The Shame of the Mauritshuis

On 18 April, I wrote the director of the Mauritshuis, who happens to be an American:


Dear Ms. Gordenker:
Granted your space is problematic, but it is inexcusable that "View of Delft" is not perfectly lit. The shadow that runs along its top, however, is peanuts compared to the shadow that obscures the top of the Averkamp.


For example.

Meanwhile, it is a dumb curatorial idea to flank the "View" with two pale Saenredams. "View" deserves a wall of its own, not a phony triptych.

And the Goldfinch should not be put on a slanted wing, where it is bleached out when the shutters are opened.

And, finally, you must institute some kind of crowd control.

Perhaps start by forbidding tour guides to lecture. There is no reason for their groups to mass in front of "View" for ten minutes. If tourists needs some potted art history, let them use your audioguides.

And perhaps set aside an hour a day (maybe 4 pm to 5 pm) when groups would be excluded, allowing "connoisseurs" who would pay an extra 20 or 50 Euros to get a decent, crowdless chance to look at your wonderful collection.
 

On 9 May, the museum's Head of Public Affairs replied:

Dear Mr. Junker,
Your email addressed to Dr. Gordenker was passed to me for reply.

Thank you very much for your detailed comments about the display at the Mauritshuis. We truly appreciate this type of reaction – whether positive or negative – because it keeps us on our toes.

As I am sure you will appreciate, the nature of the historic building does not always give us the flexibility we need to display our collection optimally. The small scale and historic interior of the building make it difficult to fine-tune lighting, ‘crowd control’ and the number of works we can display (so accordingly the amount of ‘wall space’ we accord to individual works), as well as  other important issues. Please be assured that we are working on a solution to  some of the problems: we will be renovating and expanding the museum from 2012-2014, which should help improve issues such as crowding and lighting. Unfortunately, the challenges posed by the historic nature of the building will always remain, but we hope that its unique character goes some way to compensating for the shortcomings.

I hope that you were able to enjoy your visit to the Mauritshuis in spite of your disappointment at some aspects of the display.

Best regards,
Barbara Sevenstern
Hoofd Publiek / Head of Public Affairs
070 302 3433 / + 31 (0)70 302 3433