Van Gogh’s olive trees on display in Amsterdam
The olive trees are very characteristic and I am struggling to be able to immortalize them […] They are silver, sometimes bluer, sometimes greenish, brown, white on a ground that goes from yellow, pink, purplish or from orange to dull ocher red. […] And maybe one day I will be able to give it a personal impression, as sunflowers do for yellows ”.
(letter to his brother Theo by Vincent van Gogh 28 September 1889)
The series belongs to the last period in the life of Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 – Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890), only a year before his death, and was exhibited in Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) from 17 October until 6 February 2022.
The same exhibition is repeated in Amsterdam at Van Gogh Museum from 11 March to 12 June 2022.
Organized by the two institutions, “Van Gogh and the Olive Groves” the exhibition brings together for the first time 15 paintings of olive groves that the artist made in 1889 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and, through numerous studies, highlights new discoveries on the techniques, materials and procedures used by the Dutch master to paint his paintings, strongly convinced that these works were among the best he had made in the south of France.
The exhibition follows the arc of the experiments carried out by Van Gogh regarding this theme: from the first encounters with olive trees in the Provencal countryside around the asylum, to the last phase where the human figure is also inserted during the collection, testifying to the the artist’s interest in life cycles and his belief in the healing powers of art and nature.
Thanks to loans from US and European museums, the exhibition presents, among the arts, Olive Trees (from the Minneapolis Institute of Art), Olive Grove (from the Gothenburg Museum of Art) and Women Picking Olives (from the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens).
“The Van Gogh Museum is the leading authority in scientific research into the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. This unique opportunity to study a complete series of paintings and dedicate a focused exhibition to them is immensely valuable to our knowledge of the work of artist, and we are delighted to partner with DMA on this important project”, said Emilie Gordenker, director of the Van Gogh Museum.
The olive tree is not only a source of health and flavor but also a naturalistic heritage to be protected!
Sources:
Artuu – A new exhibition dedicated to Van Gogh’s olive trees in Dallas and Amsterdam
Artribune – In Amsterdam an exhibition dedicated to the olive trees painted by Vincent van Gogh
