Why do the paintings of Johannes Vermeer so fascinate art lovers?

He wasn’t as prolific (or as successful) as his Dutch contemporary Rembrandt; he wasn’t a Renaissance man likeda VinciorMichelangelo; he wasn’t a self-promoter likePicasso,Dalíor Warhol; he wasn’t a tortured soul likevan GoghorKahlo.

我一直着迷于弗米尔近一个必要rter-century, visiting the Netherlands, where seven of his 37 known paintings reside, as well as his hometown of Delft, on several occasions. As many are, I am drawn to his mastery of lighting (“Girl Reading a Letter”) — could he have been our first cinematographer, centuries before the invention of film? — as well as his delicate, intimate portrayal of domestic scenes (“The Milkmaid,” my personal favorite) and his interest in the lives of women (“Girl With a Pearl Earring,”which made a splashat the de Young Museumin 2013).

More than the work of his contemporaries, Vermeer’s paintings give me a real sense of what 17th century culture was like in the Netherlands.

So when news came that the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam would mount a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition that would gather 28 of Vermeer’s paintings, you better believe I was going to make my first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic. As one of 650,000 visitors from 113 nations of the four-month, sold-out exhibition that ended June 4, I was treated to one of the defining events of my life.

I have two regrets: that I did not buy a second ticket, to visit, say, two days later and deepen my experience (by then, tickets on the secondary market were priced as high as $1,000, no thanks); and that beforehand I was not able to see Suzanne Raes’ insightful and irresistible “Close to Vermeer,” a documentary on the exhibition that opens in the Bay Area on Friday, June 30.

“Close to Vermeer” is much more than a chronicle of the exhibition. It is a globe-trotting tale of diplomacy, a detective story and a fascinating insight into the insular world of museum curation, research and preservation, which helps keep culture alive through the march of history.

The film begins two years before the exhibition, when it is essentially the dream of Gregor Weber, a lifelong Vermeer enthusiast who envisions it as his career’s defining moment before his retirement as the head of the Rijksmuseum’s Department of Fine Arts.

Weber and other Rijksmuseum officials, including Pieter Roelofs, head of paintings and sculpture, and Anna Krekeler, a conservator and researcher, begin the arduous process of working with museums that display Vermeers. It’s no small task; Vermeers are considered “pilgrimage paintings,” those core, famous works that attract out-of-town visitors. Being without a pilgrimage painting for even a few months can dramatically impact a museum’s ticket sales — there’s a reason why the Louvre never loans out the“Mona Lisa.”

To get the four Vermeers housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for example, the Rijksmuseum promised it would loan the Gallery its four Vermeers at a later date.

At one point in the film, the Rijksmuseum team and National Gallery officials clash over the authenticity of “Girl With a Flute,” spurring a bit of detective work.

“Close to Vermeer” also delves into his painting techniques, including commentary from American painter and historian Johnathan Janson, a consulting curator of the exhibition whose website Essential Vermeer (essentialvermeer.com) is an indispensable resource.

Vermeer’s works are carefully examined with X-ray microscopes to determine patterns of brushstrokes and other working methods, and there is a demonstration of histheorized use of camera obscuras. And what’s the artist’s deal with using an underlying green base to darken his subjects’ yellow skin tone?

Also recommended is another documentary, “Vermeer: The Blockbuster Exhibition” (a.k.a. “Vermeer: The Essential Exhibition”), which has been making the rounds at Bay Area art-house theaters in one-off screenings (next showings: at theLark Theaterin Larkspur 5 p.m. Thursday, June 29, and 1 p.m. Sunday, July 2; at里亚尔托桥电影院榆木in Berkeley 7 p.m. July 18). It is a more straightforward look at the exhibition directed by David Bickerstaff.

Sometimes it’s hard to put into words why I like Vermeer so much, aside from his masterful lighting. What this exhibition helped me put in focus is that by relentlessly focusing on simple scenes of ordinary life — pouring milk, reading a letter, two people talking over a glass of wine — Vermeer brought a quiet dignity to the everyday tasks and rituals that make up much of our lives.

His work seemed to suggest that those activities are not mundane things, but opportunities for reflection, meaning and connecting with the outside world.

Reach G. Allen Johnson:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com; Twitter:@BRFilmsAllen