New York. – Dutch impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh and his fascination with cypress trees are the focus of a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum (Met) in New York which will open in May 2023 and will be presided over by the masterpieces “Starry Night” and “Wheatfield with cypresses.”
The exhibition will include a total of 40 pieces including paintings, drawings and illustrated letters that have “rarely, if ever, been loaned and exhibited together”, in order to explore the artist’s vision of these trees and peek into their creative process, indicates the museum in a statement.
“A series of remarkable works will illuminate the magnitude of Van Gogh’s fascination with these torch-like evergreens as they awakened, nourished and fueled his imagination over the course of two years in the south of France,” the statement said.
The painter made his first observations of cypress trees in the city of Arles, describing them as “tall and dark”, and explored their “full evocative potential” while residing in an asylum in Saint-Rémy.
Met director Max Hollein said the thematic exhibition coincides with the 170th anniversary of the painter’s birth and “challenges prevailing notions” about him “with new perspectives,” offering context that reveals the paintings’ backstory.
