Art experts are squabbling over whether a set of previously unpublished drawings are the work of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam says the sketches are complete fakes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Lapoirie
Advertisement
Prominent art historian Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov unveiled "The Lost Arles Sketchbook," a book containing 65 sketches purported to be by Van Gogh, at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday.
The collection of drawings was reportedly found in the southern French city of Arles where the post-impressionist painter lived between 1888 and 1890. Welsh-Ovcharov, a Canadian professor of art history and Van Gogh specialist, told reporters she was convinced the sketches were authentic, describing the discovery as an "OMG moment."
"I started to look through all the drawings and each one had his fingerprint," she said.
But according to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, they are mere imitations and contain no trace of the Dutch master.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Lapoirie
Drawings are 'imitations'
The museum, which houses some 500 Van Gogh drawings and four of his sketchbooks, said its experts had examined "high quality" photographs of the discovered works and deemed them to be "monotonous, clumsy, and spiritless."
"Their opinion, based on years of research on Van Gogh's drawings in the museum's own collection and elsewhere ... is that these album drawings are imitations," it said. "The experts examined its style, technique and iconography, and among their conclusions were that it contains distinctive topographical errors and that its maker based it on discoloured drawings by Van Gogh."
The 'lost' sketches are being published internationally this week
Museum director Axel Ruger said the drawings don't reflect Van Gogh's development at the time. For example, they were made using original brownish ink, whereas Van Gogh only used black or purple ink while he was in Arles.
'Revolutionary discovery'?
Welsh-Ovcharov criticized the museum's conclusions, telling reporters that making a decision about a work of art from a photograph was "the worst thing anyone can do."
The Van Gogh scholar said the sketches were made in an account book belonging to the famous Cafe de la Gare where the Dutch painter stayed several times towards the end of his life.
"I've seen many Van Goghs that were supposedly Van Goghs and they weren't... and I looked at it and I saw all the things that Van Gogh stands for in terms of reed-pen brushwork, graphite underground work, the whole possible elements," Welsh-Ovcharov said, adding she had the drawings verified by various specialists.
Most of the works are of the Provencal countryside and Van Gogh's friends, including portraits of artist Paul Gauguin and Pierre and Marie Ginoux, who owned Cafe de la Gare.
British expert Ronald Pickvance described the book as "the most revolutionary discovery in the history of Van Gogh" studies.
Van Gogh: Images on the verge of insanity
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.
