In a surprise move, the Mauristhuis, yesterday announced that it will lend its most famous work to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka this summer.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (around 1665) by Johannes Vermeer, one of only 37 known works by the artist, was prevented by the museum from travelling in 2014 due to its status as the institution’s star exhibit. The painting’s planned trip is due to the closure of the Mauritshuis from 24 August-20 September while alterations are made to the building.
“Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and is a key reason for many people to visit the Mauritshuis,” says a statement from the museum. “It is therefore loaned to other institutions only in highly exceptional circumstances.”
The painting took a short sojourn in 2023 for the major Johannes Vermeer survey exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, but has not travelled internationally since its world tour in 2012-14, the last time the Mauritshuis was closed for building work.
That travelling exhibition, The Masters of the 17th Century: Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis, went to Tokyo and Kobe before opening at the Frick Collection in New York. The show was visited by 2.2 million people and helped to fund the Mauritshuis’s renovations.
The exhibition at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art will be organised by the Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest media organisations in Japan. Asahi Shimbun, which also sponsored the 2012-14 touring exhibition, will work as a project partner with Mauritshuis over the next four years.
“The Asahi Shimbun organises several exhibitions each year with museums around the world,” says Martine Gosselink, the general director of the Mauritshuis, in a statement. “We are highly honoured to be able to work with the media organisation on the presentation in Osaka in 2026.”
The money raised from the loan will help to fund the Mauritshuis’s alterations as well as the refurbishment and operation of a nearby building on Korte Vijverberg that the museum took over in December 2025. The museum is currently fundraising to create a Mauritshuis Education Centre in the new building in 2028.
On X, the Dutch ambassador to Japan, Gilles Beschoor Plug, said: “The Girl with the Pearl Earring almost never travels. And if she does, only to very special places. Such as #Osaka.” Gosselink adds that the Mauritshuis welcomes thousands of Japanese tourists every year who love Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.
“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,” she says.
