superficial surfaces? Monet and Vermeer

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that only superficial people disregard the surface of things - and if he didn't, then he should've.

R4 on Monet just now - he was, apparently, criticised by some in his old age for not capturing the eternal, always painting the surface of things.

Fatuous comment.

Nothing is eternal; but the sense of the eternally changing yet changeless, the sacred in the ordinary, can only come to us through our senses and our mental states. Then, we can - perhaps - be with something beyond ourselves.

What could be more superficial and ordinary, and yet more thoroughly profound, than Vermeer's milkmaid? She is simply pouring milk from a jug. 

Somehow, somehow, Vermeer puts her so completely in her present and therefore in ours, that the moment seems fleeting, and yet permanent. He captures the paradox of the present moment. 

She, him, the jug - all dust and fragments now. But we are still watching her face, and the milk. Now.

(It doesn't work if you just glance at it, does it? There's no trick, it's not an optical illusion to look at for a moment in a Facebook post before moving on. It's worth finding a decent reproduction. But even this little image can work for you, I hope...)