In the manner of Johannes Vermeer
Dutch, 1632–1675
The Houseplants, 2026
Oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.3.4
Morning comes through the leaded window and straight through the leaves of a monstera, which is the houseplant equivalent of a Delft tile. She tips a brass can with the care Vermeer's women give to a jug or a pair of scales, and a rolled yoga mat leans against the wall like a stick of blue chalk. Nothing happens in this picture. It happens beautifully, and at exactly the right speed.
The brief
A woman watering a windowsill of monstera and fern with a brass can, morning light through the leaves, a yoga mat rolled against the wall. Seventeenth-century Dutch interior oil painting, a single figure absorbed in a quiet task beside a window on the left, cool daylight modelling every surface, ultramarine and lead-tin yellow against grey walls, pearly highlights, a tiled floor in perspective, hushed stillness, extremely fine smooth finish. Museum photograph of the oil painting, soft even gallery lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
