There are only 36 generally accepted Vermeer’s in the world and they are divided between Europe (22) and America (14). I recently visited the National Gallery in London, May 2025, and saw “A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal” and “A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal”. I have now seen 31 of the 36 known Vermeer’s adding to my Vermeerquest of 30-years! So cool.
Vermeer was born in 1632 and lived most of his life in Delft, which is in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. This historic, rural village is one of the most beautifully preserved, bucolic places I have ever visited. It originated in 1246 from House of Orange (William the Orange is buried in the Nieuwe Kerke) but a large part of the city was destroyed by an explosion in 1654. Vermeer’s painting, The Delft, has preserved the memory of his former hometown.
I did find it very odd, however, that there is not one original Vermeer painting in the Delft. You can visit the Vermeer Museum and see prints of his 36 known paintings, but you have to travel on to Amsterdam or the Hague to see an original. Two of Vermeer’s most famous paintings, The Girl with the Pearl Earring and View of the Delft can be seen in the permanent collection of the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague. This is also a town worth seeing and is only 20 minutes away by train.
In March 2017, I visited an incredible exhibition hosted by the Musée du Louvre called Vermeer et Les Maitres de la Peinture de Genre which included five Vermeer’s that I had not seen before. The Vermeer exhibition included, for the first time, a pairing of The Geographer (Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany) with its original partner The Astronomer (Musee du Louvre, Paris). Vermeer is showing the modernity of the scientific revolution, le siècle de la révolution scientifique, of XVII siècle hollandais. The Louvre Exhibition of Vermeer was the most visited exhibition in the museum’s history and prompted the director to limit the visitors per hour.
I have included in this post an exhaustive list of the known Vermeer’s in the world. The * denotes the paintings I have been privileged to view (31 out of 36 !). The ** denotes the Louvre Exhibition.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
*1657 Street in the Delft
**1658 The Milkmaid (also Louvre Exhibition)
*1662 Woman in Blue reading a Letter
*1669 The Love Letter
Mauritshuis, The Hague
*1660 View of the Delft
*1655 Diana and Her Companions
*1665 Girl with the Pearl Earring
Louvre Museum, Paris
**1669 The Lacemaker
(also Louvre Exhibition)
**1668 The Astronomer
(also Louvre Exhibition)
Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
1656 The Procuress
1657 Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
The Royal Collection, St. James’ Palace, London
1662 The Music Lesson
The National Gallery, London
*1673 A Young Woman Standing at Virginal
*1673 A Young Woman Seated at Virginal (Louvre Exhibition)
The National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh
*1654 Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Kimbell exhibition, 2016)
The Leiden Collection, New York (Private)
*1674 Young Woman Sitting at a Virginal (Louvre Exhibition)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
*1657 A Maid Asleep at Table
**1663 Woman Playing a Lute near a Window (also Louvre Exhibition)
*1665 Study of a Young Woman
*1662 Woman with a Water Jug
*1666 Head of a Girl
**1671 Allegory of Faith (also Louvre Exhibition)
National Gallery, Washington D.C.
**1665 Lady Writing a Letter (also Louvre Exhibition)
**1662 Woman Weighing Gold (also Louvre Exhibition)
*1666 Girl with a Flute
*1666 Girl with a Red Hat
Frick Collection, NY
*1658 Soldier and Laughing Girl
*1660 Girl Interrupted at Her Music
*1667 Lady and Her Maidservant
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
*1665 The Concert (stolen March 1990 : the empty frame still hangs on the wall)
Frankfurt, Germany
*1668 The Geographer
(Louvre Exhibition)
Vienna, Austria
*1666 The Art of Painting
Brunswick
1659 Woman and Two Men
[photo of The Art of Painting, Vienna, March 2019]
Gemadegalerie, Berlin
1658 Glass of Wine
*1664 Woman with a Pearl Necklace (Louvre Exhibition)
Kentwood
1672 The Guitar Player
National Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
*1670 Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid (Louvre Exhibition)
Further Reading:
The Lacemaker: https://frenchquest.com/2015/07/12/my-impressions-of-vermeer/
The Girl with the Pearl Earring: https://frenchquest.com/2015/10/23/my-impressions-of-vermeer-the-girl-with-the-pearl-earring-1665-1667/
My View of the Delft: https://frenchquest.com/2012/09/20/vermeer-my-view-of-the-delft/
[photo of Where Vermeer is buried, Oude Kirk, Delft]
My French Quest 
I hadn’t appreciated that there are so few of his works
I believe many are in private collections and some are not authenticated. It is too bad as he was such a brilliant artist in his palette, perspective (camera obscura), light composition, etc!
I think that the reason the smaller museums don’t have originals is because of security.
But in any case, the Mauristhuis should be on any art lovers agenda. In 2015 we took an Academy Travel Tour of the Netherlands (including Amsterdam and its museums as well as other cities) so we had expert guides to tell us all we wanted to know about Vermeer, but really, the best time we had was when we were on our own and could just wander about and look at the paintings that took our fancy. (Which is why, although we enjoyed the tour, we still prefer to be independent travellers.)
Hi Lisa, yes, good reasoning! I agree about being an independent tourist, or flaneur! How cool that you were able to take the Academy tour of the Netherlands. It is a magical land.
Wow! Impressive that you’ve seen so many in person.
Yes, each one is a sheer delight!