid Griet was hired to clean the workplace of master Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer soon understood Griet's intelligence and her interest in painting. Their platonic relationship showed a hidden erotic tension. Bart Ocket replaced the woman in his painting with a half naked girl, who, reading in the tranquil interior, is surprised by the viewer. The map removed by Vermeer was brought back to life by Bart, as a background of the girl reading.
