Poppy field | |
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Field with Poppies | |
Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
Year | 1890 |
Medium | oil paint, canvas |
Dimensions | 73.0 cm (28.7 in) × 91.5 cm (36.0 in) × 3.8 cm (1.5 in) |
Location | Kunstmuseum Den Haag |
Owner | Anton Kröller |
Collection | Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art Collection |
Accession No. | 0332858, NK2511, NK2511 |
Identifiers | RKDimages ID: 53631 |
Poppy Field is an 1890 painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, painted around a month before his death during his stay in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. [1] It has been described as "a composition that verges on the abstract" [2] and shows marked difference from a 1888 painting of the same subject that now is in the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam. [3] Spending many years in Germany, the painting now hangs in the Kunstmuseum, in The Hague.
In May 1890, Van Gogh moved from southeastern France to the commune of Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris to be closer to psychiatrist Paul Gachet and his brother and financial supporter Theo. [4] It is believed that Van Gogh completed the Poppy Field in June 1890, approximately one month before committing suicide. Other paintings completed in the final months of his life include Portrait of Dr. Gachet , The Church at Auvers , Wheatfield with Crows , and Tree Roots . During this time in Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh completed more than 70 paintings, many focusing on northern scenes and “memories of the north.” [5] [6]
In the last months of his life, Van Gogh found consolation in painting fields and painted several wheat fields of Auvers-sur-Oise, most notably Wheatfield with Crows . In his last letter, Van Gogh described himself as "quite absorbed in the immense plain with wheat fields against the hills, boundless as a sea, delicate yellow, delicate soft green, the delicate violet of a dug-up and weeded piece of soil." [7] Describing the landscape in Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh wrote in a letter from July 1890 that he attempted to "express sadness, extreme loneliness" when painting "immense stretches of wheatfields under turbulent skies." Van Gogh continued describing the country's beneficial effects, writing, "These canvases will tell you what I can't say in words, what I consider healthy and fortifying about the countryside." [8]
This oil on canvas painting features colors differentiated along horizontal bands, including a red and green field of poppies in the foreground, ragged masses of darker green trees along the horizon, and restless skies of varying blue hues above. [9] The painting resembles Claude Monet’s Poppy Field of 1881 but has a much higher horizon, with the poppies dominating the space of the composition. [10] Like many of his poppy paintings, the work juxtaposes brilliant red poppy blooms against alfalfa green, developing what Van Gogh called a “motif in red and green.” Regarding this color motif and others, Van Gogh wrote, “These are fundamentals, which one may subdivide further, and elaborate, but quite enough to show you without the help of a picture that there are colors which cause each other to shine brilliantly, which form a couple, which complete each other like man and woman.” [11]
In 1911, German museum director Gustav Pauli, a proponent of modern art, purchased the painting from the art dealer Cassirer to be added to the collection at the Kunsthalle Bremen. Carl Vinnen and other Germans criticized the acquisition as part of a growing influence of and collusion with French art; the purchase additionally sparked the Vinnen Protest, also known as “A Protest by German Artists,” which expressed hostility towards French modernism. [12] [13] The painting was restored to Dutch ownership after World War II, in 1948, after being acquired by the Nazis. The work is currently on a long-term loan to the Kunstmuseum Den Haag in The Hague, Netherlands, by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands; the Kunstmuseum expects to restore the work to its original private owners. [14]
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterized by bold colors and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was beginning to gain critical attention before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
The year 1890 in art involved some significant events.
Portrait of Dr. Gachet is one of the most revered paintings by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It depicts Dr. Paul Gachet, a homeopathic doctor and artist with whom van Gogh resided following a spell in an asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Gachet took care of Van Gogh during the final months of his life. There are two authenticated versions of the portrait, both painted in June 1890 at Auvers-sur-Oise. Both show Gachet sitting at a table and leaning his head on his right arm, but they are easily differentiated in color and style. There is also an etching.
Wheatfield with Crows is a July 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh. It has been cited by several critics as one of his greatest works.
The Church at Auvers is an oil painting created by Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh in June 1890 which now hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France.
Auvers-sur-Oise is a commune in the department of Val-d'Oise, on the northwestern outskirts of Paris, France. It is located 27.2 km (16.9 mi) from the centre of Paris. It is associated with several famous artists, the most prominent being Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). This was the place where van Gogh died.
Paul-Ferdinand Gachet was a French physician most famous for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh during his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet was a great supporter of artists and the Impressionist movement. He was an amateur painter, signing his works "Paul van Ryssel", referring to his birthplace: Rijsel is the Dutch name of Lille.
Daubigny's Garden, painted three times by Vincent van Gogh, depicts the enclosed garden of Charles-François Daubigny, a painter whom Van Gogh admired throughout his life.
The Auberge Ravoux is a French historic landmark located in the heart of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. It is known as the House of Van Gogh because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life as a lodger at the auberge. During his stay at Auvers, Van Gogh created more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches before shooting himself in the chest on 27 July 1890 and dying two days later on 29 July 1890. The auberge (inn) has been restored as a museum and tourist attraction. The room where Van Gogh lived and died has been restored and can be viewed by the public.
Girl in White was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, during the last months of his life. Girl in White has been part of the Chester Dale Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. since 1963.
Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. The wheat field works demonstrate his progression as an artist from the drab Wheat Sheaves made in 1885 in the Netherlands to the colorful and dramatic 1888–1890 paintings from Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise in rural France.
Dr. Gachet's Garden in Auvers and Marguerite Gachet in the Garden were both painted in 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in the gardens of his homeopathic physician, Dr. Paul Gachet. Both paintings reside at the Musée d'Orsay.
The death of Vincent van Gogh occurred in the early morning of 29 July, 1890 in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise after presumably shooting himself two days earlier.
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh is a collection of 903 surviving letters written (820) or received (83) by Vincent van Gogh. More than 650 of these were from Vincent to his brother Theo. The collection also includes letters van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil and other relatives, as well as between artists such as Paul Gauguin, Anthon van Rappard, and Émile Bernard.
Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, 1890 or Chaumes de Cordeville à Auvers-sur-Oise is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh that he painted in May 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman is a watercolour painting by Vincent van Gogh that he made in May 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Landscape with a Carriage and a Train is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh that he painted in June 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Houses at Auvers is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was created towards the end of May or beginning of June 1890, shortly after he had moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town northwest of Paris, France.
Landscape at Auvers in the Rain is an oil painting on canvas by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.
Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds is an 1890 oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. The painting measures 50.4 cm × 101.3 cm. It depicts a relatively flat and featureless landscape with fields of green wheat, under a foreboding dark blue sky with a few heavy white clouds. The horizon divides the work almost into two, with shades of green and yellow below and shades of blue and white above. Since 1973 it has been on permanent loan to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.