The Van Gogh Gallery Blog

A hidden portrait of a woman painted by Van Gogh was found underneath Van Gogh’s Patch of Grass.  The painting Patch of Grass from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands was examined through the use of a new type of x-ray technology by a team of researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands and the University of Antwerp in Belgium.  Van Gogh, like many artists, often reused his canvases, so the potential for using this technology to uncover more works of art is great.  To see the painting and read more about this new discovery or the technology that made it possible click here.

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One of our visitors recently told me about the world’s first Van Gogh musical which just opened this summer. Produced by COA Productions, Van Gogh and the Sunflower Boy is a musical adaptation of Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt. This production focuses on Van Gogh’s time spent in Arles and many of the people he met during that time. Van Gogh and the Sunflower Boy is currently being performed for the next couple of months in Seoul, Korea before touring China and Japan.  Read more from Laurence Anholt himself on this production or if you read Korean more information can also be found here.

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In the midst of the sweltering summer it is nice to take a break from the heat and take in some culture at a local museum.  Should you find yourself in Amsterdam this summer, art and culture abounds and Van Gogh can’t be missed.  The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh’s works.  For a first hand look at one patron’s experience at the Van Gogh museum check out this enlightening post from Bells on a Starry Night.  The Rijksmuseum also has some of Van Gogh’s work as well as works from many other famous artists and eras, or if you are venturing out of Amsterdam consider visiting the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo which houses over two hundred and fifty of Van Gogh’s works.  Prefer to view the masterpieces a little closer to home?  Go to the Van Gogh Gallery catalog and filter by city, state, country or museum name to find the Van Goghs closest to you.  Is there an interesting Van Gogh work or tour in your local area?  Leave a comment and let me know!

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We have had some recent inquiries about Van Gogh’s vision and how it influenced his art work. Van Gogh’s vision problems could be attributed to several factors. It is thought that Van Gogh suffered from lead poisoning from all of the lead-based paints that he used. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is swelling of the retinas which can cause one to see light in circles like halos around objects. This can be seen in paintings like The Starry Night.

Van Gogh also suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy and was thought to have been treated by his doctor, Dr. Gachet, with a drug called digitalis. Digitalis comes from the foxglove plant and can be seen laying in front of Dr. Gachet in Van Gogh’s Portrait of Doctor Gachet. This drug can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots which could explain Van Gogh’s consistent use of the color yellow in his later works.

To learn more about the different theories on Van Gogh’s vision and how it influenced his work check out “Colored visions? – The pharmacological history of Van Gogh” from New Science Magazine or learn more about Van Gogh’s health.

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I recently came across Vincent has Arrived, a website with a series of posts from the art blog Dali House. While Dali House, named for Salvador Dali, and has a wealth of information surrounding the artist, it is also a great reference for information on lots of other artists including Vincent van Gogh. It was in a post on Dali House where I first read about the website Vincent has Arrived which chronicles the places Van Gogh lived and the things he did in during the last 30 months of his life. It is fascinating to see the satellite images of Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise on this site which highlight some of the places Van Gogh lived and frequented that are still around today. It is interesting to see what has changed in 120 years and even more interesting to see what has not. If you would like more information about some of these places that you can still visit today, the Van Gogh Gallery’s In His Steps section has contact information for many of these famous spots.

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We recently received a request for more information about Van Gogh’s painting La Mousmé, Sitting and the specifically the meaning of La Mousmé in English. According to The National Gallery of Art website, La Mousmé “came from a character in a popular novel set in Japan. ‘A mousmé is a Japanese girl-Provençal in this case-twelve to fourteen years old.’” For more information please see the National Gallery of Art’s description of La Mousmé. If you have more information about this painting, or a question about another painting, please feel free to comment.  I will do my best to help you find out more about it. I will also share any items of interest that I come across, so that everyone may benefit.

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We have had several inquiries recently about the paintings described in the first stanza of Don McLean’s hit song “Vincent.”  The Van Gogh Gallery has a Starry, Starry Night page that breaks down the lyrics and names paintings that are referenced in the song.  However, we have not broken down the song line by line and associated each with a particular painting.  With almost 900 paintings in Van Gogh’s collection, it may be hard to say which paintings, if any in particular, are being referred to specifically in the song.  If you would like to offer your ideas on which paintings are being referred to, you can access the complete Van Gogh Catalog on the Van Gogh Gallery, or view the interactive Van Gogh Book which chronicles some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings.  We would like to thank Unidev for doing the custom software development for these sections of the site.  After you have had a chance to view his vast collection, please feel free to comment with your thoughts on which paintings you think best match the lyrics.

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If you are in Amsterdam, or visiting other areas of The Netherlands this summer, you may want to take the train down to Zundert to see The Vincent van GoghHuis.  The Vincent van GoghHuis Zundert will open on August 29, 2008 with a permanent exhibition “Vincent van Gogh: Roots of a Master” which covers the life of Van Gogh beginning in his birthplace Zundert. The Vincent van GoghHuis will also feature a temporary exhibition “Zadkine & Van Gogh” from September 2008 to January 2009.  If you would like more information about The Vincent van GoghHuis, or other places to tour which follow Van Gogh’s life in his footsteps learn more about Van Gogh travel.

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In Stockton, CA Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows is being reinvented on a cow-shaped canvas.  The life-sized cow sculpture is one of the entries in Lucerne’s 3rd annual Art of Dairy Art Contest.  Sixteen year old Cynthia Mora, a Junior at Weber Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, used one of Van Gogh’s most famous works as her inspiration for the contest entry.  Although this is not the first time Van Gogh’s work has been reimagined, it may be the first time his style has been copied onto a life-sized fiberglass cow.  To see more unique works inspired by Van Gogh read more about Van Gogh in today’s culture.

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The first major Van Gogh exhibit, “Voyage into the Myth,” to come to the Seoul Museum of Art drew a large audience.  Museum visitors flocked to see some of Van Gogh’s early works including paintings, drawings and sketches.  Irises and Sower were some of the 45 paintings included in the exhibit.  This exhibit was the first retrospective Van Gogh Exhibit to take place in Korea.  For more on this exhibit please click here.

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