The Van Gogh Gallery Blog

Van Gogh’s paintings can be seen in museums and galleries all over the world, and while there really is no comparison for seeing his brushstrokes up close and in person, it is amazing how many excellent virtual Van Gogh displays exist online. Virtual tours have improved over the years now offering the viewer an ever greater perspective of the object and its surroundings. In this virtual tour of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, you can see many of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and the works hanging alongside of them all from the comfort of your computer. If you prefer to travel online to Paris a virtual tour of the Musee d’Orsay will take you the Van Gogh collection there.

If you would rather avoid the sometimes dizzying effects of the virtual tour, check out some of the interactive exhibitions online such as the “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night” exhibition which took place a couple of years ago at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, but continues to display online. There are also a selection of videos on Van Gogh’s works and research on the Van Gogh channel on Art Babble. So if you want to experience the works of Van Gogh, but can’t make it to the museum, a Van Gogh tour may just be a click away.

Although Gauguin and other contemporaries had a profound impact on Van Gogh’s work, Van Gogh was also greatly influenced by some of his predecessors.  The work of French artist Jean Francois Millet, in particular, resonated with Van Gogh.  In many ways Millet’s experiences and the subjects he chose to paint mirrored Van Gogh’s life and work.   Van Gogh could relate to Millet’s paintings of peasant life and the depiction of the plight of laborers.  It was this realistic approach that Van Gogh often emulated in many of his paintings as shown.

Today we are still comparing the works of Van Gogh and Millet.  In fact, this month a special exhibition will open at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where Van Gogh’s The Sower, 1888 will be seen along with Millet’s The Sower, 1850 for the first time ever.

Throughout history artists have worked together and inspired each other.   Possibly one of the most recognized pairs of artists who had profound influences on each other was Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.   One reason this is so well known is because of the collection of Van Gogh’s letters, which chronicles his artistic development first-hand, is an incredible record of the artist’s journey which we do not have in such great detail for many other artists.  In addition, Van Gogh and Gauguin lived and worked together in a yellow house in Arles during 1888 called the Studio of the South.  It was here that Van Gogh painted Sunflowers to decorate Gauguin’s room and here that the artists collaborated constantly learning from each other’s style and techniques.

The link between these two artists is so great that exhibitions have been held around these two artists and their influences on each other.   The Art Institute of Chicago had an exhibition a number of years ago called Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South.  On the site you will find information about the artists as well as a slide show and maps of Arles.  In addition, The Van Gogh Museum has an interactive site which provides quotes from letters and images of paintings by the artists.

Below are some of Van Gogh’s paintings from this time.

Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin, September, 1888

Paul Gauguin’s Armchair, December, 1888

This year there are a variety of exciting Van Gogh exhibitions all over the globe.   Even if you don’t live near the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, you may still have an opportunity to see Van Gogh’s works up close and in person at a museum near you.  The following are just a sampling of some of the Van Gogh events going on this year:

Van Gogh Day – Sunday February, 21 at the Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina

Van Gogh: The Flaming Soul – on going until March 28 at the National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan. 

Masterpieces from Paris:  Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne & Beyond – on going until April 4 at The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters – on going until April 18 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.  Enter our Van Gogh contest to win exhibition tickets.

Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales- ongoing until April 25 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musee d’Orsay – September 25, 2010 – January 18 2011 at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, California.

For more information about new and upcoming Van Gogh exhibitions, please see the Events on the Van Gogh Gallery Facebook Page.

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The Real Van Gogh: The Artists and His Letters

Planning on being in London this spring?  If so, you should enter The Real Van Gogh: The artist and his letters contest. We are currently running a contest in cooperation with The Royal Academy of Arts in London to win a pair of exhibition tickets for The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters.

This landmark exhibition of the work of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) opened at The Royal Academy of Arts on January 23 and will run until April 18. The focus of the exhibition is the artist’s remarkable correspondence, with over 35 original letters on display in the main galleries of Burlington House, together with around 65 paintings and 30 drawings. The exhibition will offer a unique opportunity to gain an insight into the complex mind of Vincent van Gogh.

For the chance to win a pair of exhibition tickets simply email your name to competitions@royalacademy.org.uk with Van Gogh Gallery in the subject box. Prize drawn on 26 February. Judges’ decision is final.

For more information about the exhibit please see The Royal Academy of Arts.

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The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters Exhibition

Rarely, since the time that they were created, has a large collection of Van Gogh’s original letters and his corresponding works been seen together.  But in January of 2010, the main galleries of Burlington House, the Royal Academy of Arts will be host to an exhibition of over 35 original Van Gogh letters and about 65 paintings and 30 drawings relating to the letters on display.  As the first major Van Gogh exhibition in London in over forty years, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, will be a monumental event for Van Gogh admirers.

