Starry Night over the Rhône, 1888

Oil on canvas, 72.5 × 92 cm

Musée d’Orsay,Paris

Donation sous réserve d'usufruit de M. et Mme Robert Kahn-Sriber, en

souvenir de M. et Mme Fernand Moch,

1975

Photo © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmid

The National Gallery

14 Sept 2024 – 19 Jan 2025

‘I’m now going to be an arbitrary colourist...Behind the head – instead of painting the dull wall of the main room, I paint the infinite'

To his brother Theo, 18 August, 1888

A Feature by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!

Reproductions of Van Gogh’s artworks, like the trees, flowers, gardens, landscapes, scenes of everyday life and people he so lovingly depicted in his paintings appear all around us, on everything from greeting cards to Wellington boots, not to mention floor-to-ceiling 'immersive' projections, but as this exhibition so vividly reminds viewers, there is absolutely nothing as powerful as the real thing!

Upon entering the world of ‘Van Gogh's Poets and Lovers’, I found myself inadvertently holding my breath, acknowledging that as my spontaneous reaction to the artist's work. Van Gogh was, after all, an artist who freed himself from all creative restraints, those of society at large in his day, to the art world and everyday critics. Among the art lovers who had gathered for this evocative display, there almost seemed to be a hushed sense of reverence, even awe normally only experienced before the grandeur of nature. How fitting then, that The National Gallery chose to celebrate its bicentenary with its first-ever Van Gogh exhibition, coinciding with its acquisition of one of his Sunflower paintings one hundred years ago, then viewed as a serious commitment to Modern Art. The painting was first loaned to the Gallery by the artist’s sister-in-law, Jo Van Gogh Bonger in 1923, for whom the painting was a personal favorite she took great joy in seeing in her home, but she eventually allowed herself to make the loan a sale, “for the sake of Vincent’s greater glory.”

It quickly became apparent, from Room One, that this was no ordinary retelling of the true- life tale that art lovers en masse already know. The second part of the exhibition’s title, ‘Poets and Lovers’, made one wonder from the outset. Anyone who knows Van Gogh’s art knows of his episodes of poor mental health. But this exhibition glowingly focuses on the lustrously evocative artistic pearls that emerged from their depths. Van Gogh didn’t let anything stand in the way of his creativity, working around his lows and at times, even through them via elevated bursts of heart artistically collaborating with mind, creating fresh, new offerings amid personal challenges, thankfully, not dwelled upon here.

The three paintings in the first room of the exhibition lay the groundwork for Van Gogh’s artistic endeavors during the most daringly experimental, highly productive period of his life in Arles and Saint Remy 1888-1890. We learn that his ‘Lover’ represented by his Portrait of Lieutenant Milliet, 1888 was a handsome young man in uniform, who despite his ‘success with women’ became the model for the male half of the many pairs of lovers portrayed in his works, that the Public Garden in Arles, 1888 was the inspiration for the ‘Poet’s Garden’ often mentioned in his letters and one of The Poets of the show’s title was represented by none other than his painter friend, Eugene Boch, whose narrow face conveyed in his Portrait reminded Van Gogh of Dante’s. Thus begins a journey that no lover of Van Gogh’s art has ever embarked on before, with many new signposts along the way, conveyed through the artist’s recently inspired intermingling of shadows, beauty, strength, and sadness, all this, as indicated in his letters, amid a growing sense of awareness that, despite everything, his dedication was paying off at last through a growing command of his medium and fresh ownership of his own uniquely creative expressions.

Room Two, ‘The Garden: Poetic Interpretations’ explores Van Gogh's penchant for conveying meaning over accuracy via colourful, textural interpretations of garden motifs drawn from the public park opposite his Yellow House in Arles as well as within the confined spaces of the hospital grounds of Saint-Paul de Mausole and Saint-Remy-de-Provance. The artist's free form works on this theme offer opportunities for varied interpretations. Only Van Gogh could heighten something as normally humdrum as Undergrowth, 1889 to a thing of heightened, almost surreal beauty. Over the years, standing before van Gogh's treasures along these lines, I have often thought that some of these artistic variations would not be amiss in a book of Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson, such was Van Gogh's ability to capture the eyes and, imaginations of his viewers. So fulfilling was my viewing of these artworks that I felt a deep sense of satisfaction after, as though I'd already seen an entire exhibition, which, in a way, I had...Whether plants, parks or gardens are the subject matter, the addition of the artist's fertile reimaging is what makes these artworks sing.

