Last night was the Vernissage at the National Gallery of Canada of the new Van Gogh exhibit, the first in 25 years in Canada. There were lots of people, the great Hall was full, we had a glass of wine and enjoyed the piano music though it was a little hard to hear over the conversations. The Government of the Netherlands and Japan participated in the organization, it was explained that Van Gogh is very popular in Japan and he had collected nearly 400 Japanese prints between 1886-88. He was fascinated with Japanese wood block prints. Other museums in Amsterdam and in Toronto like the Royal Ontario Museum also provided works, many never seen before in public, taken out of storage. I also like the etchings from which is took inspiration, beautifully detailed. The exhibit shows the different techniques he used from Horizontal lines, zooming in on a subject, close-up details, playing with perspective, push and pull and strong diagonals. You can see it all in this exhibit which is rare given that usually museums only have a few of his paintings. The Exhibit is called Van Gogh up close and yes, what I saw reflects the theme.
Iris in the Collection of the National Gallery of Canada
The poster of the exhibit is the painting Amandier or Almond blossom, Van Gogh chose the blossom of the almond tree, a member of the rose family, to celebrate the joyous occasion- the birth of his brother Theo's son, his nephew- and as a symbol of new life. I really like that painting in particular.
Others I liked are Lavender, on loan from the Museum of Otterlo, comes from a short trip he took to the South of France where he painted View of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. You can almost smell the lavender field.
Roses and Sunflowers, on loan from the Kunsthalle in Mannheim. Sunflowers return frequently in Van Gogh paintings, a Christian emblem of Faith. For the artist it symbolized companionship and gratitude. Iris, which is part of the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, a popular motif in the Dutch still-life tradition, the iris also featured in the Japanese woodblock prints that Van Gogh studied.
Van Gogh had a short life and a tragic one, born in 1853 in Zundert, a small village of the Brabant in the south of the Netherlands and died by his own hand in 1890 in Auvers-sur Oise, North of Paris.
There was a few details about his life, he did a little travel between the Netherlands, Belgium, England and France, he was a lay preacher, tried to become a full time preacher but failed, too excentric apparently. Many of his exhibits he organized in small Café's and local restaurants where he lived. His brother Theo who was an art dealer in Paris supported him financially all his life and was at his side when he died. Van Gogh did spend some time in a Sanatorium in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and contrary to popular Hollywood belief he only cut-off the lobe of his ear not the ear itself. A tormented soul, who lived in poverty and who left us a wonderful gift, without his realizing it he became immortal.
In closing let's not forget that our National Museums are all struggling financially with little to no help from the current Government. It is up to the public, all of us to strongly support our Museums. This exhibit on Van Gogh is at the National Gallery of Canada on Sussex Drive in Ottawa until 3 September 2012.
