Two new works have been added to Vincent van Gogh's official oeuvre. The discovery of an unknown drawing by the Dutch painter has allowed the authentication of a second sketch.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Handout/Van Gogh Museum
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"This is fantastic; we can definitively add two drawings to Van Gogh's oeuvre," Axel Rüger, the director of the Van Gogh Museum, said on Tuesday, when the news was made public.
An analysis of the subject, style, technique, materials and provenance of a sketch entitled "The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry" has allowed experts to determine that it was drawn by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The drawing, which belongs to the collection of the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation, was once part of Vincent and Theo van Gogh's own collection and had disappeared from circulation in 1917.
The finding has allowed experts to authenticate a similar work in the Van Gogh Museum collection, known as "Montmartre Hill" (photo above), after it had been rejected a few years ago.
Amsterdam's renowned Van Gogh Museum has a new exhibition which focuses on the artist's final 18 months before he shot himself in 1890, including the suspected gun he used for commiting suicide.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Van Gogh's final months
The exhibition seeks to answer questions such as why Van Gogh cut off his ear, and the precise nature of his mental illness that made him commit suicide at the age of 37 in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. Here Van Gogh can be seen with a bandaged ear in Emile Schuffenecker's "Man with a Pipe" from 1892-1900, which is exhibited in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Doctor's reports
A fascinating exhibition piece is a recently-discovered letter from Felix Rey to American writer Irving Stone. The doctor treated Van Gogh after he cut off his left ear while living in Arles. The letter includes drawings showing that Van Gogh cut off his entire left ear and not, as was long believed, just part of it. The letter can be seen in the Bancroft Library of the University of California.
Image: The Bancroft Library
Portrait of the doctor
Van Gogh's portrait of Rey is on display for the first time at the museum, as well as some previously unexhibited documents about his illness. The doctor's letter was recently found by amateur historian and author Bernadette Murphy, while researching her book on Van Gogh. The painting of Dr Félix Rey from January 1889 is normally on display in the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.
Image: The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Mysterious illness?
The exhibition offers a range of diagnoses throughout the years for Van Gogh's mental illness. However, "an unambiguous and definitive answer to the question of his precise illness cannot be given," the museum stresses. Pictured is Vincent van Gogh's "The Garden of the Asylum," from November - December 1889, where Van Gogh had voluntarily admitted himself.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Madness and creativity
The Van Gogh Museum is organizing a symposium on Van Gogh's illness, to coincide with the exhibition. It will mostly deal with the question whether there is a relationship between madness and creativity. Pictured here is Van Gogh's "Entrance to a Quarry" from July 1889, which is a part of the exhibition.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Art as therapy
In the final 18 months of his life, Van Gogh was plagued by a sporadic and unpredictable illness. Each episode left the artist confused and unable to work for day or weeks. Between the attacks, he continued to paint and draw. His work seems to have been the best remedy in his struggle with his illness. Pictured is his "Wheatfield with a Reaper" from September 1889, part of the exhibition.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Outstanding artist despite illness
The exhibition "On the Verge of Insanity" tries to show that Van Gogh's art "ought not to be viewed as a product of his illness, but arose in spite of his condition," the museum says about this unique exhibition. Pictured here is Van Gogh's final painting from July 1890, "Tree Roots," which is also part of the exhibition.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
Suicide with a revolver
One of the most interesting exhibition pieces is a revolver believed to have been the weapon Van Gogh used to shoot himself. The artist shot himself in the chest on July 27, 1890 but managed to stumble back to the inn before succumbing to his wound 30 hours later. At the time the suicide weapon was not found. Around 1960, a farmer discovered a rusty gun in the fields where Van Gogh shot himself.
Image: private collection
Suicide of a great artist
The limited firepower of the revolver offers a possible explanation for why a bullet fired at such close range glanced off a rib. The bullet was deflected downwards and was lodged too deep to be removed without danger, as a result of which Van Gogh died of his wound some 30 hours later. Pictured is the funeral card for the death of Vincent van Gogh from July 1890.
Image: Vincent van Gogh Foundation
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"The two drawings are obviously by the same hand, and in style related to the model drawings that Van Gogh made early in 1886, first in Antwerp and then in Paris at Cormon's studio," said Teio Meedendorp, researcher at the Van Gogh Museum.
The works, which both date from 1886, "illustrate a phase in the learning process of the artist, who eventually reinvented himself in Paris, but here still walked the traditional artistic path," Meedendorp added.
Van Gogh's known oeuvre includes over 900 paintings and five sketchbooks. More than half of his works are on show at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The last time a new Van Gogh painting was discovered was in 2012.
The two sketches will be on show at the exhibition "Impressionism & Beyond. A Wonderful Journey" at the Singer Laren museum near Amsterdam from January 16 to May 6.
