Introvert

An INFJ at Pieter de Hooch’s Window

Not so many of us know the Golden Age Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch (1629–1684). Poor guy, he lived and painted at the same time as Johannes Vermeer. Didn’t really stand a chance. Although equally gifted and inspired, history mostly remembers and celebrates the “Sphinx of Delft”, Johannes Vermeer, even if it took quite a long time to appreciate his painting. Why?

Pieter de Hooch was discreet. Probably too discreet. Wasn’t very talkative. A true loner. Most probably, an introvert. Didn’t have a clue as to how he was supposed to socialize. Didn’t have a family of 11 children and a somewhat greedy wife, like Vermeer, to push him to the banks of Extrovertia. Nope! Just a wife and two children. Yet, I suspect he wasn’t spending too much of his time staying at home. Except — perhaps — for his daydreaming time at the window. Weird guy. My kind of guy.

So, we have a weird guy, Pieter de Hooch. We also have windows and an INFJ. Windows. Like them sooo much! As an INFJ, it was expected. The beauty of them comes in all shapes, colors, and materials. But they have to have a view. Otherwise, why bother? Not any kind of view, though. Seaviews are my absolute favorite. Not because it looks nice and the sea fragrance is irresistible, but because it reminds me where we all come from. The sea. Its rhythm slowly dissolves all physical boundaries. The best trigger there is for oddballs like me.

It seems obvious for an INFJs to forever gaze upon inner worlds through open windows. Something is out there for us. We only have to discover it through a window frame. Although I discovered Vermeer first at the age of 6 and Pieter de Hooch only when I was an adult, it has always been about him rather than about Vermeer. Vermeer? Nay. Too obvious. Too perfect. Too “here”, I guess. Whereas Pieter de Hooch has mastered the subtle art of never being “here” — except for his paintings — and always “there”. The ever so elusive Introversia.

Dare I say that you have to be an INFJ to enjoy Pieter de Hooch’s painting? Nope! But you will double the delight if you are an INFJ. Look at the world. Full of illusions. Dead ends for the eye as well as the mind. As the French philosopher, Henri Bergson once said; “The eye only sees what it is ready to understand”. So what? As an INFJ, I have this annoying tendency to live inside my head. It requires a lot of energy to sort of get out and just smell the roses. I need to grasp things before I can trust what I see. Maybe, it’s a curse? Dunno.

I can imagine Pieter de Hooch looking at his model and then back at the window. His eyes almost shut as he is trying to cope with too much reality. Humans can do that to him. He urgently needs an escape to reach for “his” window. The one that only he can access. Sometimes, he feels like running away from his task. Painting is so overrated. When the weather outside is good — cloudy, windy and moody — Pieter opens his workshop window and sits in the shade. This is his moment. No one to paint, to please or worse, to entertain. Just the weather outside and the view. Snapshots of a life he yet has to figure out. He doesn’t really understand how or why, but he met an oddball like him the other day while gazing out of a window. A weirdo. Same crazy way of looking at things. Who else would enjoy sitting silently in the shade, looking at the invisible? But not a painter though. Never mind.

A storm is coming. Life can be good sometimes.

©Ariane Kveld Jaks