The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague has announced it will lend Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (around 1665) to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, this summer. The rare loan is made possible because the Mauritshuis will close from August 24 to September 20 for building alterations. The painting last traveled internationally in 2012-14 for a world tour, and its only recent trip was a short loan to the Rijksmuseum in 2023 for a Vermeer survey exhibition. The exhibition in Osaka will be organized by the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese media organization that also sponsored the earlier tour, and will help fund the Mauritshuis's renovations and a new education center.
This loan matters because "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is one of the most iconic and fragile paintings in the world, and the Mauritshuis rarely allows it to travel due to its status as the museum's star attraction. The decision reflects both the museum's need to raise funds for infrastructure improvements and the strong cultural ties between the Netherlands and Japan, with thousands of Japanese tourists visiting the Mauritshuis each year. The exhibition also highlights the growing trend of museums leveraging blockbuster loans to finance capital projects, while giving international audiences a rare—and possibly final—opportunity to see the masterpiece in person.