The world looks out of Vermeer's window
Joannes Vermeer (1632-1675), born in a city called Delft in the Netherlands, did not have much fame during his life or after his death, but was accidentally noticed in the mid-19th century: this man's paintings are special and have an indescribable charm. This makes curious people inevitably have to take a look, and after a look, the whole world is fascinated by this person's painting.
法国著名作家普鲁斯特看到了维米尔画的一张代尔夫特的风景，就曾说过，“我在海牙的博物馆看到这幅画的那一刻，我就知道我看到了世界上最美的画作。 The renowned art historian Gombridge put it this way: "It's hard to talk about what makes such a simple and unpretentious painting one of the greatest masterpieces of all time." But for those who are lucky enough to see the original, I say that it is some kind of miracle, and it is rare for someone to come against my opinion. ”

Vermeer (Delft, 1660–1663)
Vermeer's paintings are so wonderful, the then silent and unnoticed Dutch painter is now fully among the world's masters, and his "Girl with a Pearl Earring" has been called the Mona Lisa of the North. 
Vermeer (Maiden with a pearl earring, 1665)
The most incredible thing is that this person has never left the city of Delft in his life; He also painted very little, and also painted very slowly, with less than 40 surviving authentic works; The format is often small, even the subject matter is so limited that it is almost unusual, that is, the little place in the small city where he lives, the eye can see; And even the composition of the picture is nothing new, there are always one or two people indoors, or standing, or sitting, and the light basically comes in from the window on the left. 
Vermeer (Art of Painting, 1666)
In the eyes of professionals, this painter does not even have a little imagination beyond the eye. If you look at his paintings, you can tell that the object of his painting is always in a room, and only in one corner of the room. His landscape depiction of his hometown of Delft is the one with the largest scene and the furthest distance from home.
Why does Vermeer paint so well?
So, the question is, why can Vermeer paint so well? Wang Ruiyun believes that Vermeer's good painting, the real strength comes from his extraordinary quiet heart. Language can deceive people, but painting cannot deceive people, even the subject matter of the painting can also deceive people, but the technique of painting will definitely reveal the inner state of the painter.
Often art historians explain why this man is good basically in terms of painting methods, such as Gombridge's summing it up this way: "Vermeer achieves painstakingly absolute precision in representing the texture, color and shape of objects, without making the picture seem laborious, and it is the peculiar combination of softness and precision that makes his masterpiece so memorable." ”
Other scholars also summarize in the picture, pointing out how Vermeer's precision reached the pinnacle of skill to deceive the viewer's eye - more real than the camera's image, and the French even coined a word for this method of deceiving the eye in painting, called trompe l'oeil, which translates as "trompe l'oeil" (also translated as "visual trap"), that is, "deceiving the eye".
Wang Ruiyun's explanation has another angle, not from the perspective of the picture, but from Vermeer's inner state to see the secret of his success. Wang Ruiyun emphasized that the charm of Vermeer's works is first and foremost due to the super-observational power generated by his super-quiet in his heart, while his ability to depict is ranked second.
This is because too many people in art history have excellent depictions, even in Vermeer's contemporaries, masters of depiction are all around him, such as those painters who paint still lifes or animals, will their depiction skills be worse than him? Not bad at all, but why didn't they draw to the level he did? The problem lies in the strength of the observation power.
What is the power of observation, does observation require strength? Although everyone has the innate conditions for observation, in fact, most people cannot observe quietly.
Take Vermeer's painting The Maid Pouring Milk, for example, which simply depicts a maid standing in the corner of the kitchen, with light coming in from the window on the left illuminating the interior. 
Vermeer (maid who poured milk, 1654-1658)
Vermeer will not talk about the realism of the figures and still lifes in front, but everyone will be stupid when they look at the wall behind the maid painted by Vermeer.
You would wonder how he looked at every inch of the wall in detail, otherwise, how could he have drawn every inch of the wall:
The iron nails on the wall, the small shadows cast by the iron nails, and some nails that have been nailed to leave every small hole in the wall, the small depressions and defects on the wall due to inadvertent collision and friction, and some stains, a row of tiles pasted on the wall roots, small corrosion and falling off of the tiles and wall joints, and the ground near the root of the wall is not clean, some debris and grass blades have fallen, a square foot stove made of porcelain, for heating, is casually rested on the wall...
In short, not a single detail in this painting escapes the painter's eyes! This is actually saying that Vermeer's goodness is not only in the ability to draw, but more importantly, in the ability to see, which is where he is most powerful, and it is also where none of us can do it.
Of course, when infinitely close to reality, the painter must also control the picture, so that everything is unified in harmony, and there can be no unnaturalness, which belongs to the painter's talent, and Vermeer's talent in this point is outstanding.
Do we see Vermeer's aesthetics based on his precise observations? When we are all saying "truth is beauty", many people may not notice that the first thing required to achieve such beauty is the determination of the heart.
The fundamental strength to do things well is not in the external conditions, but in the inner determination.