Unsung Van Goghs in the Netherlands

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Van Gogh Museum, to show security lock on back/By Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Museum, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Cottage, 1885, Van Gogh Museum.  The label says Van Gogh  loved these homes, comfortable places which made their occupants feel safe and secure.  Two families lived here, made evident by the two front doors.  Vincent "deliberately set the scene at dusk, the time when the peasants have returned home after a hard day's work."

Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Woman, 1885, Van Gogh Museum. The label says the artist set out to paint a series of 50 "'heads' ....to represent the peasants...who had been tilling the land for centuries. 'They remind one of the earth, sometimes appear to have been modelled [sic] out of it,'" he wrote.

Vincent van Gogh, Montmartre: Behind the Moulin de la Galette, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Montmartre:  WIndmills and Allotments, 1887, Van Gogh Museum.  The label says he "derived the fresh, pure colours...from contemporary French art."

At the Van Gogh Museum, June 24, 2024, looking at ...one of his!/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Three Novels, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. The label says Vincent "attached so much importance to contemporary literature that he painted no fewer than four still lifes of modern French novels....The oval format...is due to its unusual support, namely the lid of a little Japanese box."

Vincent van Gogh, Garden with Courting Couples:  Square Saint- Pierre, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. The label says he called this park "'the painting of the garden with lovers.'...Van Gogh took liberties with the Pointillist technique....[and] succeeded in rendering the effects of a dazzling spring day....He too longed for a wife and a family, but he had 'the most impossible love stories.'  He ultimately resigned himself to this situation; after all, he was devoted to his art."

Paul Gauguin, Clovis Sleeping, 1884, Van Gogh Museum. New to the collection.  

The label says that this is the first Gauguin impressionist painting in the museum. Vincent and his brother, Theo, collected Gauguins and given the "close, but complex friendship, which was all about artistic exchange," between the two artists,  Gauguin's work "has always been a focal point" of the collection.

This has a sad ending...Clovis was Gauguin's "apple of his father's eye" who was five when his father painted him sleeping.  In 1885 while the rest of the family stayed in Copenhagen, the father and son moved to Paris where they lived in poverty.  Gauguin wrote that "Clovis was 'very sweet and played all alone in his little corner without tormenting me.'"

To concentrate only on his art, Gauguin left Paris for Brittany in 1886, leaving Clovis behind in a boarding house with strangers when Clovis was only 7. Gauguin did not visit his son because, for one reason, he did not have money to pay the boarding house for Clovis's expenses. 

At age 21, in 1900 Clovis died of blood poisoning.  He had not seen his father in nine years, his father having left the continent for Tahiti in 1895.  Sounds rather like I'd imagine Gauguin to be:  self-centered and another "me! me! me! me!" personality. Read more about Clovis here.

Paul Gauguin, Clovis Sleeping, 1884, Van Gogh Museum.

Vincent van Gogh, View from Theo's Apartment, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. In Paris

Vincent van Gogh, In the Cafe: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. Okay, some works are better known than others, like this one.  Agostina owned this café which Van Gogh frequented. A woman in a café was a popular subject for artists, the label says.

Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. To Van Gogh, this work left him "very satisfied" and "absolutely surpassed all his other works from this period," according to the label. Around Arles. 

Vincent van Gogh, The Zouave, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. A Zouave was a French soldier stationed in North Africa.

Vincent van Gogh, Gauguin's Chair, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. The label says this "unusual painting...can be understood as a portrait of the artist."  Not long afterwards, the two artists "would quarrel fiercely and part ways."  Van Gogh painted his own chair in blue and yellow.

Vincent van Gogh, The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry, 1886, Van Gogh Museum.

Theo van Gogh's Cabinet, 1790-1800, Van Gogh Museum. This cabinet housed Vincent's brother's collection of prints and drawings, and later, Vincent's letters.  After her husband, Theo, died, Johanna "took it upon herself to order and organise (sic) all these letters so that they could be published," all of the correspondence now at the Van Gogh Museum/By Patricia Leslie

At the Potato Eaters, Van Gogh Museum/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield under Thunderclouds, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, painted around Auvers during the last weeks of his life when, the label says, he tried to "express 'sadness, and extreme loneliness.'  The landscapes' effects on him were "'healthy' and 'invigorating.'"

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape at Twilight, 1890, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots (detail), 1890, Van Gogh Museum. The morning of his death, Van Gogh worked on this, his last painting, the label says, which was left unfinished due to his suicide by firearm.  Although there is question regarding annoyances by neighborhood children and whether the artist did kill himself, the Van Gogh Museum states unequivocally that he died by suicide.

Moving on two days later to the Kröller-Müller Museum, did I say all the Van Goghs in the Netherlands were lesser-knowns?  Not the case! 

