Few artists have left behind as
complete an account of their life and work as Vincent van Gogh
(1853–1890). In March 2019, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents
Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art,
an exhibition showcasing key passages in the artist’s life, from his
early sketches to his final paintings, and chronicling his pursuit of
becoming an artist. The Museum is the only venue for
His Life in Art,
presenting more than 50 portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. The
exhibition will be on view at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH),
from March 10 to June 27, 2019.
In a major collaboration, the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and the
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, which, together, hold the largest
collections in the world of Van Gogh’s work, will lend pieces to
Houston. Significant works will also travel from Musée d’Orsay, Paris;
Wallraf–Richartz Museum, Cologne; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,
Richmond; Art Institute of Chicago; the Dallas Museum of Art; McNay Art
Museum, San Antonio; and private collections.
“This exhibition will offer visitors a vivid portrait of Van Gogh’s
evolution as an artist,” commented MFAH Director Gary Tinterow. “We are
grateful to the Van Gogh and Kröller-Müller museums for lending so many
of these rarely traveled masterworks from their collections for this
exclusive presentation here in Houston.”
“The popular story of Van Gogh has tended to focus on his last few
years and his death,” said David Bomford, curator of the exhibition and
chair, Department of Conservation, and Audrey Jones Beck curator,
Department of European Art, MFAH. “But there is a rich and complex
narrative that starts much earlier, one that is defined by Van Gogh’s
tremendous drive to become an artist.”
Exhibition Overview
The exhibition explores Vincent van Gogh’s early years as an artist in
the Dutch village of Nuenen from 1883 to 1885; his renewed inspiration
following exposure to fellow artists and city life in Paris; his further
development in Arles, where he created series of landscapes and vibrant
portraits; and lastly his inspiration from nature, reflected in the
paintings he created toward the end of his life in Saint-Rémy and
Auvers. In addition, facsimiles of Van Gogh’s letters will build out the
narrative of the artist’s life. Incorporated throughout the exhibition,
they trace his hopes of becoming a marketable painter in Paris, his
longing to live among a community of artists, and his struggles with his
personal relationships and his mental health.
Early Years as an Artist
Vincent van Gogh became an artist at 27, taking up painting in 1881
after stints as an art dealer, teacher, bookseller, and minister, all
unsuccessful. His brother, Theo, encouraged him to concentrate on
drawing, spurring Van Gogh to work on his technique and connect with
other artists. He was largely self-taught, and his early work reflects
an engagement with Realism and an interest in conveying both the
physical and psychological conditions of his subjects. Van Gogh sent his
work to Theo in exchange for the financial support his brother offered.
“I’m sending you three scratches that are still awkward, but from which
I hope you’ll nonetheless see that there’s gradual improvement. You
must remember that I haven’t been drawing for long, even if I did
sometimes make little sketches as a boy,” Van Gogh wrote in a
letter to his brother on April 2, 1881.
His development as a painter continued, as he produced farm scenes in
the village of Nuenen following in the footsteps of admired artists
such as Jean-François Millet. He studied and recorded every facet of
rural life, realistically portraying with the harsh circumstances of
farm laborers rather than idealizing them. During this time, Van Gogh’s
character studies culminated in portrayals of rural life.
Van
Gogh Study for The Potato Eaters
Second Study for The Potato Eaters, 1885, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Van
Gogh
Study for The Potato Eaters
Three of Van
Gogh’s studies for
The Potato Eaters (1885), his first major
painting and one of his best-known, will be on view, alongside sketches
of the day-to-day life of villagers.
Van Gogh’s works from his time in
Nuenen also feature an old church tower, which he painted as a tribute
to those who had been laid to rest among the fields they had planted.
In Search of Renewal
From Nuenen, Van Gogh left for Antwerp to enroll in an art academy and
take drawing classes in November 1885. Abandoning the theme of rural
farm life, he shifted his focus to portraiture. Shortly following, he
left for Paris where he moved in with Theo. The city inspired a brighter
palette, while his friendships with Emile Bernard and Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec had a major influence on his work.
