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Tim's Vermeer

  • 20132013
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 20m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
8.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Tim's Vermeer (2013)
 	Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.
Play trailer2:05
4 Videos
23 Photos
  • Documentary
  • History

Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.

IMDb RATING
7.8/10
8.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Teller
  • Writers
    • Penn Jillette
    • Teller
  • Stars
    • Tim Jenison
    • Penn Jillette
    • Martin Mull
Top credits
  • Director
    • Teller
  • Writers
    • Penn Jillette
    • Teller
  • Stars
    • Tim Jenison
    • Penn Jillette
    • Martin Mull
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 51User reviews
    • 84Critic reviews
    • 76Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 1 win & 6 nominations total

    Videos4

    Theatrical Trailer
    Trailer 2:05
    Theatrical Trailer
    Clip
    Clip 1:30
    Clip
    Tim's Vermeer
    Clip 2:03
    Tim's Vermeer
    Tim's Vermeer
    Clip 1:00
    Tim's Vermeer

    Photos23

    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Penn Jillette and Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Penn Jillette, Teller, and Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)
    Teller and Tim Jenison in Tim's Vermeer (2013)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tim Jenison
    Tim Jenison
    • Selfas Self
    Penn Jillette
    Penn Jillette
    • Selfas Self
    Martin Mull
    Martin Mull
    • Selfas Self
    Philip Steadman
    • Selfas Self
    David Hockney
    David Hockney
    • Selfas Self
    Colin Blakemore
    • Selfas Self
    Leslie Jenison
    • Selfas Self
    Eric Armitage
    • Selfas Self
    Daniëlle Lokin
    • Selfas Self
    • (as Daniélle Lokin)
    Bob Groothuis
    • Selfas Self
    Ankie Bonnet
    • Selfas Self
    Ruth Steadman
    • Selfas Self
    Mike Hayes
    • Selfas Self
    Nicola Vigini
    • Selfas Self
    Graham Toms
    • Selfas Self
    Claire Jenison
    • Selfas Self
    Luren Jenison
    • Selfas Self
    Natalie Jenison
    • Selfas Self
    • Director
      • Teller
    • Writers
      • Penn Jillette
      • Teller
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Inventor Tim Jenison seeks to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.
    • painting
    • inventor
    • geometry
    • video tester
    • woodworking
    • 70 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genres
      • Documentary
      • History
    • Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
      • Rated PG-13 for some strong language
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      About 2400 hours of footage was collected. Director Teller had trouble editing the footage down to feature-film length and considered stopping the editing process all together. He consulted his friend Penn on where to go next, and Penn gave him a one sentence plot summary: "A man discovers how to create art without knowing how." This was all Teller needed to get the film down to feature-film length.
    • Quotes

      Tim Jenison: There's also this modern idea that art and technology must never meet - you know, you go to school for technology or you go to school for art, but never for both... And in the Golden Age, they were one and the same person.

    • Connections
      Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Don Rickles/Kate Mara/Penn & Teller (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      Smoke On The Water
      (uncredited)

      Written by Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover amd Ritchie Blackmore

      Performed by Tim Jenison

    User reviews51

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    For the art students and documentary fans, this one is for you
    Tim's Vermeer is a wonderfully entertaining story about personal passion and obsession and the crossroads where technology and art meet rather than stay apart from each other, a concept that some fear to be anecdotal in the analysis and appreciation for art. The film focuses on Tim Jenison, an accomplished inventor and founder of the hardware/software company NewTek, who has grown to become increasingly fascinated with the works of Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer is one of the most subversive painters in history, with many art critics and scholars citing him as the greatest painter of all time. Vermeer's paintings have taken on a life of their own in recent time because of the beauty they bear in terms of lighting and clarity, in an era where cameras didn't exist. His techniques and even his personal life are still largely a mystery today, and Tim's Vermeer shows that one man may have an idea how he did it all.

    Tim proposes the idea that, as unique as it would've been for Vermeer to walk up to a blank canvas and begin painting the photo-realistic paintings he became known for, some technology, even as primitive as it could be classified, had to be involved. Narrator Penn Jillette of the magician duo Penn & Teller (with Teller serving as the documentary's director) tells us of a device known as "camera obscura," which is Dutch for "dark room." The device is a box that could be of any size - from as small as a shoebox to as big as being able to house a person inside - that would have a small hole drilled in it to fit a circular lens inside. It would project whatever was outside of the box into the dark interior of the box in an upside down, backwards state; one would curve the lens to reposition and resize the subject inside the box.

    Tim believes that, despite the device being common during the time, it would've been difficult for Vermeer to paint something as deep and intricate as what he did on a small-scale canvas or in a room of little light. What he manages to create is his own kind of "camera obscura," with mirrors and lenses that have the same sort of basic imperfections, shortcomings, but in addition, wondrous advances as Vermeer could've dealt with in 17th Century Dutch. Confident after speaking to art curators and professionals that share his feelings that he's on to something remarkable, Tim decides to sit down, with his creation of mirrors and lenses, and try to copy one of Vermeer's paintings. He goes as far as to renting a warehouse and constructing it like the room in Vermeer's painting, which was the north-facing room on the second story of his home. He goes back to use the 17th Century lenses of the time and even works to grinding his own paint, rather than using the paint one could easily by at a store for hobbyists. What unfolds is one of the most fascinating documentaries about art I have yet to see.

    The film is a perfect showcase for somebody who is operating in a very advanced league in the computer graphics and software industry, who bears a fascination of where his medium originated. In turn, he decides to go back in time and see how the pioneers of their time operated and worked to create the hard we cherish today. It's the classic example of someone going back and learning the roots of the medium they love; a necessity, considering things are progressing at such a rapid rate these days it's difficult to keep track of things.

    Second-time director Teller shows just what a grueling and meticulous process replicating an intricate painting is for Tim, who is operating by his own set of specific rules he has to follow (cannot use modern equipment of any kind, he must paint what he sees in the mirror to assure he's painting as if he was Vermeer during the time period, etc). We assume Tim must be a very relaxed and gentle man, rarely getting frazzled and taking his time with such an elaborate painting, careful not to rush or shortchange any element of the work. It becomes clear that his passion begins to rework itself and become a full-fledged obsession.

    Tim's Vermeer seals the deal by adding in ideas and thoughtful discussion points about the role technology and technological advances play in art and how optical machines were used in art, despite some carrying the idea that painters painted straight from their imagination. In addition, the film works to humanize the unfairly ridiculed and shortchanged field of study that is art history, effectively giving it a much-needed leverage in terms of thought and complexity. And, in short, the film is an unexpectedly entertaining dive into the ideas of passion and obsession, art and technology, and devotion and determination.

    Starring: Tim Jenison. Directed by: Teller.
    helpful•9
    3
    • StevePulaski
    • Jun 24, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 17, 2014 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Sony Pictures Website
    • Languages
      • English
      • Dutch
    • Also known as
      • Vermeer's Edge
    • Filming locations
      • Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
    • Production companies
      • High Delft Pictures
      • Sony Pictures Classics
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,671,377
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $49,777
      • Feb 2, 2014
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,686,917
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 20 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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