Above, the hand and arm of a guide points out A Cafe at Night, 1888 at the Kröller-Müller. The label says Van Gogh "set himself the difficult task of making a nocturnal painting without using black...one of the highlights of his oeuvre." Astronomical research confirms the accuracy of Van Gogh's sky, painted "precisely" what he saw on the night of September 16 or 17, 1888/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Girl in a Wood, 1882, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label says a gift from Theo permitted Vincent to purchase paints which did not require mixing, and he also bought a "perspective frame" which could be used to set up on uneven surfaces like here.  "It is very likely that he paints it [above] on his knees...[made evident by] the low perspective, but also because pieces of leaves...have become lodged in the paint." 

Vincent van Gogh, Cyresses with Two Figures, 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label describes two women, which he added later, standing in a lovely landscape, but "the work is not about [them, according to the label], but about the row of trees behind them." Van Gogh wrote Theo: "'The cypresses still preoccupy me.'"  He gave this painting to the Parisian art critic, Albert Aurier, "the first to write enthusiastically" about Van Gogh's work.

 
Vincent van Gogh, Interior of a Restaurant, 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The insides of cafés, bars, restaurants made good subject for impressionistic artists, including Van Gogh who did not identify this establishment.  The label notes the high-hanging hat on the wall. Van Gogh didn't care too much for city life or its inhabitants (whom he called "decadent") and six months after finishing this, he left Paris for the quieter surroundings of southern France.

Vincent van Gogh, Patch of Grass (detail), 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label notes the minute refinement of each part of the painting: "In the hands of Van Gogh, a piece of nature that is usually part of a larger whole thus becomes a subject in itself." The colors here do not adequately convey the richness of the green in the painting.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label says Vincent wrote to Theo: "'People say [...] that it's difficult to know oneself...but it's not easy to paint oneself either.''  Between 1886 and 1888, he painted about 25 mostly small self-portraits.  Since he didn't have much money to pay models, Vincent painted himself.  

Helene Kröller-Müller, the museum's founder, paid about 6,500 francs for this at an auction in Amsterdam which biographer Frederik Muller noted in 1919 was the only Van Gogh self-portrait in the collection. (She was one of the world's first Van Gogh collectors, who bought 15 Van Goghs when she visited Paris in 1912. The value today of 6,500 francs is about $7,340.)

Vincent van Gogh, Still Live with Straw Hat, 1881, Kröller-Müller Museum, one of the artist's first paintings.

Vincent van Gogh, Still Life with Jars, 1885, Kröller-Müller Museum.

Vincent van Gogh, Peasants Planting Potatoes, 1884, Kröller-Müller Museum. This was one of six renderings Van Gogh painted on commission for the dining room of amateur artist and goldsmith, Antoon Hermans. Initially, Van Gogh planned for two figures to be included in the work, but he added more people to please the buyer.  The label says:  "Van Gogh does not really manage to combine the figures into a whole."

A Van Gogh gallery, June 26, 2024 at the Kröller-Müller Museum with more room to enjoy art than found at the Amsterdam museum!/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Path in the Park, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, The Green Vineyard, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, The Green Vineyard, (detail), 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Trunks with Ivy, 1889, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Trunks with Ivy, (detail) 1889, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh,View of Saintes-Marles-de-la- Mer, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum.  In a stay of just a few days, Van Gogh completed nine drawings and a painting of the village on the Mediterranean, commenting how the sky and the sea changed colors.

Vincent van Gogh, Girl Peasant Women Digging Up Potatoes, 1885, Kröller-Müller Museum

The front of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

The rear and exit at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Lunch at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024. Not the greatest but okay, I guess, for museum food. (Eat before or after you go.) The utensils were compostable. Yay! The prices were high/By Patricia Leslie

In the Netherlands they pronounce his name "Van Hoff," his popularity, never ceasing. 

The National Gallery in London has just announced its major fall exhibition, the  "once-in-a-century" Van Gogh show, Poets and Lovers, certain to attract thousands.

At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, even with timed entry, the crowds surge, overflowing from the city's enormous tourist numbers. (Buy tickets online before you visit! One cringes to think what the crowds would be like without timed entry, and photos here show the crowd on a Monday. Pre-covid annual numbers of visitors to the museum were about 2.2 million of whom 85% were international guests.)

Neither the museum nor the  Kröller-Müller Museum* about an hour southeast of Amsterdam in Otterlo, have many of the famous Van Goghs of which enthusiasts are familiar, and someone in my group complained that the famous Van Goghs were few and far between in the Netherlands. 

Who cares when there was so much new to see?

Many of his self-portraits hang on the walls in both places. Artists who could not afford to pay models often settled for themselves in the mirror.

Depending upon your source, estimates about the number of Van Gogh self-portraits vary between 32 and 36.

The Kröller-Müller Museum says it has "the world's finest Vincent van Gogh collection" with the world's second largest Van Gogh collection of 90 paintings and more than 180 drawings (not all hang simultaneously) while the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam  houses the world's largest Van Gogh collection, with more than 200 paintings (including Sunflowers, Almond Blossom, and The Potato Eaters), 500 drawings and almost all of his letters.   

