Ponti

Rome – One of the most anticipated exhibitions of the Roman autumn is dedicated to the genius of Vincent Van Gogh, a few months ahead of the 170 years since the artist’s birth. About fifty masterpieces will arrive for the occasion at Palazzo Bonaparte from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, in the Netherlands, where one of the most important collections of the painter’s works is preserved. There will be iconic works such as theSelf portrait on a blue background from 1887, the Sowerthe Wheat field under the cloudy sky and Pines at sunsetbut also paintings less known to the general public, letters and precious biographical testimonies, for a full immersion in the world of one of the most loved artists of all time.

Curated by Maria Teresa Benedetti and Francesca Villanti, the project is built as a journey into the artistic and human story of Van Gogh: from Holland, where the painter was born and began to develop his talents, to Paris, where the contact with the Impressionist revolution profoundly changed his way of painting. Up to the sunny Midi with stays in Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-Sur-Oise, where creative fever intertwined with existential torment while an impressive number of masterpieces saw the light.

We will discover the dark landscapes of youth and the almost sacred study reserved for the work of the northern land, with figures such as potato pickers, woodcutters, peasants and their families, before moving on to the disruptive research on color and the developments of Van Gogh’s interest in human physiognomy, culminating in a long series of portraits and self-portraits.

Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield under cloudy skies, October 1889. Oil on canvas, 63.3×53 cm © Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

Finally, immersion in the light and heat of the South will bring the strength of the stroke and color to its peak, reflecting itself in an ever more powerful and expressive rendering of nature: from Sower of Arles, where chromatism borders on metaphysics, al Garden of the hospital in Saint-Rémywith the sinuous lines of the vegetation that seem to reflect an intricate inner turmoil, up to Ravine ready to swallow all hope and al Desperate old manwhere it is difficult not to grasp a reference to the condition of the author.

Organized by Arthemisia with the patronage of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Lazio Region and the Municipality of Rome, Van Gogh. Masterpieces from the Kröller Müller Museum will be open from 8 October 2022 to 26 March 2023 in Rome at Palazzo Bonaparte.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1887. Oil on cardboard, 32.8×24 cm. © Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

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