Three of Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” will be shown side by side for the first time at Britain’s National Gallery in London, realizing the artist’s dream a century after it acquired one of his paintings.
The triptych, which includes two pieces from his sunflower series, is a part of the significant exhibition “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers,” which honors the Dutch painter.
The exhibition centers on the work produced by the post-impressionist during his two years in Arles and Saint-Remy de Provence in the south of France, from February 1888 to May 1890.
“His art takes on a new amplitude, a new inventiveness, everything emerges from it,” exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle told AFP of the period in Van Gogh’s life.
“He becomes ever braver and bolder in how he paints, new freedom, new rhythms that enter in,” Riopelle added.
About fifty paintings and drawings are on display in this show, all of which attest to Van Gogh’s ability to evoke strong feelings via the use of both subtle and striking color.
While several, like “Starry Night,” are already well-known classics, some were never taken from their native museums or private collections.
In a room with yellow walls, three paintings are particularly exhibited: two “Sunflowers”, one belonging to the National Gallery since 1924, and the other expressly lent by the Washington museum.
Surrounding the picture “The Lullaby” is a woman sitting on an armchair.
“At a certain moment in beginning of 1889 he had five or six of these pictures in his studio, and he began to think, how do I want to show them?” Riopelle explained.
“And he had this wonderful idea that he should flank a ‘Sunflowers’ with a yellow background, with a ‘Sunflowers’ with a blue background.
“And in the middle, he should have “La Berceuse” (The Lullaby)… and that the three pictures together would comfort sailors at sea.”
Riopelle added that Van Gogh’s intention, as explained in letters to his brother Theo, would represent “something consoling in life”.
This is the first time that the works have been exhibited together in this way.
Predictably, nature and the landscapes of the south of France are at the heart of the works arouse feelings in the viewer.
He saw this productive period in southern France as “a chance to make a mark,” said Cornelia Homburg, co-curator of the exhibition, stressing that the exhibition strives to “be respectful” of Van Gogh’s “artistic ambitions”.
There is a series on olive trees, another on the mountains around Saint-Remy de Provence, and also the gardens of a psychiatric institution in the same city, where Van Gogh stayed for several months.
“He was not just a person tormented and suffering all of that,” concluded Riopelle.
“He was a person deeply committed to the beauty of nature, deeply committed to friends and family and deeply committed to establishing a career as an Avant-Garde artist.”
*
Email *
Website
