National Gallery in London opens historic exhibition on Van Gogh

From September 14, 2024 to January 19, 2025, the famous gallery will feature an iconic work, one of the “Sunflowers” ​​paintings from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is a first outside the United States since its acquisition in 1935.

However, this is the first time since 1889 that the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Sunflowers and those of the National Gallery will be exhibited together, a reunion that has become an unprecedented event.

The two paintings had not been exhibited together since they were in Van Gogh’s studio, which is why the show is so important.

The artist initially left the Philadelphia work with his friends the Ginoux in Arles and the museum acquired it in 1963; in contrast, he sent the London version to his brother Theo in May 1889 and the National Gallery bought it in 1924.

The exhibition not only celebrates the 200th anniversary of the British gallery, but also the centenary of the acquisition of the most famous painting of yellow flowers ever to have existed and, similarly, the century of “Van Gogh’s Chair” (1888) by this gallery.

The event is significant because it is considered the first exhibition dedicated to Van Gogh at the National Gallery and focuses on the artist’s imaginative transformations, the institution said.

More than 50 works loaned by museums and private collections around the world will be part of this exhibition, he added.

The exhibition will explore his creative process and sources of inspiration, focusing on his time in Arles and Saint-Rémy en Provence between 1888 and 1890, the gallery said.

The exhibition will examine how the Dutch artist turned the places he visited into idealised spaces in his art, creating a profound poetic framework for his work, he said.

The portraits will also play an essential role and will give a symbolic meaning to their models, a crucial aspect reflected in the title of the exhibition, he explained.

“Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” will focus on how poetic imagination and his thoughts on love became central themes for the artist; in Arles he designated the public park in front of the Yellow House as the Garden of Poets, envisioning Italian Renaissance minstrels such as Petrarch and Boccaccio strolling there.

This vision inspired some of his most notable paintings of the period.

The exhibition was curated by Cornelia Homburg and Christopher Riopelle based on an initial concept by Homburg.

National Gallery Director Gabriele Finaldi praised the generosity of museums and collectors who have so far loaned important works for this historic exhibition.

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