I am always happy to see Van Gogh's Chair, 1888, acquired by the National Gallery along with The Sunflowers, 1888 a hundred years ago. As if the esteemed chair wasn't enough, this stellar room features other jewels in Van Gogh's artistic crown, among them - Starry Night over the Rhone, 1888 and The Sower, 1888, sharing a wall, either or both of which, effectively, brought tears to the eyes of many a viewer, young and old as they stood before them, including me. The Sower, which I hadn't seen since the Press View of The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters at The Royal Academy of Arts in 2010, fills me with a sense of peace and love that I feel sure was meant to be conveyed by the heart and soul of the artist himself. Although his interpretation is an original one, for this painting, Van Gogh drew on his love of works depicting a Sower by one of his favorite painters, Jean Francois-Milet. The D'Orsay Museum in Paris, usual home of dreamily romantic Starry Night over the Rhone is a destination not to be missed on any art lover's trip to The City of Lights. Here too is what one of the show’s curators dubbed quintessential van Gogh, The Yellow House 1888 as well as The Bedroom, 1889 and Self Portrait 1889, the latter of which was also part of Van Gogh and Britain at Tate Britain in 2019.

Vincent van Gogh

The Bedroom, 1889

Oil on canvas, 73.6 × 92.3 cm

Van Gogh's ability to enable his viewers to consider everyday things anew is apparent in Room Four, ‘Montmajour: A Series’, which offers several considered drawn depictions of the landscape surrounding Arles, the Montmajour of the title referring to the grounds surrounding the ruined Abbey of that name. These imaginative at times, almost sculptural drawings, rendered with reed pens which the artist made himself, ink, and sometimes chalk as well, offer further insights into his creative process. Interestingly, when drawing with his reed pens, Van Gogh would continue until they ran out of ink, employing the varying flows as part of his process. An avid collector of Japanese woodblock prints, the artistry of which he admired, he was known to draw on their techniques to heighten a sense of drama and add depth to his works via their bold, compositional devices.

Vincent van Gogh

Landscape near the Abbey of Montmajour, 1888

Chalk, ink, pencil, 48.3 × 59.8 cm

The fantastically evocative works of art that Van Gogh initially termed 'Decoration' are the subject of the next room of this compelling exhibition. They are, of course, the paintings he initially began to create specifically for decorative use which went on to become much more in what he imagined as his and his fellow artists' 'Studio of the South' aka The Yellow House. The exciting, first-ever center point of this room is comprised of three paintings in a grouping formerly only imagined in one of the artist's letters to his brother, Theo, the flanking of maternally calming Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse), 1889 with two of his radiant Sunflower paintings, the yellow background from the Gallery's permanent collection, the other, with its background of blue, on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This trio, as Van Gogh’s stated, with a little drawing of his proposed ‘triptyph’, had the capacity to soothe sailors travelling far from home, the rocking of the cradle synching with the rolling of the sea. As our guides spoke of their gratitude to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for loaning them their Sunflower painting, its first trip out of the United States, I too felt grateful, for as an adolescent in Philadelphia the first art I ever truly connected with in the gallery context was that of Van Gogh’s paintings, Rain, 1889 and Sunflowers, 1889, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and it has been many years since I last stood before that sun soaked masterpiece. That reunion provided yet another emotionally charged moment for me during my visit to this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. Another stand out for me in this room was The Stevedores, 1888 with its shadowy workers on a large boat, silhouetted against an orange, yellow, and lilac-streaked, turquoise sky. Amid a series of firsts, another riveting high point for all in attendence was Portrait of a Peasant, (Patience Escalier) 1888, in which you can fairly feel the heat on the shoulders of the elderly gardener Van Gogh had reimagined as a quintessential worker of the South, against the vivid blue background formerly seen in his ‘Poet’ painting meant to express eternity, on show here for the first time in any exhibition.

