Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
The museum offers a historical and artistic insight into Van Gogh's work. It has the largest collection of his paintings, as well as canvases by his contemporaries and his famous correspondence. Also on display are those Japanese prints and engravings that inspired so much devotion in him.
and the plan I have set for my life, is to make as many and as good paintings and drawings as I can, so I hope that, when my life comes to an end, looking back with love and longing I will think: Oh, the paintings I could have made!
Vincent van Gogh, November 11, 1883
In his ten years of production, Vincent achieved marvelous images that convey strength, energy and effusion.
The letters, mainly to his younger brother Theo, are of immense value as they reveal the events of his life. The communications were written not only in Dutch but also in French - the most important language at the time - and often include drawings or small sketches in between the paragraphs.
The museum was built thanks to the Van Gogh family collection. Vincent's work was brought within our reach largely as the result of the determination and bravery of an extraordinary woman, Jo van Gogh-Bonge.
Although Theo supported his brother in his project to become an artist, he died within months of Vincent's suicide, making her sister-in-law's role in the exposure of his work conclusive.
She dedicated her life to that enterprise and succeeded with flying colors, for at her death -in 1925- Van Gogh's work was recognized all over the world. In fact, some collectors acquired from her a few of the master's works, such as the famous Starry Night, which was later ceded to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York, where it is now on display.
It was then his sister-in-law Jo who managed the first presentations and even mounted the most important ever, the 1905 exhibition, in which more than four hundred works were exhibited and from which the value of the paintings began to escalate, gaining international recognition.
“I am delighted that after years of indifference from the public towards Vincent and his work, to feel that the battle has been won”.
Jo honored the Van Gogh brothers by arranging for the coffin of Theo, who died in Utrecht, to be transferred to Auvers-sur-Oise to rest next to that of Vincent.
The most outstanding artworks at Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
Worn out
The drawing made in The Hague in 1882 shows his predilection for popular characters and scenes. His pencil skills succeeded in expressing with extreme clarity the drama of the scene, of exhaustion.
The Potato Eaters
Painted in 1885 during his stay in Nuenen.
"...That a painting about peasants does not end up smelling of perfume".
Self-Portrait with Gray Felt Hat
Of his workmanship, the multiple self-portraits stand out, due to his impossibility of hiring models; in particular, the one exhibited in the museum shows his particular pointillism. In 1887, when in Paris he became familiar with the innovative techniques, he produced this self-portrait in which small lines of intense color compose the figure.
The Bedroom in Arles
He composed this magnificent piece during his stay in the south of France, in early 1888, when he hoped that Gauguin would accompany him on this adventure of finding light and generating a space propitious for artistic inspiration. The disappointment when his friend returned to Paris led him to cut off his ear while he was still living in the yellow house in Arles.
Sunflowers
The famous yellow flowers that characterize him, in their various versions, are also from his time in Arles (1889) and are another highlight of the museum. Five canvases he painted with his favorite flower, representing gratitude. One is in a private collection, one in the National Gallery in London, one in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and a final one is apparently lost.
Almond Blossom
The Japanese influence is especially visible in this painting, which he began when his homonymous nephew, Theo and Jo's son, was to be born (1890).
Irises
This still life was painted during his stay at the Saint-Rémy psychiatric hospital (1890). It was a study of color and the contrast of blue and yellow.
Wheat Field with Crows
This is one of his last oil paintings, as intense as those last moments he lived in Auvers-Sur-Oise in July 1890.
Moulin Rouge
Among the works of his contemporaries and friends, the poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a lithograph in color and paper, is remarkable.
This caricatured advertisement for the Moulin Rouge that invaded the Parisian streets in 1891 was evidence of the artist's mastery as a graphic designer.