Vincent va Gogh's art will come to Padova from 10 October 2020. The San Gaetano Center will host the exhibition Van Gogh. The colors of life until 11 April 2021.
The set-up, curated by Marco Goldin, includes the exhibition of 125 works. Visitors will be able to admire 78 paintings signed by Vincent van Gogh. The remaining works belong to artists who came into contact with the Dutch painter and were influenced by him.
Van Gogh and the others
The works of the Dutch painter will come to Padua from the Kröller-Müller Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. The exhibition path will be divided into five sections whose titles are The painter as a hero, The formative years. From the Marcasse mine in The Hague, From Nuenen to Paris. A changing color, A decisive year, 1888, Of moons and clouds. Van Gogh and the end of his journey. The idea is obviously to follow the painter's existential journey through his paintings. So much so that among the works on display we will find L'Self-portrait with felt hat, The sower, The postman Roulin, The Arlesiana.
The voyage of discovery of van Gogh will also take place through artists who have known him or who have drawn inspiration from his art. Between these we will certainly find Gauguin, but also Seurat, Pissarro, Signac, Guillaumin, Bernard who directly experienced van Gogh's creative flair. But then also Delacroix, Courbet, Millet, Hiroshige and Kunisada, whose artistic paths have undergone the charm in an indirect way. Three works by Francis Bacon will also be exhibited, demonstrating the fact that van Gogh's influence has also reached the authors of the twentieth century.
Telling about van Gogh
The aim of the exhibition is to turn the spotlight on the Dutch artist. The purpose therefore will be to probe the life of van Gogh through his works. It is no coincidence that this is the first time that an exhibition of this magnitude has been organized in Italy dedicated to Vincent van Gogh. During the exhibition the existential events and artistic career of the painter will be told and reconstructed. Furthermore, for the occasion, the book by the curator Marco Goldin will be presented Life of van Gogh through the letters (The ship of Theseus), due out in October.
Short portrait of the artist
Typically, Vincent van Gogh is referred to as one of the fathers of expressionism. The reality described in his works does not take his point of view, as happens for example for the Impressionists. It is his inner self that takes the form of a reality that rests on the canvas. A reality that is created to tell what it has inside. Among his favorite subjects, in addition to countless self-portraits, we find field workers and miners. So the last, the humble. But also the immense landscapes such as the famous fields of wheat and sunflowers. Van Gogh's life wasn't easy. The complexity of his existence shines through in the energy of his brushstrokes. The mental illness accompanied him as a faithful but feared companion. The medical origin of his affliction has not yet been discovered. However, we do know that he often had panic attacks and hallucinations.
To these moments of instability, the painter responded with violent gestures that often resulted in suicide attempts. And then there was the alcohol in which the emotional distress drowned. He had a strong relationship with his brother Theo, an art dealer. It was precisely these who suggested that he settle in the south of France with the painter Gauguin, another pillar of his life. Relations with Gauguin were also turbulent, to the point that a definitive separation was soon reached. The famous ear cut dates back to this period. At the age of 37, the Dutch painter died by inflicting a pistol shot. It is not certain that it was a murder, there are those who support the hypothesis of the accident. The fact is that the revolver closed the life cycle of an artistically prolific and painfully tormented man. A tortuous path that can be retraced in Padua between 10 October 2020 and 11 April 2021.
