Johannes Vermeer’s 17th-century masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring
has arrived in Japan for a rare overseas display at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka. The painting, often dubbed the Mona Lisa of the North
due to the inscrutable expression of its subject, is on show for five weeks.
Girl with a Pearl Earring Arrives at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art
The small canvas depicts a young woman set against a dark background, her head turned toward the viewer with a pearl earring glinting from beneath her blue and cream turban. The exhibition, titled Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch masterpieces of the 17th century,
opened to the public on August 21, 2026, and runs through September 27, 2026. Admission requires advance reservation and timed entry, with tickets also available via a lottery operated by Ticket Pia, according to details provided on the exhibition’s official website.
Rare International Loan Prompted by Mauritshuis Renovations
The masterpiece was loaned by the Mauritshuis in the Netherlands while its usual home undergoes maintenance and construction work. The Mauritshuis will be closed from August 24 to September 20, and the painting is scheduled to return to the museum in The Hague in October.
Mauritshuis general director Martine Gosselink noted that the institution generally does not loan the painting because of its immense importance to both the museum and the Netherlands.
Well we don’t loan ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ because she is our most important and precious painting,
Gosselink explained, adding that renovation work provided the only reason for it to travel. Gosselink also indicated that this journey represents perhaps for the very last time
that the painting will travel to Japan.
The work’s last international trip occurred more than a decade ago. It previously went on a world tour in 2012–2014 during earlier work at the Mauritshuis, and was briefly loaned to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2023. Overall, the current display marks the artwork’s fourth visit to Japan, following exhibitions in Tokyo in 1984, and in Tokyo and Kobe in 2012.
Overwhelming Public Demand and Exhibition Highlights
Several countries expressed interest in hosting the painting—including China, Singapore, and South Korea—but Japan was ultimately selected because of its immense fan base and the large number of annual visitors it sends to the Mauritshuis.
Public enthusiasm in Osaka was so intense that the ticket purchasing system crashed. Visitors walk through a darkened main hall where the painting hangs alone against a deep blue wall, positioned next to a giant Miffy—a Dutch rabbit character created by Dick Bruna serving as the official exhibition ambassador—dressed like the girl in the painting.
The exhibition features a total of 12 masterpieces from the Mauritshuis collection. Alongside Girl with a Pearl Earring,
visitors can view another early work by Vermeer titled Diana and her Nymphs,
as well as Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Laughing Man,
which was painted on copper, alongside works by Jan Steen and Frans Hals.
Princess Aiko joined dignitaries at the exhibition’s launch on August 20, 2026, where she was guided by Gosselink and viewed the Vermeer masterpiece from multiple angles. Merchandise for the exhibition includes items featuring Miffy and the manga series Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
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