Mauritshuis moving Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to Japan in rare loan
- maxwell museums
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Mauritshuis museum in the Hague is to lend Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to Japan, in what is an exceptionally rare international loan for the painting.
In August 2026, the Mauritshuis will close for renovations to its building. So it will use that time to send its most famous painting — created by Johannes Vermeer in 1665 — to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka.
It will be the first time Girl with a Pearl Earring will have left the Netherlands in twelve years. Its last trip overseas was a global tour from 2012 to 2014, which saw it displayed in Tokyo and Kobe in Japan, San Francisco, Atlanta and New York in the USA, and Bologna in Italy. A total of 2.2 million people visited that touring exhibition — a staggering 1.2m of them in Tokyo alone.
That global tour occurred too while major building expansion work was being carried out at the Mauritshuis.
Vermeer masterpiece displayed in Osaka in 2026
The Nakanoshima Museum of Art’s display of the artwork will be organised by the Japan-based newspaper the Asahi Shimbun (one of the largest media organisations in the world), and the Asahi Television Broadcasting Corp. The money being given to the Mauritshuis for the loan will pay for this summer’s improvement works. The Asahi Shimbun has also become a “project partner” for the museum according to a statement.
On announcing the news of the rare loan, Mauritshuis Director Martine Gosselink said Japan was a fitting location in which to send the painting. “Every year, we welcome thousands of Japanese tourists who love Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring” he said in a statement.
“For the Mauritshuis, the Girl’s trip to Japan is a unique opportunity for us to share her with the Japanese public, perhaps for the very last time.”
His comments about it being the final trip to the country reflects the supposed policy that the masterpiece is no longer sent on loan, as it is the museum’s greatest treasure. But another exception was made in 2023 when it went on a short loan — this time domestically — to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum for a Vermeer retrospective.
Girl — which has been in the Mauritshuis collection since being donated in 1902 — depicts an unidentified woman in a turban and a large pearl earring. Its global fame was propelled in large part thanks to Tracey Chevalier’s 1999 novel and the 2003 film adaptation. It is now one of the world's most famous artworks, and it has only elevated the Hague as a museum destination for art lovers.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring can be seen by the public at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art from 21 August until 27 September 2026. The Mauritshuis will be closed to the public for renovations from 24 August until 20 September 2026.
Before it closes, the Mauritshuis will stage an exhibition centred around what is arguably their second most-famous painting — Carel Fabritius’ 17th-century masterpiece The Goldfinch. The show will examine birds in art, and will be a highlight of the Hague’s 2026 exhibition calendar.
