Friday, July 29, 2022

Vincent in Arles
(1888) 

 Vincent made countless trips to Montmajour, a hill with an abbey on top a few kilometres northeast of the city centre. He discovered it two weeks after his arrival in Arles while exploring the surrounding countryside, and he expressed the desire to go there soon to paint. Vincent considered the hill beautiful, with its abbey and its view over the flat landscape:
“The appeal that these vast landscapes have for me is very intense. And so I’ve felt no annoyances in spite of some essentially annoying circumstances, the mistral and the mosquitoes. If a view makes one forget those little vexations, there must be something in it.” Read the complete letter
Though Vincent evidently refused to be daunted by conditions on the hill, the stiff wind forced him to concentrate on drawing rather than painting: when he set up his easel, the canvas vibrated in the wind. The drawings Vincent did on Montmajour, mostly using a reed pen, are some of his best.


https://www.vangoghroute.com/france/arles/montmajour/

Sunset at Montmajour
Summer, 1888
Oil on canvas
93.3 x 73.3 cm. 
Private collection



In 1990 Sunset at Montmajour was presented to staffs at Van Gogh Museum. But it was dismissed following doubts on whether it was Van Gogh`s work or not. The spat came up because the art did not have Van Gogh's sign. So there was no authenticity connecting to the piece of art. Years down the line, there was an elevation of investigation techniques and a new team launched an investigation over the validity of the piece of art. The investigation was carried out in 2011 by Van Gogh Museum.

 


 The Abby of Montmajour on Google Streetview

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