عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

Saudi Culture Ministry Adds 118 Educational Institutions to its Cultural Scholarship Program

Saudi Culture Ministry Adds 118 Educational Institutions to its Cultural Scholarship Program
TT
20
TT

Saudi Culture Ministry Adds 118 Educational Institutions to its Cultural Scholarship Program

Saudi Culture Ministry Adds 118 Educational Institutions to its Cultural Scholarship Program

The Saudi Ministry of Culture said it is expanding its Cultural Scholarship Program by adding 118 educational institutions to the list of accredited educational institutions.
The move aims to lend support to national cadres, respond to the growing needs of the labor market, and achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 related to culture, SPA reported.
The new addition brings the number of educational institutions supported by the program to 278, distributed in 15 countries: the largest number, 58 institutions, in US, 40 institutions in UK, and one in Russia. Students may obtain scholarships in 13 cultural fields.
The newly added educational institutions include prestigious international universities, most notably: the University of San Francisco, Arizona State University, University of Colorado Boulder, Royal Holloway, University of London, the University of Liverpool, Padova University, in Italy, and Lund University, in Sweden.
The Cultural Scholarship Program is comprehensive and offers a diversity of specializations in the cultural and artistic fields. Scholarship students will have their study costs funded, financial guarantee, paid living expenses, for them and their companions, medical insurance, travel tickets, and will have their academic development followed up on and evaluated.

Most Viewed

 
Culture

From Orange Peels to Bottle Caps: Thousands of Artists Create Their Own ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
TT
20
TT

From Orange Peels to Bottle Caps: Thousands of Artists Create Their Own ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)

After sending its most famous work to be featured in Amsterdam’s blockbuster 2023 exhibition of nearly every work by Johannes Vermeer, the Mauritshuis museum found itself with a blank space where the iconic “Girl with a Pearl Earring” had been displayed.

The Hague-based institution turned to more than 2,700 artists, from Texas to Ukraine, from age 7 to 70, who created their own interpretations of the 17th-century masterpiece.

A selection of 60 works using materials ranging from orange peels to bottle caps to sweatshirts were exhibited in the museum while the painting was on loan 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the north.

“The submissions continue to come, it will never end with her,” Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis museum, told The Associated Press, pointing to the ongoing popularity of works featuring the mystery girl.

A 2020 investigation into the painting using a battery of modern imaging techniques uncovered details about Vermeer's methods and the makeup of his pigments, but not the young woman’s identity.

“I bring together the original The Girl with a Pearl and the face of a Wayang puppet,” artist Rob de Heer told the AP, standing in front of a screen in the museum’s foyer where all of the winning submissions are displayed.

De Heer, who primarily works with mixed media, wanted to take an image from the Golden Age history of the Netherlands and combine it with one evoking its colonial legacy. Wayang puppets are a traditional form of theater in parts of Indonesia, which was ruled by the Netherlands until 1949.

His surrealist work is followed in the rolling display by a piece featuring the original girl’s face superimposed on an antique tea tin.

Other submissions include works by South Korean artist Nanan Kang, who used an ear of corn for the face; Georgian artist Nino Kavazauri, who reimagined a modern girl waiting at a bus stop with a cup of coffee; and Simon Chong, a Welsh animator, who works on the popular television series “Bob’s Burgers” and created a girl in the show’s cartoon style.

The winners were displayed in a replica frame in the exact spot where “Girl with a Pearl Earring” usually hangs, between two portraits by Dutch Baroque painter Gerard ter Borch.

The popularity of the first competition prompted a second round and those submissions are now on display at the Fabrique des Lumières in Amsterdam. The museum continues to feature submitted works of art on its Instagram page.

Gosselink, who has been the museum’s director since 2020, said the breadth and depth of the works made it difficult to select who would be featured in the exhibition.

“I would dare to say that some of the ones we selected are new pieces of art, and they would be served very well in a new surrounding, like a museum," Gosselink said.