Van Gogh is widely known for his prolific and extraordinary work as an artist, but his expression in the written word is also impressive.  When analyzing different works of art, art historians and appreciators try to uncover meaning in the work itself, but it is rare that the intent, motivation and perception can be drawn directly from the words of the artist himself especially posthumously.  Such an accurate record of one man’s work, life and time in history is hard to find, and we are privileged to have this account preserved for the public to view today.

This exhibition will not only show some of the finished paintings and drawings referred to in Van Gogh’s correspondence to his greatest confidants, visitors will also see the letter sketches of works in progress to get a more complete  picture of the man behind the brush and the pen and his development both as an artist and a person. 

According to the Royal Academy of Arts, “Highlights of the exhibition will include Self-portrait as an Artist (1888) and The Yellow House (1888) from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Still-life: Drawing Board with Onions (1889) from the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; Vincent’s Chair with His Pipe (1888) from the National Gallery, London; and Entrance to the Public Park in Arles (1888) from the Phillips Collection, Washington DC.”

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters Exhibition is curated by Ann Dumas of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.  The exhibit is sponsored by the Bank of New York Mellon.

For tickets and information about The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters please visit the Royal Academy of Arts.

In cooperation with the Royal Academy of Arts, the Van Gogh Gallery will be having a contest to win tickets to this exhibition.  Please continue to check the Van Gogh Gallery website for more details over the next few weeks.

Vincent Van Gogh. Self Portrait as a Painter. 1887 - 1888. Oil on canvas. 65.2 x 50.2 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

A new application for the iPhone called “Yours, Vincent” is now available for Van Gogh fans to download.  The application takes iPhone users through selected accounts from Vincent van Gogh’s letters along with accompanying images of his works.  The app was developed to go along with the exhibit “Van Gogh’s Letters: The Artist Speaks” which opens today and will run through January 3, 2010 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  Created by the Van Gogh Museum in collaboration with Antenna Audio, the application is one of the first of its kind developed by a European museum.  This new application is available for free from the iTunes App Store.

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If you have the opportunity, the best way to experience Van Gogh’s masterpieces is up close and in person. A number of years ago I was lucky enough to have a chance to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Before visiting I had an appreciation for Van Gogh. I knew all the crowd-pleasers like Starry Night, Sunflowers, and Café Terrace on the Place du Forum. I had read Irving Stone’s Lust for Life and became interested in Van Gogh’s life. But, it was not until experiencing the Van Gogh Museum that I could really appreciate the breadth of his work and the story of his life.

The Van Gogh Museum is home to over 200 Van Gogh paintings as well as many of his drawings and letters. This is the largest collection of Van Gogh works anywhere in the world. See works like The Potato Eaters, Almond Blossom, Irises and The Bedroom. Although the museum itself is more modern than other nearby museums like the Rijksmuseum, also located on the Museumplein, you will feel as though you are transported back to Van Gogh’s time as he tells you his story in his words while you peruse letters handwritten by Van Gogh. You will be taken aback when you realize that this multistory building is houses mainly one man’s work, and when you see his use of color and brushstrokes in person it is awe-inspiring.

While the museum is mainly covers Van Gogh, it also hosts works by other artists like Gauguin, Monet, Pissarro, Seurat, and other artists of the 19th century as well as temporary exhibitions of other artist’s work. Opening on the 18th is an exhibit of Belgian artist Alfred Stevens’ work. If you have stories or photos from your trip to the Van Gogh Museum that you would like to add, please share your comments.

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With interest growing in the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit, posted on earlier, I wanted to bring you more on this event especially if you won’t have the opportunity to see it in person.  Earlier this week I was contacted by ArtInfo.com about a recent podcast they released called Van Gogh: Painting the Night.  The podcast features expert commentary on the night themes in Van Gogh’s work from leading Van Gogh authorities including the curators of the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit.  In addition, excerpts read from Van Gogh’s letters allow Vincent to speak to his use of these motifs as well.  Listen to the experts’ analysis along with insight from Van Gogh himself, in Van Gogh: Painting the Night now! 

In collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has a special exhibition on display called Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night.   The limited engagement exhibit opened yesterday and will run until January 5, 2009.  Including some of his most famous works, both indoor scenes and outdoor landscapes, the exhibit features paintings, drawing and letters which capture the light and the vision with which Van Gogh saw the world at night.  For more information on this exhibition or lectures and other events related to this exhibit, visit MOMA.  Not going to be in the New York area to see this exhibit in person?  View the online Van Gogh exhibit.