Featured in this
section is a portrait of Agostina Segatori, the owner of Café du
Tambourin, a gathering spot for Parisian artists that Van Gogh
frequented.
While in Paris, he discovered a new source of inspiration in
Japanese woodcuts, which he had begun to collect. Their influence is
reflected in the bold outlines, dramatic cropping, and color contrasts
of Van Gogh’s work.
Light and Color in the South
After two years in Paris, Van Gogh grew weary of city life and longed
for a setting like those in the Japanese landscapes he admired. He hoped
to find it in the south of France, and relocated to Arles. “I noticed
some magnificent plots of red earth planted with vines, with mountains
in the background of the most delicate lilac. And the landscape under
the snow with the white peaks against a sky as bright as the snow was
just like the winter landscapes the Japanese did,” he
wrote to Theo on February 21, 1888.
With this return to the countryside, Van Gogh developed a
recognizable style of his own, characterized by long, rhythmic
brushstrokes and thick layers of paint in increasingly brighter colors.
Inspired by the bright light and the colors of southern France, he
painted fields of wheat, vineyards, and vibrant portraits. But months of
personal crisis followed.
Still Life with a Plate of Onions
(1889) was one of the first paintings Van Gogh completed after returning
home from the hospital where he was treated after slicing off his ear.
On that day, January 17, 1889, he
wrote
to his brother Theo that he intended to begin working to get used to
painting again and had already done a few studies. But Van Gogh’s mental
health continued to fluctuate. He admitted himself to
Saint-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric asylum in Saint-Rémy in May 1889.
Nature as a Source of Enduring Inspiration
At the asylum in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh created dozens of paintings of the
gardens of the institution, the fields outside his window, and of the
few possessions that he had in his room. During this period, in which he
produced some of his most iconic masterworks,
MoMA
Vincent van Gogh The Starry Night Saint Rémy, June 1889
including
Starry Night,
Irises (Getty Museum)
and
Irises,
he also ventured into the wheat fields and olive groves. In his studio,
he made a series of paintings after prints, resulting in such idyllic
scenes as
Peasant Woman Binding Sheaves (after Millet). Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, September 1889. oil on canvas on cardboard
Peasant Woman Binding Wheat Sheaves (1889), once again inspired by the work of Millet.
In May of 1890, Van Gogh left Saint-Rémy for Auvers, seeking out the
care of the doctor Paul Gachet at the suggestion of painter Camille
Pissarro. Van Gogh spent his last weeks painting landscape after
landscape,
including
Ears of Wheat in June 1890, one of the latest of his works in the MFAH exhibition. He died from suicide on July 27 of that year.
Vincent
van Gogh, Portrait of a Man, end of October–mid-December 1888, oil on
canvas, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands. ©
Kröller-Müller Museum.
Publication
This exhibition is accompanied by
an illustrated catalogue highlighting
the 50 drawings and paintings, drawn primarily from the Van Gogh Museum,
Amsterdam, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.
Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art surveys the artist’s creative
evolution across his short but influential career. The narrative begins
with Van Gogh’s drawings, which were the foundation of his early
practice, and describes how he transitioned into painting by consulting
instructional handbooks and copying images. Written by a team of
international experts, the book follows his moves from the landscapes
and peasant life of his native Holland to Antwerp, Paris, Provence, and
finally the countryside north of Paris. In the brilliant light of
southern France, he began painting portraits and landscapes while
refining his characteristic style of rhythmic brushstrokes and
expressive impasto in vivid colors.
In addition to the main essay with
its overview of Van Gogh’s shifting techniques and artistic concerns,
the publication features a pair of essays highlighting two museums with
exceptional collections of the artist’s work: the Van Gogh Museum,
Amsterdam, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. Beautifully
reproduced images showcase approximately 50 outstanding pieces from
these and other institutions, from rough drawings to vibrant late-career
canvases.
