VAN GOGH IN AUVERS-SUR-OISE — HIS FINAL MONTHS in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum is devoted to the last ten weeks of the artist’s life. It’s a period that is often overlooked in surveys of his work, an epilogue rather than a finale. This absorbing exhibition sets the record straight.
It features several of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, including his portrait of Dr Gachet [1] (the twin of which sold for $82.5 million in 1990, making it — at the time — the most expensive painting in the world). Yet what is remarkable about this display is how much of it is unfamiliar. Finally exposed to view are plenty of unfamiliar pictures, some of which had been hidden away in private collections for a lifetime.
For his countless fans, it is comforting to suppose that Van Gogh did his best work before he came to Auvers, in May 1890. It is some consolation to believe that when he died there, in July 1890, he had already peaked. These artworks refute that theory. They’re less arresting than the masterpieces he painted in Provence — the and the — but they are subtler, more complex. “This is a new phase in his artistry,” says the exhibition’s curator, Nienke Bakker.