 The Van Gogh Studio says its namesake turned out 900 paintings and many more drawings and sketches in his short art life of ten years (1880-1890. The Van Gogh Museum estimates 1,300 works on paper). At both museums, standing close to the works (most covered in unobtrusive glass), his massive brush strokes are striking.  (Unlike Washington's National Gallery of Art which has automated devices to warn visitors they stand too close, sound devices in the Netherlands are human.)  

Pictured above are Van Gogh works in the two museums which I found of special interest. 

* A woman from New York City on my trip told me the Kröller-Müller Museum was the chief reason she had joined the Road Scholar group because it was the only museum which she had not visited, wanting to spend hours. On that day she skipped lunch (of vast importance to the rest of us!) to swoon in the Kröller-Müller galleries.

The entire collection at the Van Gogh Museum may be accessed here: www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/search/collection.  Enjoy! 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Extended! Immersive Van Gogh is impressive Van Gogh!

It is a starry night at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

One of the artist's self-portraits at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Note changes from above as colors deepen/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A huge bust of the artist at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience covered in a likeness from one of his paintings/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I went, expecting far less and came away exceptionally surprised at the all-encompassing show where visitors seemingly float through without worries or stress. 

It's a family affair, 360 degrees of digital art and quite the introduction to classical art for the youngsters and for adults, too, who may not know as much about the artist as they thought.

Like me, for instance.  Several Van Gogh paintings on display were new to me!

Guests admire one of his vases at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. He reportedly painted 11 vases in all/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another vase at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The darkened atmosphere is relaxing. Gallery going is at your own pace. No worries about elbow bumping! 

Let's just celebrate art and have a good time, shall we?

From the first revelation at the entrance of a gigantic bust of the artist (1837-1890) (correction: which is half the size of the JFK bust at the Kennedy Center) until you exit at the shop, you are ensconced in all things Van Gogh.

His bust is covered in images of his paintings which evolve into other images while you stand in awe.

Guests may sit in the artist's Bedroom at Arles at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Immersion at the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A nearby timeline on the wall tells major events of the artist's life and then it's off to the first room where copies of his works (most in the same size) hang on both sides of the hall with a three-dimensional "room" off to the side.

On an adjacent wall, copies of his sunflowers hang and allow close inspection of differences.

A large vase spins with constant color changes and renditions of the blossoms which fuse one into another. 

Flowers spring up while visitors proceed to the next gallery and more images, and there is Van Gogh's bedroom at Arles which beckons guests to come in and sit for a while.

Make a picture or two.

Sight sensations and music fill senses in a pleasurable way while surround sound echoes with Van Gogh's spoken quotations:

What would life be like if we had no courage to attempt anything? 

and

If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.

The last gallery is the "immersion" room with his works illustrated on all sides in double, triple life sizes, constantly melding into another image. 

It's like being in a Van Gogh aquarium (!), beginning with the carpeting on the floor and extending to the high ceiling spanning 20,000 square feet with comfortable beach chairs, benches, bean bags, and pillows for guests to use and move about for a better spot to think, dream, meditate, and give thanks for an artist like Van Gogh.  

At the end, for $5 more, visitors may put on virtual reality headsets and attend a computer art show of Van Gogh places.

The VR hall opens to a large shop of Van Gogh merchandise at mostly reasonable prices.  Try umbrellas, earrings ($10), brooches, t-shirts (the skeleton head will be great for Halloween), posters ($14), and lots more.

What's missing here is the present location of each original work, but we are lucky in Washington, D.C. to be able to see some of them at the Phillips Collection  and still more for free at the National Gallery of Art!

Van Gogh is not dead; he lives! At the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Come and see!

When:  Now through Thanksgiving weekend  Feb. 26, 2023. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m; Saturday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays.

Where:  The Rhode Island Center - 524 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002

Tickets:  A family pass for two adults and two children is $31.90. Separately, children under age 4 are admitted free and older children are $29.90; adults, $49.90; seniors, students and military, $37.90; groups of 15 or more, $44.90 each. ccc 

Masks are encouraged, however, not required.

Metro station:  Rhode Island-Brookland Station.  Take the ramp/pedestrian bridge directly from the Metro exit over Rhode Island Avenue  to land just steps from the show. (Ignore Google's directions which take you waaay off yonder and around several blocks.) 

Park for two hours free at the Bryant Street West lot, 514 Rhode Island Ave., NE, Washington, D.C. ccc.  Ph. 844-236-2011. 

Timing: Allow 60-75 minutes.

Let us go then, you and I

To see his works spread against the sky

Like the paintings on the walls

We'll enjoy van Gogh and all.

Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"

Let us go and make our visit.

Where the people come and go

To see the art of Vincent van Gogh*

 

*With apologies to T.S. Eliot

Patricialesli@gmail.com