The book focuses on 93 paintings that are central to Van Gogh’s years in Antwerp and Paris, a period that has been somewhat underexposed in the past. This is the first time the paintings produced in this period have been subjected to detailed scrutiny and interpretation.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has under its management two hundred paintings and about five hundred drawings by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). This largest and most representative collection of his work in the world was donated to the museum by the artist’s family. It is analysed, discussed and interpreted in a set of voluminous collection catalogues.
The new publication Vincent van Gogh, Paintings 2. Antwerp and Paris, 1885-1888 (published in English) is the second volume in the series about the artist’s paintings in the Van Gogh Museum’s collection. It focuses on 93 works from Van Gogh’s years in Antwerp and Paris, a period that has received relatively little attention hitherto. The research undertaken by the main authors, Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh, who are attached to the museum as Senior Conservator and Senior Researcher, respectively, sheds new light on these works.
The paintings show Van Gogh’s development, in a short space of time, from a realist with an idealistic message into a true modernist who sought to build on the achievements of the Impressionists. His diverse influences included the Provencal painter Adolphe Monticelli, the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist schools, and Japanese prints. The book also dwells on technical aspects of his painting, such as changes in his use of materials, which reveal much about his love of experimentation and his quest for diversity in technique. The book is richly illustrated with numerous of the works that Van Gogh produced in Paris and those he saw by other artists.
The accompanying exhibition Van Gogh in Antwerp and Paris: new perspectives (22 June to 18 September 2011) provides an overview of the most striking findings from this research.
Vincent van Gogh, Paintings 2. Antwerp and Paris, 1885-1888
Ella Hendriks and Louis van Tilborgh, with contributions by Margriet van Eikema Hommes and Monique Hageman
Van Gogh Museum / Waanders Publishers
International co-edition: Lund Humphries
616 pages, 550 illustrations
Hardcover, with dust jacket
English
ISBN 978 90 00 8563 5
€ 145 (available during the exhibition for the reduced price of € 99.50)
www.vangoghmuseum.nl
