Do you want to be the girl wearing the pearl earring in Vermeer’s masterpiece? The Mauritshuis in The Hague has hit on a novel idea for filling the empty spot on the wall when the famous painting travels to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in February for a blockbuster Vermeer exhibition. Devotees of the painting are being invited to send their own versions of the image for the My Girl with a Pearl initiative. “The rules? Well, there aren’t many,” states the Mauritshuis website. “Feel free to surprise us. A self-portrait in a bath towel turban, a painted iron or even a pile of dishes: more or less anything goes.”
The best photographs submitted will be digitally displayed in a loop on the spot where the painting normally hangs, while other selected images will be shown elsewhere in the room. Vermeer fans can meanwhile get their Girl fix on Instagram where the Mauritshuis has started the account @mygirlwithapearl.