1. Vincent Van Gogh, Farmhouse, oil on canvas, 38,9 x 46,4cm, © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent Van Gogh Foundation)
Until the end of the week, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris present a great exhibition on Van Gogh latest's month: Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise - The Final Months.
The exhibition concept and scenography
The exhibition, which is presented in the museum from the 3rd October 2023 until the 4th February 2024 is devoted to two majors projets: the revaluation of the works of the artist, often times overlooked for his iconic works, and the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, which hold an important part of the works of the artist, most of them from the late period.
Curated by Emmanuel Coquery (general curator, director of cultural development and director of the Bibliothèque nationale de France’s cultural development and museum) and Nienke Bakker (collection manager and curator at the Van Gogh Museum), the show, which travel from the Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam present 74 paintings and 33 drawings.
The concept of the exhibition is quite clear and simple, it's to present to the public, the works the artist produced in Auvers-sur-Oise (near Paris), during his last two month, just before he died on July 29th 1890. In this period, the artist produced a total of 74 paintings and 33 drawings, including some iconic works such as the Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet, The Church at Auvers, and Wheatfield with Crows.
The history of a man, who lost his path
2. Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait de l'artiste, 1889, Oil on canvas, 65 x 54,2 cm, Donation of Paul and Marguerite Gachet, 1949, © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
After spending a year in a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Vincent Van Gogh arrived in Paris on 17 May 1890. He then relocated to Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May, a village situated 30 kilometers north of Paris, where Dr. Paul Gachet, a specialist in depression will help him improve his mental health.
Over the course of 70 tumultuous days, the artist experienced alternating periods of confidence and despair while creating 74 paintings and numerous drawings, including his first engraving. Tragically, on 27 July, Van Gogh shot himself with a pistol.
The background of this production is the small village of Auvers-sur-oise, a town of 2,000 inhabitants surrounded by a pastoral landscape that unfolded along the Oise River.
Just an hour train ride from Paris, the village attracted numerous painters seeking inspiration amidst its idyllic scenery. Since Charles-François Daubigny's arrival in 1861, Auvers-sur-Oise had become a haven for artists, Cézanne, Pissarro, and so on.
For Vincent van Gogh, the village evoked a sense of familiarity, reminiscent of his native Netherlands, with its cottages rising against the lush backdrop. Coming with the help of his brother and Dr. Gachet's, the artist follow the prescription within the walls of the Auberge Ravoux.
Despite his illness, Van Gogh embraced a new routine, painting with fervor in the morning light and refining his works in the afternoon, sheltered within the sanctuary provided by Ravoux.
Docteur Gachet
3. Vincent Van Gogh, Le Docteur Paul Gachet, 1890, Oil on canvas, 68,2 x 57 cm, Donation of Paul and Marguerite Gachet, 1949, © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
Paul Gachet (1828 - 1909) wrote a medical thesis on melancholy in 1858, enabling him to be an important doctor for people's mental health and behaviour. After a decade of working and living in Paris, the doctor, acquired a residence in Auvers-sur-Oise where he entertained artists such as Cézanne, Guillaumin and Pissarro.
Known for his non-conformist medical behaviour and early adoption of homeopathy, Gachet embraced Van Gogh as both a friend and a patient. Initially, the artist frequented his home for Sunday lunches. Over time, Gachet's house and person became a source of inspiration, between floral arrangements, garden scenes, and eventually, his daughter Marguerite in paintings.
Those picture, will be given to Paul and Marguerite Gachet and then Gachet's children, who decided to give between 1949 and 1945 nine paintings, drawings and an engraving plate to the Louvre in honor of Van Gogh's legacy.
Bouquets and plant studies
Van Gogh created nine floral still-lifes between mid-May and mid-June, likely intending to sell or gift them during his period in Auvers. Many were painted at Dr. Gachet's residence, which allowed them to interact with artworks from his collection, particularly those by Cézanne.
Each bouquet stands out for his bold colours, his imposing impasto and brushmarks, featuring simple compositions that play with the geometry of tables and vases. All of them showcase unassuming arrangements of wildflowers.
Modern portraiture
"The depiction of people is the sole aspect of painting that deeply stirs me and evokes a sense of the infinite, surpassing all else.". Van Gogh aspired to capture in his subjects "that elusive eternity, once symbolized by halos, which we strive to embody through luminosity and the vividness of our palette."
However, in Auvers, the setting is completely different because Gachet's, daughter Marguerite, the innkeeper's daughter Adeline Ravoux, assorted children, and two unidentified young women will become the central figure of his picture for the last months, evoking his deep link with the community and the family aspect of his works.
Graphic studies
4. Vincent Van Gogh, Landscape with Houses, Pencil, brush and oil paint and watercolour, on paper, 44 x 54,4 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent Van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh, filled with a new vigor his notebook with watercolours, sketches and new experiment, combining blue oil brushstrokes with watercolor on gray-blue or pink paper. Using pen and ink, he experimented with black, blue, or brown chalk, as well as pencil.
Nine large sheets of those sketchbooks depict scenes of the village and its fields, while a notebook and sketchbook containing 48 illustrated pages showcase his interest in people and animals, capturing unexpected details.
The landscape and its pictural form
5. Vincent Van Gogh, Landscape at Auvers in the Rain, 1890, Oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cm, National Museum of Cardiff
Out of the 74 paintings created in Auvers, 20 focus on "natural" landscapes, often devoid of houses, many of which are situated on the plateau above the village. Most of these were completed during the latter part of his time in Auvers.
Beside them, 13 are in the "double square" format, comprising 12 diverse landscapes and one elongated portrait measuring 50 x 1 meter, a unique piece in Van Gogh's collection. The exhibition displays 11 of these works together for the first time.
This collection is particularly notable because it features a format deliberately chosen by the artist rather than a commercial one, and includes his last three paintings.
Created within a period of slightly over a month, between June 20 and the artist's death, these paintings represent a thoughtful, deeply explored exploration. It also raises questions about whether Van Gogh intended to create a decorative series forming a long frieze or if it was the groundwork for a personal exhibition project, as he suggested on June 10, 1890.
These canvases undoubtedly showcase a variety of formal experiments characterized by artistic freedom, reflecting an artist on the brink of a "new painting" era.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Musée d'Orsay
Date: 3.10.2023 – 4.2.2024
Curators: Emmanuel Coquery, Nienke Bakker, Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp
Ticket: Available on the website of the Musée d'Orsay OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
75007 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 40 49 48 14