Pay a Visit to the Girl with a Pearl Earring at the de Young Museum

You've read the book and seen the movie, now go see the painting that inspired them! Johannes Vermeer's renowned, enigmatic, and alluring painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is now on view at San Francisco's de Young Museum, along with over 30 additional Dutch Golden Age paintings from the prestigious collections of the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, in the exhibition Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis.

This special exhibition is a fantastic art experience for the whole family. Kids will love works ranging from Fabritius's tiny The Goldfinch to the large and raucous As the Old Sing, so Twitter the Young by Jan Steen. There's even an audio tour ($7/$6 museum members) designed especially for families.

The works on view represent some of the finest examples of 17th-century Dutch painting, but the focus is on the Girl, who gets a whole gallery to herself. Incidentally, the Girl with a Pearl Earring isn't a portrait per se, but a "tronie," an idealized depiction of a person probably intended to be a historical or biblical character.

Accompanying Girl with a Pearl Earring is a complementary exhibition, Rembrandt's Century, that focuses on prints and drawings created by Rembrandt van Rijn and his contemporaries in the 17th century. It's fascinating, although it's a lot denser than the paintings show and children might get a case of museum fatigue. There are some amazing works on view in the show, though, so try and see it if you can.

If You Go

Girl with a Pearl Earring is on view through June 2, 2013. Admission is $25 for adults, $22 for seniors 65+, $21 for students with current ID, and $15 for youths 6–17; members and children 5 and under are free. Admission includes entry to Rembrandt's Century. Tickets are timed and dated. Order advance tickets online here.

Opening day, Saturday, January 26, will feature family-friendly programming starting at noon, including talks, music, and arts and crafts demonstrations.

The de Young Museum is located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park at 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive (at John F. Kennedy Drive). The museum is open Tuesday–Friday from 9:30–5:15 pm, with extended hours on Friday evenings until 8:45 pm starting March 29. For more information Girl with a Pearl Earring and the de Young, visit www.deyoungmuseum.org or call (415) 750-3600.

Images: Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, ca. 1665. Oil on canvas, 17 1/2 x 15 3/8 in. The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, Bequest of Arnoldus des Tombe, 1903 (inv. no. 670)
Jan Steen, As the Old Sing, So Twitter the Young, ca. 1668–1670. Oil on canvas, 52 3/4 x 64 1/8 in. The Hague, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, Acquired in 1913 with the support of the Rembrandt Society (inv. no. 742)