ARTISTIC LICENCE
If Van Gogh made it to seasonal Melbourne, he would have discovered a rich tapestry to draw upon, discovers Dani Wright as she visits garden landscapes worthy of his brush.
From starry nights to sunflowers, the natural world deeply inspired Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh in both his philosophy and paintings, showcased in a new exhibition Van Gogh and the Seasons opening at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria this week.
Ted Gott, the gallery’s senior curator of international art, says many people think of Van Gogh as a “sunny garden painter” but this exhibition brings examples of his work of gardens in snow, as well as in elements of decay representing the circle of life within nature, which informed much of his philosophy.
“As the son of a Protestant minister in predominately Catholic communities in southern Netherlands, he grew up isolated and apart,” says Gott. “Part of a close family with highly literate parents, Van Gogh spent much time with his family, wandering the countryside, where his father would school him about life using the miracle of nature to prove the existence of God.”
Van Gogh was taught of the four seasons of life with old age being winter and death followed closely by spring and new life. When he became an artist, he retained a close sense of the seasons and the eternal cycle of life in his paintings.
Laid out in order of season, the exhibition starts in autumn, Van Gogh’s favourite season, then moves through winter, spring and summer, closing with hot blues and summer yellow palettes.
“The lesser-known early works will be a revelation to people and there’s a focus on landscapes, rather than self-portraits or sunflowers,” Gott says. “Hopefully it will show a deeply spiritual side to Van Gogh and overturn the myths of him as a crazy artist — he only ever painted when he was lucid and in control.”
It’s hard to imagine that when Vincent Van Gogh died aged 37, he had sold only one painting, despite having created more than 2100 artworks. In this internationally exclusive exhibition, 60 diverse Van Gogh paintings reveal so much about the man behind the myth and his evolution as an artist.