The Van Gogh Gallery Blog

A “new” Van Gogh painting was announced in The Netherlands today.  Despite the huge body of work that Van Gogh produced and the number of claims to Van Gogh discoveries that have been made, it is extremely rare that a new Van Gogh is actually authenticated.  This and the fact that the late Dirk Hannema, art collector and curator, had been trying to prove the painting’s authenticity since 1975, makes the painting, Le Blute-Fin Mill, an extraordinary discovery.  As the first Van Gogh to be authenticated since 1995, Le Blute-Fin Mill has the art world buzzing. 

The painting, which went on display today at the Museum de Fundatie in the town of Zwolle, The Netherlands, features a large windmill, a popular subject for Van Gogh’s Parisian paintings from 1886.  In fact, Van Gogh’s Le Moulin de Blute-Fin shows the same mill from a different angle. 

The exhibition “The Discovery – Vincent van Gogh’s De Mole ‘Le blute-fin’ in the collection of Museum de Fundatie containing the work will be on display until July 4, 2010.   To view the newly authenticated painting click the Museum de Fundatie link below.

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Museum de Fundatie

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

Happy New Year and thank you for helping support our site to make 2009 an excellent year!  We have had a lot of great feedback from Van Gogh Gallery visitors in the form of blog comments and email messages.  We appreciate all of your input on the site and our blog.  We are also thrilled to have had such an impressive response on our Van Gogh Gallery Facebook page.  We are on track to reach 1,000 fans by the end of 2009, and we value the comments and insights our fans share with us and the Van Gogh community on Facebook everyday!  If you haven’t had a chance to join this community, become a fan today and be a part of the on-going conversation covering everything Van Gogh.  Happy New Year and here’s to an exciting 2010!

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Thank You Van Gogh Gallery Visitors

Although Van Gogh preferred the French countryside to the congested streets of Paris, he did live in Paris for a short time with his brother Theo at number 54 Rue Lepic in Montmartre. The art community was active at the time in 1874-75 and the Impressionists, or the grands boulevards artists as they were referred to, often gathered together there for exhibitions. Van Gogh was inspired by works in museums of Paris as well as the works of his contemporaries. Surrounded by Impressionists as well as the up and coming Pointillists, Van Gogh observed the works of other artists and drew from their techniques in the continual development of his style.

It is surprising the number of artists who have lived in Paris at one time or another in their lives. The neighborhood of Montmartre especially has attracted a multitude of famous artists including Renoir and Picasso as well as unknown artists. During the same time that Van Gogh lived in Montmartre, Edgar Degas lived a few doors down on Rue Lepic and Toulouse-Lautrec lived around the corner.

Today the art community is still alive in Montmartre. Visitors can sit and have their portraits painted in a matter of minutes, or do as Van Gogh did and observe the works of other artists. There are even walks and tours which take you by some of the places where these great artists like Van Gogh once lived and created their masterpieces.

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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)

Over the weekend, I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Van Gogh: Brush with Genius at a local OMNIMAX theatre.   The film by Peter Knapp and Francois Bertrand, brings to life the words and works of Van Gogh on a larger than life scale.  Narrated though the words of Van Gogh, as taken from his letters, the film tells Vincent’s story largely in his own words.

Some of the most interesting commentary was on Van Gogh’s shift from his darker early works which use little color to his later works in which he embraced color and often demonstrated the dramatic effects of using complimentary colors.  These effects became even more apparent seeing each yellow and violet brush stroke paired together on the big screen.  One such painting, besides the most obvious example, Starry Night with its vibrant yellows against violet, is the painting of the Bank of the Oise at Auvers on the left. 

Another enjoyable facet of the movie was seeing the real life places, which still exist today, where Van Gogh lived and that he captured in some of his most famous paintings.   Following his life from the early years in the Netherlands to Paris to Arles and Saint-Remy and finally to Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh becomes less of a myth as you experience his homes and landscapes through viewing their present day counterparts.       

If you have the opportunity to see Van Gogh: Brush with Genius, you will have a chance to experience Van Gogh’s life and work in a way that even he could not.  If you have already seen the film, share your comments about it here.

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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 The Van Gogh Gallery is now on Facebook! Because of the high level of interest from our audience in updates and information on all things related to the life and work of Vincent van Gogh, we have created our own Facebook page. Become a fan and help us get the conversation started! Our intention is that the Van Gogh Gallery Facebook page becomes a platform for Van Gogh lovers to share discussions about favorite Van Gogh paintings, photos from trips to museums and Van Gogh sites, news about Van Gogh exhibits and more. Please join us today by becoming a fan and help build the Van Gogh Gallery community on Facebook!

Recently, a photo of Vincent van Gogh has been the topic of many discussions surrounding Van Gogh.  The photo can be seen on VanGoghFoto.com where it states that it has been proven to be a photo of Vincent van Gogh from 1886.  The photo is also in the book by Ken Wilkie The Van Gogh File, the Myth and The Man.  While there are known images of Van Gogh’s family members, there are very few of Van Gogh himself especially as an adult.  Since this is thought to be one of the few photos of Van Gogh, we would love to get your opinion about the photo and whether or not you think it resembles the likeness he captured in so many of his self portraits such as these.  Comment and share your thoughts.

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We have recently added a Van Gogh video by Alexander Lukin and Alexander Chernov of the creative team LUCH to the Van Gogh Gallery.  This video takes you though many of Van Gogh’s most famous drawings which they have animated and set to the music of Thom Yorke.  If you haven’t checked out Van Gogh’s drawings in a while, viewing this video will bring them to life for you and give you a new appreciation of what it may have been like for Vincent as he was sketching each of these scenes.  If you have a favorite Van Gogh video available online, feel free to comment and share it with us!  

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