A novel, simple and relatively rapid method is described for the isolation of the intermediate-sized filament protein vimentin from eye lens tissue. Chromatofocusing is applied as the sole purification step. The apparent isoelectric point of the protein in 6 M urea and at 22 degrees C is 4.9. Electrophoretic mobility on one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels, solubility in 6 M urea and amino acid composition were used for identification.