Book Club: 'Girl in Hyacinth Blue' (1999)
by Susan Vreeland
10.30AM Thu 25 Nov 2021
| Ticketed
Discuss art, life, culture and creativity from the comfort of your own home at the QAGOMA Members Virtual Book Club or join us at one of the meetings at the Gallery. The titles on the reading list until November connect to, contextualise and discuss the ideas presented in ‘European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’, organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Art Exhibitions Australia.
Girl in Hyacinth Blue (1999), by Susan Vreeland
Session 1: Wed 24 Nov, 3.00pm | Virtual
Session 2: Thu 25 Nov, 10.30am | On-site
Session 3: Sat 27 Nov, 3.00pm | On-site
A professor invites a colleague from the art department to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer – why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of stories that trace ownership of the painting back to World War Two and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work’s inspiration. As the painting moves through each owner’s hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in human lives. Vreeland’s characters remind us, through their love of the mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts, and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable.