Van Gogh - Mia Feigelson Gallery

06/12/2023

'My dear sister,
(...) For Theo and Jo’s little one I brought back a rather large painting — which they’ve hung above the piano – white almond blossoms – big branches on a sky-blue background' — To his youngest sister Wil. Auvers, 5 June 1890. Letter 879 https://bit.ly/3uFl3Qo

Vincent made the present canvas in Saint-Rémy in February 1890 as a gift to his nephew, Theo and Jo's son, Vincent's godson and namesake, who had been born on 31 January 1890.
According to Vincent 'it was perhaps the most patiently worked, best thing I had done, painted with calm and a greater sureness of touch' — To Theo. Saint-Rémy, 17 March 1890. Letter 857 https://bit.ly/29JIoEF

"Almond Blossom" (Saint-Rémy, February 1890) [F671] Mia Feigelson Gallery Johanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery


By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
oil on canvas; 73.3 x 92.4 cm (28.9 x 36.4 in.)
© Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) https://bit.ly/2sDwuqY
https://www.facebook.com/VanGoghMuseum

On 29 January, 1890, Johanna (Jo) van Gogh-Bonger wrote to Vincent to announce that her baby, Vincent's first nephew, was about to be born.
"Dear Vincent,
I’ve been meaning to write to you day after day since Christmas[...] if I don’t make haste to write this note you’d get the news that your namesake was here [Jo is referring to the baby she would deliver two days later] — before then I just want to bid you good-day.

It’s just midnight — the doctor’s sleeping for a while because he wanted to stay here tonight. Theo, Ma and Wil are sitting at the table with me — awaiting the things that will come — it’s a strange feeling — always that wondering — will the baby be here tomorrow morning? I can’t write much — but I so much wanted just to talk to you for a moment...

But everything has gone so well up to now — I’ll just keep my spirits up. This evening — all these last few days in fact — I’ve thought about it so much, whether I really have been able to do something to make Theo happy in his marriage. He’s done it for me.

He’s been so good to me; so good — if things don’t go well — if I have to leave him — you tell him — for there’s no one in the world whom he loves as much — that he must never regret that we were married, because he’s made me so happy. It sounds sentimental — a message like this — but I can’t tell him now — half of my company has gone to bed, him too because he was so tired.

Oh if only I can just give him a dear, healthy little boy, wouldn’t that make him happy? I’ll just close, because I keep having waves of pain which mean that I can’t think or write properly. When you get this it will all be over.

Believe me, your loving
Jo" — Letter 845 https://bit.ly/2kAadTb

On 31 January 1890, Vincent answered Jo's letter
"Dear Jo,
It touches me so much that you write to me so calmly and so much master of yourself on one of your difficult nights. How I long to hear that you’ve come through safely and that your child lives. How happy Theo will be, and a new sun will rise in him when he sees you recovering...

Well, I’ll be glad when I can congratulate Theo and you, and will hope that it’s already the case.
So much with you and them in thought

Your brother
Vincent" — Saint-Rémy. Letter 846 https://bit.ly/3IP4eo6

On 31 January 1890, Theo wrote to Vincent to announce the birth of his son Vincent Willem,
"My dear Vincent,
[...] Jo has brought into the world a fine boy who cries a lot but who seems to be in good health. My poor little wife suffered a great deal because the waters broke too soon, but fortunately we had an excellent doctor with extraordinary patience, for any other in his place would certainly have used the forceps. Jo is very well and hasn’t yet had any fever, but it could still come.

The child is already beginning to cry lustily. How happy I’d be if in a while, when Jo’s well again, you’ll be able to come and see her and see our little one! As we told you, we’ll name him after you, and I’m making the wish that he may be as determined and as courageous as you." — Paris. Letter 847 https://bit.ly/34leGEE

Vincent Willem van Gogh (1890-1978) became an engineer and was instrumental to the establishment of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1960.

For the next thirteen years he dedicated himself to the planning and construction of the Van Gogh Museum. Like his mother, Johanna, Vincent Willem was a devoted and dedicated caretaker of uncle's collection of art works. His children and grandchildren continue to have an active role today in the Vincent van Gogh Foundation." — Find out more https://bit.ly/3oap1dC | Source: the Van Gogh Museum

30/11/2023

From the Album: Van Gogh's Cypresses 🌲 @ MMia Feigelson GalleryJJohanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery"Orchard Bordered by Cypresses" (Arles, April 1888) [F554]

"Orchard Bordered by Cypresses" (Arles, April 1888) [F554]
By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
oil on canvas; 65 x 81 cm (25.6 x 31.9 in.)
Private Collection - Promised to the Yale University Art Gallery

About the orchards in blossom:
"Van Gogh's paintings of orchards in blossom were began five weeks after his arrival in Arles, and completed in less than a month.

The first was described without fuss or fanfare,
'I’ve just done a clump of apricot trees in a little fresh green orchard.' - 25 March 1888. Letter 589 - Note 6 http://bit.ly/2jqJryX

Vincent could have referred either to [F556] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2EDO9VE) or to [F553] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2vQALWv). The description ‘fresh green’ is most applicable to the latter work.

By about 20 April, he was able to tell Theo,
'I have 10 orchards now, not counting three small studies and a large one of a cherry tree that I worked to death.'. Letter 600 - Note 7 http://bit.ly/2mVH4pC

These ten orchards are
— 'Pink Peach Trees' [F404], see the painting http://bit.ly/2nJsct4
— 'The Pink Orchard' [F555], see the painting http://bit.ly/2Febl9M
—'The White Orchard' [F403], see the painting http://bit.ly/2ByWdUV
— 'Small Pear Tree in Blossom' [F405], see the painting http://bit.ly/2rsMuHE
— 'Orchard with Plum Trees in Blossom' [F553], see the painting http://bit.ly/2vQALWv
— 'Orchard with Apricot Trees in Blossom' [F556], see the painting http://bit.ly/2EDO9VE
— 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F513], see the painting http://bit.ly/2t5uzYA
— 'Orchard with Peach Trees in Blossom' [F551], see the painting http://bit.ly/2zal2BV
— 'Orchard' [F552], see the painting http://bit.ly/2tKONaX
— 'Orchard with Pear Trees in Blossom' [F406], see the painting https://bit.ly/2rJcpds

The three small studies are:
— 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F554], the present canvas
-—'Almond tree in Blossom' [F557], see the painting http://bit.ly/2GmMArx
— 'Peach Tree in Blossom' [F399], see the painting http://bit.ly/2ogYVpL

The ‘large one of a cherry tree that I worked to death’ has not survived; Van Gogh described the work in letter 599 to Émile Bernard,

'I worked one to death yesterday, of a cherry tree against blue sky, the young shoots of the leaves were orange and gold, the clusters of flowers white. That, against the blue green of the sky, was darned glorious. Unfortunately there’s rain today, which prevents me from going back on the attack.' — See the letter https://bit.ly/2pzXlix

These fourteen canvases are Van Gogh's heightened response to the pellucid atmosphere and limpid colors of a Provençal spring, joyous celebration of pure visual enchantment. After the death of the Paris winter, they symbolized his own rebirth. They were also vindication of his vision of Japan in the South.

Van Gogh's aim, he told his brother, was to 'do a Provence orchard of tremendous gaiety' (3 April 1888. Letter 592 https://bit.ly/2mRiDZP ).
And he constantly sought that gaiety by depicting a single orchard - whether of apricot, peach, plum, cherry, pear or apple. Moreover, he maintained an insider's view of the characteristic Provençal orchard, with its enclosing cane fence and line of cypresses, protection against the mistral.

Only one canvas, 'Orchard with Plum Trees in Blossom' [F553] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2vQALWv), allows a glimpse beyond the orchard, showing an adjacent field with willows and a ploughman, as well as a factory chimney.

Van Gogh's concentrated attempts to capture the essence of a Provençal orchard had a quite literally corollary. Probably with the consent of the owner, he actually worked a great deal in one recognizable orchard. He painted the peach trees there,
— 'Pink Peach Trees ('Souvenir de Mauve')' [F394], see the painting http://bit.ly/2AuBIcH
— 'Peach Tree in Blossom' [F399], see the painting http://bit.ly/2ogYVpL
— 'Pink Peach Trees' [F404], see the painting http://bit.ly/2nJsct4

He painted the pear trees and the cypresses,
— 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F554], the present canvas
— 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F513], see the painting http://bit.ly/2t5uzYA

And it is possible that his last orchard painting, -'Orchard with Pear Trees in Blossom' [F406] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2rJcpds), shows yet another view of the same large orchard. Such containment in the selection of a motif would become typical of his work pattern; he rarely dissipated his energies indiscriminately searching for motifs.

These paintings have one other unifying feature. Each orchard is silent and unpeopled, with only hints in two of them of labor: the rake and the scythe left to rest in 'Orchard' [F552] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2tKONaX ) and the ladder lying on the ground in 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F513] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2t5uzYA ).

They become immense still lifes of blossom en plein air, vivid contrast to two small still lifes,
— 'Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass' (March 1888) [F392], see the painting http://bit.ly/2xhy1Uk
— 'Sprig of Almond Blossom in a Glass' (February - March, 1888) [F393], see the painting http://bit.ly/2tfIICR

Enclosure, confinement and restricted views characterize the 1888 series of blossoming orchards. By contrast, in the handful painted in spring 1889 Van Gogh frequently took open and extensive views, often including several orchards. He stood outside them, observed them from a short distance, and allowed greater vistas beyond, either of the town itself, 'View of Arles. Orchard in Bloom with Poplars in the Forefront" [F516] (see the painting https://bit.ly/2C90JdC) or the Crau 'Peach Trees in Blossom' [F514] (see the painting https://bit.ly/2EO0m9j).

This may reflect something of his increasing alienation in 1889, his own distancing from people and town alike.

These distillations of orchards are not uniform in style or technique. Some are almost perversely thin and discreet in brushstroke, even with untouched areas; others have a structural density with impetuously applied impasto; and in one instance, 'Orchard with Peach Trees in Blossom' [F551] (see the painting https://bit.ly/2zal2BV ), an adapted pointillism is used, echoing Seurat's refined harmonies of color.

Some canvas function as small oil sketches,
— 'Orchard Bordered by Cypresses' [F554], the present canvas
— 'Almond tree in Blossom' [F557], see the painting http://bit.ly/2GmMArx
— 'Peach Tree in Blossom' [F399], see the painting http://bit.ly/2ogYVpL

Others were completed in one session on the spot, such as 'Orchard with Pear Trees in Blossom' [F406] (see the painting https://bit.ly/2rJcpds ); yet others were reworked in the studio, such as 'Orchard' [F552] (see the painting https://bit.ly/2tKONaX ).

The subtle relationship of color sequence is not deliberately heightened, nor the play of complementary colors.
Only the motif of blooming orchards is related to Japanese prints. Pictorial space is carefully plotted. In many instances Van Gogh must have used his perspective frame, as he mentioned in several landscapes finished just before he started the orchards, such as 'Avenue of Plane Trees' (March 1888) [F398] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2BD7Zh5).

The only exception is 'Small Pear Tree in Blossom' [F405] (see the painting http://bit.ly/2rsMuHE).

Van Gogh varied format size. He actually produced seven vertical and seven horizontal canvases. For some inexplicable reason, he frequently referred to size 30 canvases during his early months in Arles when he clearly meant size 25.

In the orchard paintings, he chose the sizes with some deliberateness, as he consciously moved toward the notion of a scheme of decoration consisting of a series of triptychs of one upright central canvas flanked by two horizontals

These triptychs, intended for Theo, would, he hoped, be continued in the spring of 1889."
— 'Van Gogh in Arles' (1984) by Ronald Pickvance

Van Gogh & Japan
"Van Gogh's interest in Japanese ukiyo-e prints dates from his time in Arnhem when he was also interesting himself in Delacroix's theory of colour and where he used them to decorate his studio.

One of De Goncourt’s sayings was ‘Japonaiserie for ever’. Well, these docks [at Arnhem] are one huge Japonaiserie, fantastic, singular, strange ... I mean, the figures there are always in motion, one sees them in the most peculiar settings, everything fantastic, and interesting contrasts keep appearing of their own accord."

During his subsequent stay in Paris, where Japonisme had become a fashion influencing the work of the Impressionists, he began to collect ukiyo-e prints and eventually to deal in them with his brother Theo. At that time he made three copies of ukiyo-e prints, The Courtesan and the two studies after Hiroshige.
Van Gogh developed an idealised conception of the Japanese artist which led him to the Yellow House at Arles and his attempt to form a utopian art colony there with Paul Gauguin.

His enthusiasm for Japanese art had however waned by July 1888 in favour of Impressionism
Fortunately, we know more about the French Japanese, the Impressionists. That’s definitely the essence and the main thing.

So Japanese art, properly speaking, already with its place in collections, already impossible to find in Japan itself, is becoming of secondary interest.

Van Gogh's dealing in ukiyo-e prints brought him into contact with Siegfried Bing who was prominent in the introduction of Japanese art to the West and later in the development of Art Nouveau."

27/11/2023

From the Album: Van Gogh's Cypresses 🌲
"Garden with Flowers" (Arles, July 1888) [F430] Mia Feigelson Gallery Johanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery
By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)



oil on canvas; 92 x 73 cm (36.2 x 28.7 in.)
Private Collection

"Sunflowers start to bloom in mid-July and they first appeared in Van Gogh's Provençal work in his exuberant 'Garden with Flowers' (the present canvas). A riot of colour, the picture reverberates with rows of different flowers in a marvellously decorative composition.

Referring to this motif, Vincent admitted to Theo that 'I don't know if I'll ever do tranquil and calmly worked paintings' [Letter 644. Arles, 17 - 20 July 1888]

Van Gogh place a single large sunflower plant near the right-hand edge of 'Garden with Flowers', just below the house. Although most of the picture was done outdoors, en plein air (in the open air), the sunflowers may well have been added back in his studio, to enliven an area which otherwise would have been too green. It was a small but important touch. Vincent included a little sketch of the painting in a letter to Theo, in which he labelled the main features, carefully noting 'tournesols' (the French word for sunflowers) [Letter 644. Arles, 17 - 20 July 1888].

Van Gogh completed a vertical (the present picture) and a horizontal version of this garden scene ([F429]; see the painting https://bit.ly/2lEPmiZ ), but the sunflowers only appear in this vertical one.

Two weeks later, referring to what had become a pair of garden paintings, he commented:
'Under the blue sky, the orange, yellow, red patches of flowers take on an amazing brilliance, and in the limpid air there’s something happier and more suggestive of love than in the north. It vibrates — like the bouquet by Monticelli that you have (see the painting by Monticelli https://bit.ly/2zGskkU ).' [Letter 657. Arles, 8 August 1888].

Despite his enthusiasm for these garden landscapes, Van Gogh regretted not having focused more directly on the flowers:
'I’m annoyed with myself for not painting flowers here.' He added wistfully,
'if Quost was there, or Jeannin...'
(Ernest Quost, French painter of animated cityscapes, landscapes, still lifes, flowers - particularly hollyhocks - and fruit, pastels; 1842-1931.

Georges Jeannin, French painter of flowers - particularly peonies -; 1841-1925.
Both were friends of Theo's and of Vincent's while the latter was living in Montmarte with his brother. Theo even had paintings of them in his apartment.)."
― Martin Bailey, author of 'The Sunflowers Are Mine' (2013) | Compiled from Chapter Two: 'The Yellow House'. Pages 41-2

23/11/2023

"Lilac Bush" (Saint-Rémy, May 1899) [F579] Mia Feigelson Gallery Johanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery



The work in context:
Vincent van Gogh made this paintings when he was a self-admitted patient at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, since renamed the Clinique Van Gogh, from May 1889 until May 1890. During much of his stay there he was confined to the grounds of the asylum, and he made paintings of the garden (including the present canvas), the enclosed wheatfield that he could see outside his room and a few portraits of individuals at the asylum.

During his stay at Saint-Paul asylum, Van Gogh experienced periods of illness when he could not paint. When he was able to resume, painting provided solace and meaning for him. Nature seemed especially meaningful to him, trees, the landscape, even caterpillars as representative of the opportunity for transformation and budding flowers symbolizing the cycle of life.

"My dear sister (to Johanna van Gogh-Bonger)
(...) I shall count myself very happy if I manage to work enough to earn my living, for it makes me very worried when I tell myself that I’ve done so many paintings and drawings without ever selling any. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to consider this an injustice, I don’t know anything at all about it.

(... ) Thanking you again for writing to me, and being very happy to know that now my brother doesn’t return to an empty apartment when he comes home in the evening, I shake your hand in thought, and believe me
your brother
Vincent
— To Theo and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Saint-Rèmy, 9 May 1889. Lettter 772 https://bit.ly/2hOvc3F

"Lilac Bush" (Saint-Rémy, May 1899) [F579]
By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
oil on canvas; 73 x 92 cm (28.3 x 36.2 in.)
© The State Hermitage Museum

Letter to Theo and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Saint-Rémy, 9 May 1889
"(...) I wanted to tell you that I think I’ve done well to come here, first, in seeing the REALITY of the life of the diverse mad or cracked people in this menagerie, I’m losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing. And little by little I can come to consider madness as being an illness like any other. Then the change of surroundings is doing me good, I imagine." — Letter 772 https://bit.ly/2hOvc3F

Saint-Rémy, 23 May 1889
"My dear Theo,
(...) Since I’ve been here, the neglected garden planted with tall pines under which grows tall and badly tended grass intermingled with various weeds, has provided me with enough work, and I haven’t yet gone outside.
However, the landscape of St-Rémy is very beautiful, and little by little I’m probably going to make trips into it. But staying here as I am, the doctor has naturally been in a better position to see what was wrong, and will, I dare hope, be more reassured that he can let me paint.

I ASSURE you that I’m very well here, and that for the time being I see no reason at all to come and board in Paris or its surroundings. I have a little room with grey-green paper with two water-green curtains with designs of very pale roses enlivened with thin lines of blood-red.

These curtains, probably the leftovers of a ruined, deceased rich man, are very pretty in design. Probably from the same source comes a very worn armchair covered with a tapestry flecked in the manner of a Diaz or a Monticelli, red-brown, pink, creamy white, black, forget-me-not blue and bottle green.

Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure, a perspective in the manner of Van Goyen, above which in the morning I see the sun rise in its glory. With this — as there are more than 30 empty rooms — I have another room in which to work." -— Letter 776 https://bit.ly/2hUqscs

18/11/2023

"Field with Irises near Arles" (Arles, May 1888) [F409] Mia Feigelson Gallery Johanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery


By Vincent van Gogh, (Dutch, 1853-1890)
oil on canvas; 54 x 65 cm (21.3 x 25.6 in.)
© Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) https://bit.ly/2aBKa8W
https://www.facebook.com/VanGoghMuseum

— See the preparatory study for the present canvas [F1416r] https://bit.ly/2sAf7mQ

The present canvas was exhibited publicly for the first time in 1910 and in 1911 (in London and in Dublin, respectively). Johanna van Gogh-Bonger lent many paintings to the exhibitors, the present canvas was among them:

— Grafton Galleries, Manet and the Post-Impressionists. London 8 November 1910-15 January 1911

— United Arts Club, Exhibition of Works by Post-Impressionist Painters. Dublin, 25 January-14 February 1911

Arles, 12 May 1888
"Dear Theo,
(...) Now I have two new studies like this: you already have a drawing of it, a farmhouse beside the wide road in the wheatfields. A meadow full of very yellow buttercups, a ditch with iris plants with green leaves, with purple flowers, the town in the background, some grey willow trees — a strip of blue sky.

If they don’t mow the meadow I’d like to do this study again, because the subject matter was really beautiful and I had trouble finding the composition. A little town surrounded by countryside entirely covered in yellow and purple flowers. That would really be a Japanese dream, you know." — Letter 609 https://bit.ly/2kIuSEc

Arles, 22 May 1888
"My dear Bernard,
(...) new studies on the go (...) a view of Arles — of the town you see only a few red roofs and a tower, the rest’s hidden by the foliage of fig-trees, etc

All that far off in the background and a narrow strip of blue sky above. The town is surrounded by vast meadows decked with innumerable buttercups — a yellow sea. These meadows are intersected in the foreground by a ditch full of purple irises.

They cut the grass while I was painting, so it’s only a study and not a finished painting, which I intended to make of it. But what a subject — eh — that sea of yellow flowers with a line of purple irises, and in the background the neat little town of pretty women." — Letter 612 http://bit.ly/26whhDl

Overview:
"In February 1888 Van Gogh left Paris for the town of Arles in Provence. The French capital had exhausted him, both mentally and physically, and he yearned for the quiet life of the countryside. In Provence he hoped to find something of the light and atmosphere that so fascinated him in Japanese prints. Moreover, he thought of establishing an artists’ colony in the south, where he and his friends could live and work.

Dreams of Japan
Van Gogh found the 'Japanese atmosphere' he had been seeking in the blooming orchards and sun-drenched landscapes of Arles, and captured it in works like the Field with Flowers near Arles. On May 12th, he sent his brother Theo a colourful description of this new painting:

'[…] a vast field of bright yellow buttercups, a ditch full of irises with green leaves and purple flowers, in the background a town, a few greyish willows, a strip of blue sky. […] A little town surrounded by a field of yellow and purple flowers – you know, it’s just like a Japanese dream.' — Letter 609 https://bit.ly/2kIuSEc

The irises of his dream were to become the subject of two paintings executed in Saint-Rémy.

The painting was recently examined and restored. In the process, the old discoloured varnish layer which had dulled the colours was removed. The colours are now much brighter." — Find out more https://bit.ly/2aBKa8W | Source: the Van Gogh Museum

17/11/2023

Exhibition: Van Gogh's Bedrooms Museums - Mia Feigelson Gallery Mia Feigelson Gallery
© The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA
14 February 2016 - 10 May 2016
https://bit.ly/1Q3tVk8
https://www.facebook.com/artic

The Exhibition Preview Site https://bit.ly/1NSNyHq
Exhibition Trailer http://bit.ly/1TgY4Rb

About the Exhibition:
"Vincent van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles is arguably the most famous chambre in the history of art. It also held special significance for the artist, who created three distinct paintings of this intimate space from 1888 to 1889.

This exhibition—presented only at the Art Institute of Chicago—brings together all three versions of The Bedroom for the first time in North America, offering a pioneering and in-depth study of their making and meaning to Van Gogh in his relentless quest for home." — Find out more https://bit.ly/1Q3tVk8

Paintings:
— "Bedroom in Arles" (Arles. October, 1888) [first version] [F482]
© Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
https://bit.ly/1UVpwks

— "The Bedroom" (Saint-Rémy, early September 1889) [F 484] (2nd version)
© The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, US
https://bit.ly/1SmQl3l

— "Vincent's Bedroom in Arles" (Saint-Rémy. September 1889) [F483] (3rd version)
© Musée d'Orsay , Paris
https://bit.ly/46oWR1U

By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)

https://www.facebook.com/MiaFeigelson
Exhibition: Van Gogh's Bedrooms
© The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA
14 February 2016 - 10 May 2016
https://bit.ly/1Q3tVk8
https://www.facebook.com/artic

The Exhibition Preview Site https://bit.ly/1NSNyHq
Exhibition Trailer http://bit.ly/1TgY4Rb

About the Exhibition:
"Vincent van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles is arguably the most famous chambre in the history of art. It also held special significance for the artist, who created three distinct paintings of this intimate space from 1888 to 1889.

This exhibition—presented only at the Art Institute of Chicago—brings together all three versions of The Bedroom for the first time in North America, offering a pioneering and in-depth study of their making and meaning to Van Gogh in his relentless quest for home." — Find out more https://bit.ly/1Q3tVk8

Paintings:
— "Bedroom in Arles" (Arles. October, 1888) [first version] [F482]
© Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
https://bit.ly/1UVpwks

— "The Bedroom" (Saint-Rémy, early September 1889) [F 484] (2nd version)
© The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, US
https://bit.ly/1SmQl3l

— "Vincent's Bedroom in Arles" (Saint-Rémy. September 1889) [F483] (3rd version)
© Musée d'Orsay, Paris
https://bit.ly/46oWR1U

By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)

15/11/2023

"Self-Portrait as a Painter" (Paris, December 1887 - February 1888) [F522] Mia Feigelson Gallery Johanna van Gogh-Bonger - Mia Feigelson Gallery


By Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)
oil on canvas; 65.1 x 50 cm (25.6 x 19.7 in.)
© Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) https://bit.ly/1OzJmNJ
https://www.facebook.com/VanGoghMuseum

To his youngest sister Wil. Arles, 16 June 1888
"[...] Here’s an impression of mine, which is the result of a portrait that I painted in the mirror, and which Theo has: a pink-grey face with green eyes, ash-coloured hair, wrinkles in forehead and around the mouth, stiffly wooden, a very red beard, quite unkempt and sad, but the lips are full, a blue smock of coarse linen, and a palette with lemon yellow, vermilion, Veronese green, cobalt blue, in short all the colours, except of the orange beard, on the palette, the only whole colours, though. The figure against a grey-white wall.

You’ll say that this is something like, say, the face of — death — in Van Eeden’s book or some such thing – very well, but anyway isn’t a figure like this — and it isn’t easy to paint oneself — in any event something different from a photograph? And you see — this is what Impressionism has — to my mind — over the rest, it isn’t banal, and one seeks a deeper likeness than that of the photographer.

I look different nowadays, in so far as I no longer have either hair or beard, both being always shaved off close; further, my complexion has changed from green-grey pink to grey-orange, and I have a white suit instead of a blue one, and am always dusty, always more laden like a porcupine with sticks, easel, canvas, and other merchandise. Only the green eyes have remained the same, but another colour in the portrait, naturally, is a yellow straw hat like a grass-mower — and a very black pipe."
— Letter 626 https://bit.ly/3sBD9Sc

Overview:
"Although he painted many self-portraits, this is one of the few in which Van Gogh depicted himself as an artist, with all the necessary equipment: palette, brushes, and a canvas on a wooden easel.

Contrasting colours, such as the blue of the smock and the orange-red of the beard, are set right next to each other in order to strengthen their effect. The red and green strokes of the face are placed so close together that they appear as a grey shadow when seen from a distance.

Van Gogh presented himself in this self-portrait as a painter, holding a palette and paintbrushes behind his easel. He showed that he was a modern artist by using a new painting style, with bright, almost unblended colours. The palette contains the complementary colour pairs red/green, yellow/purple and blue/orange – precisely the colours Van Gogh used for this painting. He laid these pairs down side by side to intensify one another: the blue of his smock, for instance, and the orange-red of his beard.

While most of Van Gogh’s other self-portraits are rather sketchy, this one has been finished down to the last detail. The short, dry strokes have been applied with care. Van Gogh probably worked on the painting for some time, and he was apparently quite satisfied with it: in contrast to most of his works in this genre, he has signed it prominently.

Exercises
Van Gogh painted a total of 35 self-portraits during the course of his career – of these, 29 date from Paris. He very much wanted to paint portraits in this period, but could not afford models.

Using his own reflection was a natural, inexpensive and easy solution. It allowed him to experiment with various styles, techniques and effects of light and colour. As he later wrote to Theo: 'If I succeed in painting the colours of my own face, which is not without its own difficulties, then I should be able to paint those of other men and women.'

This series of self-portraits clearly illustrates how Van Gogh’s colouration became brighter and livelier over time. There is an enormous difference between the brown tints of the earliest studies and the light, bright colours of the Self-Portrait with Straw Hat and pipe. The development of his characteristic 'dash style' can also be followed in these examples." — Find out more https://bit.ly/1OzJmNJ