Vincent van Gogh

Sunflowers, 1889

, oil on canvas, 92.4 × 71.1 cm

The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection (1963-116-19)

Room Six contained so many beautiful renderings of trees, as only van Gogh could interpret them that I was fairly reeling from the experience of being among them. Here too are landscapes depicting mountains, tree trunks, wheatfields, and long grasses, dotted with tiny white butterflies. 'Women of Arles' are also represented as he interpreted them in his time, via two paintings of his friend, Marie Ginoux, both of which he titled, The Arlesiennie, 1890. Inspired by a myth of the legendary beauty of women of the region, there is irony in both his use of model and her depictions. The pair on show here were originally part of a series of five modeled on a charcoal drawing Gaugin had made during the original sitting. It's interesting to note that Van Gogh, an avid reader, ever inspired by literature, added two of his favourite books to one of the paintings: Dickens's Christmas Stories, 1843-8, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Vincent van Gogh

Olive Grove 1889

Oil on canvas, 73 × 93 cm

Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden

By the time I’d reached the final room of this exhibition, I still felt like I never wanted it to end. Even after I’d retraced my steps from start to finish, several times after the extensive, fascinating gallery tour, possibly trying to capture the natural high its tremendous artworks gave me, I finally said silent, goodbyes for now's, as there is only so much intensely generated art a humbled art lover like me could assimilate, or even try to, in one day.

It’s easy to lose track of time when you are in the presence of someone or something you love. In the stream of this particularly thoughtful exhibition, one gets a sense of the artist’s methods and intentions and how those may have expanded while making his works, no small achievement for those staging this exhibition by such a revered artist, whom many consider the greatest of all time. What more could we learn about Van Gogh? What is there left to explore in his relationship with his works? These questions and more are answered here, through his art, in ways that are both original and enlightening, without rehashing old territory, refreshingly showing us new angles, enabling us to reconsider the artist and his works anew, something many, me included, may have thought impossible. In light of that seemingly, alchemical removal of distance between artist and viewer, all I can say is, ‘Bravo’! This exhibition, co-curated by The Gallery’s Christopher Riopelle and Van Gogh scholar Cornelia Homburg, both of whom displayed tremendous enthusiasm for and knowledge of their subject matter during our exhibition tour, allows us to re-access Van Gogh as a working artist and visionary, an artist who worked against tremendous personal odds, allowing nothing to stand in the way of his ever-expanding creativity. Everything he did then in the process of creating was, in addition to enabling artistic expression, for the consideration of those who had come to appreciate his art, largely, his fellow artists at that time, and also those who would come to appreciate it later, however long that appreciation might take. And there is plenty of proof that he was ever mindful in his acts of creation. Although it is said that Van Gogh knew that he would have ‘a public’, there is no way that the artist could have imagined his work would become as universally loved as it is now.

Highlights of every exhibition we attend vary from person to person, often centering on well- known works, but now, I can easily say, with conviction, that I have new Van Gogh favorites I never even heard of before, as well as a renewed appreciation of my former loves. I stand in awe of both Van Gogh’s inspired artworks and The National Gallery’s reimagining of this very valuable and prolific period of his life as a creatively experimental and innovative artist, rather than merely, a troubled one. It is almost as though this exhibition offers closure in the form of creative compensation for his all too short life, as we mutually, the Gallery, and I, as a viewer, along with countless other lovers of Van Gogh's art, joyously re-acknowledge his value as an artist, perhaps the most original who ever lived, something every lover of his work already feels deep in their hearts, that this show, lovingly confirms.

Somewhere along the line of his artistic trajectory, Van Gogh decided to refrain from using his surname in his signature on his artworks, rightfully citing the tendency to mispronounce it as the reason. However you may say his name, this exhibition is a triumph for The National Gallery, the many lovers of his art who will, no doubt travel from far and wide to experience it, and for the spirit of Vincent himself.

Vincent Van Gogh

Self Portrait

1889 Oil on canvas, 57.8 x 44.5 cm

National Gallery of Art Washington

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, 1998. 74.5

Image Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

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