Painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1669–1671, 'The Lacemaker' is one of the smallest (24 × 21 cm) — and most densely concentrated — of all Dutch Golden Age paintings. A young woman in a lemon-yellow bodice and pale blue shawl bends over her cushion, pins and bobbins between her fingers, her whole body gathered into an almost prayerful focus on the delicate thread she is making. In the foreground a sewing cushion spills a tangle of red thread — the only island of disorder Vermeer allows himself. Salvador Dalí revered the picture throughout his life and copied it several times with mystical intensity.

Exhibition Venue

Louvre Museum

Paris, France