The Rijksmuseum has shut down online ticket sales due to overwhelming demand for the Amsterdam institution’s Johannes Vermeer retrospective.
“Due to huge demand for extra tickets for the Vermeer exhibition, the website is experiencing problems,” the Rijksmuseum announced on Monday. “Ticket sales have been shut down until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience. We are working hard to resolve the situation.”
After it was announced in 2021, the Rijksmuseum declared the show the “first and last” retrospective for the artist. The exhibition includes 28 of the 37 known paintings by Vermeer, among them loans from institutions in Japan and the US, making it the most comprehensive show by the 17th century master ever.
As a result, demand for the hotly anticipated, critically acclaimed exhibition has continued, selling out only two days after it opened. The museum said it was “working hard to ensure more people have the opportunity to see the exhibition,” including extended operating hours until 10 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.
There are still thousands of people desperately in search of tickets to see the exhibition before it closes on June 4. As of press time, the website Ticketswap received 7,407 requests for tickets to the Vermeer exhibition but only sold 497.
On eBay, listings for tickets for the Vermeer exhibition have sold for significantly higher than the original price of €30. One auction listing for two tickets on Monday closed at €433, a markup of 1,343 per cent. ARTnews was not able to confirm if the tickets listed were legitimate.