Van Gogh Museum Visit
Like a true Dutchie, B wants to ensure full “paisa-vasool” (loosely translated as best value for money) of his museum year card. So we plan a few museum visits towards the end of the year. Van Gogh Museum is always one of my favorites.
This time, there were two special things at the museum: a temporary exhibition called “Van Gogh Along the Siene”, and a Pokemon exhibition (of all things!) as part of the permanent collection.
Van Gogh Along the Siene – Temporary Exhibition
The temporary exhibition highlights the paintings of Van Gogh and 4 contemporaries, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Charles Angrand, and Emile Bernard. They often crossed paths, sometimes painted together, though, the exhibition points out, never formed a group. Official site of the exhibition with a lot more info.
The start of this period is given as the fall of 1886, presumably it lasted until Van Gogh’s tragic death in 1890.
Nature and industry
Five ambitious artists – Vincent van Gogh, Paul Signac, Georges Seurat, Emile Bernard and Charles Angrand – travelled to the banks of the Seine to paint. Surrounded by green, they captured the changes ushered in by the burgeoning industry. Here they found new, contemporary motifs and developed their use of colour and painting techniques.
Asnières had a particular impact on the artistic development of these artists.
Van Gogh Museum Exhibition News
Van Gogh’s Three Triptychs
The artistic highlight of Van Gogh’s time in Asnières is the three triptychs that he made there: a total of nine paintings. He captured the diverse character of three locations where he worked. The Grande Jatte triptych is sketchy; the Clichy triptych is pale green, and the Asnières triptych is lively, with bridges, boats and restaurants. The paintings, which have scattered around various private and museum collections, are now being brought back together.
Seven of the nine works are being reunited for this exhibition, including highlights such as: Bridges Across the Seine at Asnières (1887, Kunsthaus Zürich), Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières) (1887, The Art Institute of Chicago), A Woman Walking in a Garden (1887, private collection) and River Bank in Springtime (1887, Dallas Museum of Art). This is this first time that the paintings are being displayed together.
Van Gogh Museum Press Release 10th Oct 2023
Particularly loved the set of three called the “Clichy Triptych” – beautiful greens and blues.
Image and caption credits “Triptych Riverbank in Clichy“
One of the highlights of this new exhibition is Vincent van Gogh’s Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières) (1887). The painting from The Art Institute of Chicago was today put on display alongside two other works, temporarily reuniting what was once a triptych.
Van Gogh Museum Press Release 2023-10-05
Pokemon Exhibition
Since B and I both play Pokemon Go, this was of particular interest to us. But not enough interest to stand in the long line – just made some highly zoomed-in pics from afar.
But, but, but…
Q: “what’s the connection of Van Gogh to Pokemon?”
A: As Van Gogh was greatly influenced by Japanese art, naturally, it makes sense to have Pokemon in Van Gogh’s paintings, duhh!
But seriously:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Van Gogh Museum, Pokémon and the Van Gogh Museum have launched an official collaboration aimed at introducing new audiences to the work of Vincent van Gogh. Both Vincent van Gogh’s work and Pokémon have a special connection with Japanese art and culture. Japanese prints had a profound impact on Vincent’s art and on his world view. Speaking to his brother Theo in a letter in September 1888, Vincent said ‘And we wouldn’t be able to study Japanese art, it seems to me, without becoming much happier and more cheerful, and it makes us return to nature, despite our education and our work in a world of convention.’
The Van-Gogh-Pokemon-art official news article announcing the partnership between Pokemon company and the museum
It has certainly created a buzz at the Van Gogh museum – looong queues of families with small children to view the pokemon exhibit, and apparently a lot of crazy/aggressive behavior too – we only noticed the after-effects of that in signs everywhere saying “Only one pokemon merchandise of each type per person”.
These are 4 of the 6 art works causing all the buzz:
Which artists created the Van Gogh-inspired Pokémon paintings?
Naoyo Kimura (1960):
- Pikachu inspired by Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat
- Corviknight inspired by Wheatfield with Crows
sowsow (1988):
- Munchlax & Snorlax inspired by The Bedroom
- Eevee inspired by Self-Portrait with Straw Hat
Tomokazu Komiya (1973):
Van Gogh Museum x Pokemon FAQ
- Sunflora inspired by Sunflowers
- Smeargle inspired by Self-Portrait as a Painter
Permanent collection pieces that caught my eye
By Van Gogh
By others
Bronze of nude woman with leg crossed over knee
(Didn’t notice artist, couldn’t find online)
Louvre-like effect
The glass structure overhead at the entrance hall is a relatively recent addition (2015). Commissioned by the city, the Van Gogh Museum’s new entrance building is designed by Kisho Kurokawa & Associates and was further developed by Hans van Heeswijk architecten and Octatube, a company which takes on such complex architecture especially of glass and steel.
The project fits in a trend of underground museum extensions enhanced by prominent structural glass geometries, such as the Louvre Pyramids, the renovation and glass elevator shaft of the Mauritshuis, the Joanneum Museum Extension in Austria and the Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Road Building in London.
Octatube website
If you’ve not yet seen it, also check out my Van Gogh page!
