Girl In Hyacinth Blue

Interesting how I read out of order of when I got books by certain authors. I already had owned something by Susan Vreeland, but read Girl in Hyacinth Blue first even though I purchased it later on. It seems trivial, but it is just a little funny to me.

Centered around a Vermeer painting, Girl in Hyacinth Blue explores its history of the painting’s ownership, going from a college professor who struggles inwardly to reveal the origins of how he obtained the painting to a simple family struggling to survive. Each passing to the next owner has its own segment; they all have common things between them.

I enjoyed reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue, it did not take me long to read it because the segments were engaging in their own ways. As I said before, every segment has similar things in common. Everyone who obtains it puts so much positive value on the painting and its affect on their lives, whether it’s vain and shallow to just a plain positive experience when they look at it. It brings a comfort and a warm feeling. There is a mystery about the subject of the painting and what she must have been thinking while staring out of the window. As someone who has a degree in Graphic Design, I had to take classes about art history and had many class discussions on art and its value and what makes art valuable and wanted and good to an individual. Reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue brought me back to those memories.

I thought it interesting this theme of survival among the owners. It also partners with the painting being an example of the human spirit. This piece of history surviving all of these circumstances that not many people go through: persecution, natural disasters, the need to give up so as to have food, or simple vanity. Various people doing what they can to live, or one case, possibly having no survival option.

I liked that it was a shorter read. Lately I have been wanting to just be simple and read shorter books. Being in a season where there is continually things going on and being needed everywhere all the time leaves me not wanting to read. I guess I am more or less in a rut. I’ll get out of it in due time.

I would recommend reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue. I hope you get a chance to settle down and read something that will take you away from whatever is going on in your life. If you want to check out Girl in Hyacinth Blue, I would start here.

10/10