This essay, on the beauty and significance of Vermeer, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 12 March 2023, under the headline “Vermeer’s luminous interiors gave us a new way into the inner worlds of others”. There is a scene in Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead in which the main character, John Ames, a pastor, walking to his church, comes across a young couple in the street. “The sun had come up brilliantly after a heavy rain, and the trees were glistening and […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Human • Tags: amsterdam, art, gilead, harold bloom, human mind, humanism, inner world, marilynne robinson, rijksmuseum, vermeer