How #mygirlwithapearl rethought a gallery loan through social media
An innovative solution to the temporary absence of Mauritshuis Museum’s famed Vermeer painting, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, has gone viral on social media.
Submission by @j_envy5 for ‘My Girl with a Pearl’ project. Image: Supplied.
Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of those iconic pieces that draws visitors in their hordes. Some institutions rely on such pieces as vital sources of revenue – via admission fees, or spends in the cafés and gift shops, where many of these famed artworks are the subject for ‘merch’.
It is estimated that 1.5 million people visit the Mauritshuis to view the painting each year. So the museum was faced with the question of: how to keep people engaged?
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
Instagram: fairleygina
