John Green is the author of Looking for Alaska, a novel about a teenage boy who goes to boarding school and falls in love with a girl who is struggling with her own demons. The novel was published in 2005 and won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Green has said that he was inspired to write the novel after hearing about the death of a teenager who was struggling with depression.
 
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque artist who is known for his paintings of domestic scenes featuring middle class life. His most famous painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring, is a prime example of his work. While not as well-known as other Baroque artists such as Rembrandt or Caravaggio, Vermeer’s work is nonetheless highly regarded for its luminous quality and realistic depiction of everyday life.
 
Johannes Vermeer’s paintings are incredibly detailed and realistic, yet they also have an ethereal quality to them. It’s as if you are looking at a scene from a dream. John Green may have been inspired by Vermeer’s paintings because they have a similar feeling to his novels. They both capture a moment in time and make you feel as if you are a part of it.