Most expensive, suicide not murder and more: celebrating 300 Adventures with Van Gogh – The Art Newspaper

Adventures with Van Gogh has simply marked its three hundredth submit because the weekly weblog was launched in 2018. For the two hundredth, in February 2023, we ran a compilation of what had then been the ten hottest posts. This week, beginning with the preferred, we glance again on the posts which have attracted most readers since then. Among the subjects had been predictable, others got here as fairly a shock. All have lately been up to date with new data for this newest compilation.

1. Ten costliest

Everyone seems to be intrigued by how an artist who did not promote his work has now turn out to be one of many largest hitters available in the market. We file the ten highest public sale costs for Van Gogh work, with first place going to the Arles panorama Orchard with Cypresses (April 1888). It bought for $117m at Christie’s in 2022. Learn extra

2. Weird mountains

A unusual topic was the second hottest: the story of a geological characteristic within the mountains close to the asylum the place Van Gogh lived for a yr exterior Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The artist painted a ridge in Les Alpilles (the Little Alps) which has two holes by means of it that had been weathered within the limestone. This unusual sight seems in The Olive Bushes (June 1889) at New York’s Museum of Trendy Artwork. Generally folks assume that the artist imagined the curious voids within the ridge when he was ailing. Not so: the 2 holes are certainly there. Learn extra

3. It was suicide, not homicide

The query I now get requested most frequently is whether or not Van Gogh died by suicide (the normal rationalization) or homicide (a principle propounded in a latest biography). I’m satisfied it was suicide, and provides ten causes for my conclusion. Most significantly, everybody round Van Gogh on the time believed that he took his personal life. Had they thought it was homicide, they would definitely have raised issues. Learn extra

4. Starry Night time in Arles

Starry Night time over the Rhône (September 1888) provides a marvellous perception into the artist’s life and work in Arles, in Provence. Seeing each the portray, now on the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the place the place it was created gives a possibility to work out what got here from the precise view—and, importantly, what emerged from Van Gogh’s creative creativeness. Learn extra

5. Picasso’s granddaughter

One in all Picasso’s granddaughters quietly purchased a Van Gogh, after receiving an enormous bequest from her illustrious ancestor. In 1987 Marina Picasso acquired the early watercolour Lady in a Wooden (September-October 1882). Her possession solely emerged when she bought the work in Might at Sotheby’s, the place it fetched practically $1m. Learn extra

6. Framing Van Gogh

Most house owners of Van Gogh work now show them in ornate gold frames—however this isn’t what the artist meant. He favored easy wood framing, which he felt labored greatest. Though gallery goers hardly ever discover frames, they do subtly affect on the way in which that we expertise photos. The latest exhibition at London’s Nationwide Gallery, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers (closed on 19 January), supplied some intriguing examples. Amongst these was the reframing of the Philadelphia Sunflowers (January 1889). Learn extra

7. A pair of hospital work

After mutilating his ear, Van Gogh was despatched to the hospital in Arles, the place he stayed for more often than not earlier than he left for an asylum in Might 1890. By probability, the one two work he fabricated from the hospital each ended up with the identical Swiss collector, Winterthur-based Oskar Reinhart (who later arrange a museum together with his assortment). Each photos had been lent for an exhibition at London’s Courtauld Gallery, which closed final Might, in what was their first journey exterior Switzerland for a century. Learn extra

8. Ending up in Russia

There is just one portray which Van Gogh is for certain to have bought throughout his lifetime: The Pink Winery (November 1888). It was purchased at an exhibition in Brussels in March 1890, promoting for the equal of £16. In 1909 it was acquired by the Moscow collector and textile manufacturing facility proprietor Ivan Morozov. Seized after the communist revolution, it was lately conserved and is on the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Learn extra

9. Surprises in London

The Nationwide Gallery’s exhibition Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers (closed on 19 January) was greeted with five-star opinions. We uncover ten surprises about particular person work: a grasshopper within the paint, a Louis Vuitton-owned image, a portray on a tea towel, a self-portrait which hung in Regent’s Park and a piece belonging to on line casino boss Steve Wynn. Learn extra

10. Inspiration from Hiroshige

Van Gogh beloved Japanese prints, notably the work of Hiroshige, who’s the topic of a British Museum exhibition (till 7 September). The Dutch artist made two work impressed by the Japanese grasp, together with Flowering Plum Orchard (October-November 1887). This was lent to London, alongside together with his rarely-displayed tracing of the Hiroshige print. Learn extra

Different Van Gogh information

Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum claims it may very well be compelled to shut, until the Dutch authorities offers extra funds to improve its constructing. If cash shouldn’t be forthcoming, director Emilie Gordenker says they “will be unable to ensure the security of the gathering, guests and workers”. The museum will likely be taking the tradition ministry to courtroom subsequent February, arguing that it’s breaching a 1962 settlement between the Van Gogh household and the federal government.London’s Nationwide Gallery has opened its substantial show Millet: Life on the Land (till 19 October), centred round L’Angelus (1859), an distinctive mortgage from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Van Gogh was an important admirer of L’Angelus, referring to it in 11 of his letters. It supplied an inspiration for his early peasant work in Brabant.

Martin Bailey is a number one Van Gogh specialist and particular correspondent for The Artwork Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions on the Barbican Artwork Gallery, Compton Verney/Nationwide Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.

Martin has written quite a few bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night time: Van Gogh on the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are additionally now out there in a extra compact paperback format.

His different latest books embody Residing with Vincent van Gogh: The Properties & Landscapes that formed the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which offers an summary of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Buddy Van Gogh/Emile Bernard offers the primary English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).

To contact Martin Bailey, please e-mail vangogh@theartnewspaper.com

Please observe that he doesn’t undertake authentications.

Discover all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh right here