SUBMIT YOUR WILDEST VERSION OF “GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING”

Your artwork could be shown at the painting’s home in the Netherlands while the original travels for an exhibition.

Rhea Nayya

Artist Elena Bocicu’s “The Capy With the Pearl Earring” (2022) portrays a quite dignified capybara indeed. (image courtesy the artist)

Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665), housed at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, is one of the most recognizable works of Western art history. Now, as the painting takes a vacation to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum for the largest Vermeer exhibition to date this spring, you can submit your own unique interpretation of the iconic three-quarters angled stare for potential display in its place.

The Mauritshuis’s curators are inviting artists from all over the world to freely participate in its “My Girl With a Pearl” open call. Chosen works will hold the original painting’s spot in the museum’s Vermeerzaal gallery during the portrait’s five-month stay for the Amsterdam show slated to open this February.

Because the museum’s submission page states that “nothing is too crazy for [them],” artists are encouraged to create something beyond their wildest dreams. The Mauritshuis specified that selected submissions will be viewed on a digital frame, so don’t jump the gun and ship them your eclectic found-object resin pour when all you need to do is snap a high-quality photograph.

The “My Girl with a Pearl” Instagram page has posted some of the submissions it has received so far, which should help get those creative juices flowing. While maintaining easy recognition, these artists have really pushed the material boundaries in their interpretations of the original oil on canvas work by utilizing food, makeup, tattoo ink, metal smithing, and animal motifs.

Interested contestants better act fast, because the final submission date is this Sunday, January 15. Participants whose work has been selected for a one-week display in the digital frame will receive two free tickets to visit their exhibited creations in the flesh. If you can’t swing the deadline, you can still post your rendition to Instagram and tag The Mauritshuis museum’s official account as well as #mygirlwithapearl, and they might feature your post on the website channel.

https://hyperallergic.com/793467/submit-your-wildest-version-of-girl-with-a-pearl-earring/