Van Gogh continues to inspire 2015 marks 125 years since the death of troubled artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
♦ The house where Vincent Van Gogh
was born in Zundert, The Netherlands, during a local celebration, and the site reborn as Vincent Van Gogh House. collection of Van Gogh’s work in the world, and founded in 1973 by the Dutch State and the artists nephew, Vincent Willem van Gogh (1890-1978). The Netherlands’ Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, holds second largest Van Gogh collection. In Mons, Belgium, where Van Gogh arrived as an evangelist in 1878, a major show has already take place. Two years later, Van Gogh would departed Mons, convinced his path should be as an artist. In France, a route follows his subsequent travels in Arles marking locations of Van Gogh’s painting sites. At Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh was admitted to hospital, the landscape is recognisable from his paintings. Both the hospital and local tourism authorities are planning events with The Van Gogh Europe Foundation.
Two days before his death on 29 July, 1890 in the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, after Vincent van Gogh intentionally shot himself in the chest, his friend Dr Gachet arrived and voiced hope to save his life. Van Gogh responded, “then I’ll have to do it all over again.” His brother Theo arrived at his bedside and tried to coerce him from his deep loneliness and despair. Van Gogh simply said, “the sadness will last forever.” Despite his deteriorating mental health and unsuccessful career as an artist during his own lifetime, Van Gogh has remained an inspiration to countless artists and viewers alike. A plethora of events across Europe have been planned to mark the 125th anniversary of his death. The Van Gogh Europe Foundation for instance has developed a program of events throughout the year in various cities in Europe significant to the life and work of the artist. These include exhibitions at Amsterdam’s include the Van Gogh Museum, home to the largest THE ARTIST’S CHRONICLE PAGE 6
Currently on show at Vincent van Gogh House in The Netherlands is Rain in Slashes: Zandvliet/Van Gogh, new interpretations of a selection of van Gogh’s works. Director of Vincent van Gogh House, Ron Dirven says Robert Zandvliet is one of the leading Dutch Vincent contemporary artists who has taken up the challenge of creating new paintings inspired by those Van Gogh painted. “For a long time Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with crows was considered to have been his last painting, made shortly before he shot himself in the chest,” says Dirven. “It depicts the wheat fields near Auvers-sur-Oise with flying crows. Zandvliet used this subject twice as starting point for a couple of large paintings. In preparation he made quite a large number of preliminary sketches in pencil and pastel. These preliminary sketches are presented for the first time in the exhibition at Vincent van Gogh House.” Dirven says the memory of Van Gogh is very much alive 125 years after his death. “While Vincent van Gogh House has a permanent display honouring the artists roots in Zundert, and provides a space dedicated to the life and work of the artist, temporary exhibitions focus on artists from the 20th and 21st century who have been, and still are, inspired by Vincent van Gogh.”
The museum marks the birthplace of Van Gogh, and houses an interactive exhibit exploring his early years, attracting visitors of all ages. By 1903, just 13 years after the artists death, the original parsonage in Zundert, where Van Gogh’s parents lived and Van Gogh was born, was considered beyond saving and was demolished to make way for a new parsonage. In 2008, Vincent van Gogh House connected this parsonage to the neighbouring building to form a museum dedicated to the artist.
♦ Wheatfield with crows, egg tempera on canvas, 2011, by Robert Zandvliet on show at Vincent van Gogh House until 7 September. ♦ Wheatfield with crows, oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, July 1890. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The nearby graveyard holds the remains of Van Gogh’s stillborn older brother, also named Vincent. The graves of Vincent and his brother Theo are side by side at Auvers-sur-Oise. Theo died in 1891, just one year after his older brother. ♦ Self-portrait, oil on canvas, by Vincent van Gogh, 1889.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
CITY OF BUSSELTON ART AWARD 2015 11 September - 18 October 2015
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THE ARTIST’S CHRONICLE PAGE 7