Vincent van Gogh, The Poet’s Garden (Public Garden in Arles), 1888. Oil on canvas 73 × 92 cm. Private collection © Courtesy the owner.
Join ARTscapades for this special talk on Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers, the National Gallery’s first exhibition devoted to Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90), with guest curator Cornelia Homburg, independent curator and art historian.
Arriving in the south of France in February 1888, van Gogh spent two years making an original, highly expressive body of work that he hoped would impress his contemporaries back in Paris. He set about creating imaginary characters and scenes that were shaped by his literary, musical and artistic influences but based on the real people he met and places he visited. Friends were cast as the quintessential ‘poet’ or ‘lover’ as part of these artistic transformations. The period resulted in pictures of remarkable originality and expressiveness, such as the ‘Sunflowers’ series and two ‘Starry Night’ paintings, which are among the best-known works in all of modern art.
Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers presents the painter as a deliberate, knowledgeable and ambitious individual who was striving towards an ‘art of the future’. Including many works lent from private collections, the exhibition offers significant insights into this celebrated artist’s remarkable work, his unique approach to exhibiting, his use of intense colour and the incredible variety of sources that inspired him.
This event will be recorded. Ticket holders are emailed a link to view the recording afterwards which is available for one month. Proceeds from ARTscapades ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
The exhibtion Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers is at the National Gallery, London, from 14 September 2024 to 19 January 2025.
The exhibition catalogue Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers is by Cornelia Homburg. ARTscapades talk ticket holders will receive a code to use for a special offer of 20% off when purchasing the book via the Yale University Press London website (RRP £40, offer price £32). UK orders only, Free P&P.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live with Q&A, or on-demand for one month afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.