Home / Series / Secret Lives of the Artists / Aired Order / Season 1 / Episode 2

The Madness of Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer is one of our favourite painters, with his Girl with a Pearl Earring now deemed the 'Mona Lisa of the North'. But little is known about his life and for almost two centuries he was lost to obscurity. Andrew Graham-Dixon, travelling to Vermeer's hometown of Delft and a dramatic Dutch landscape of huge skies and windmills, embarks on a detective trail to uncover the life of a genius in hiding. Renowned for painting calm and beautiful interiors, the real life of Vermeer was marred by crime and violence. His life was a bid to escape the privations of his family and yet even a glamorous marriage and artistic success failed to save him from the fate he dreaded more than any other.

English
  • Originally Aired January 4, 2011
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Network BBC Two
  • Created February 20, 2011 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified February 20, 2011 by
    Administrator admin
Name Type Role
Andrew Graham-Dixon Guest Star