The Wheat Field behind St. Paul's Hospital, St. Rémy (Primary Title)
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch (active in France), 1853 - 1890 (Artist)
Throughout the months that followed his violent falling-out with Gauguin on Christmas Eve 1888, Van Gogh exhibited acute symptoms of mental agitation and was hospitalized at frequent intervals. Feeling his creative drive diminishing, he voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in St. Rémy in May 1889. Under Gauguin’s mentorship, the Dutch artist had learned to paint from memory, but now he fought against this tendency. In addition to the interpretations he made of works by Rembrandt, Delacroix, Millet, Doré, and others, he painted interior scenes of the clinic and the asylum garden and completed portraits of doctors. One of the fourteen paintings he realized during his twelve months of confinement is this view from the cell he used as a studio. “Through the iron-barred window I see a square field of wheat in an enclosure,” he related in a letter to his brother, Theo, “above which I see the morning sun rising in all its glory.” The muted palette is symptomatic of Van Gogh’s attempt to quell the excitement he felt under the sun’s illumination—an inspired sensation that ultimately overflowed into feelings of intense anguish. At the same time, he began equating color with vigorously painted lines to create an elemental landscape of dynamic, swirling forms. This compositional momentum is an iconic feature of the visionary style that Van Gogh achieved toward the end of his life.
2019-2021: Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 4, 2020 - January 10, 2021
2018-2019: "Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, March 17 - July 15, 2018; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 22 - September 22, 2019
Van Gogh, Monet, Homer and the Agrarian Ideal, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, October 7, 2016 – January 8, 2017
“Van Gogh: Up Close,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, Jan. 26-May 6, 2012; National Gallery of Canada, May 25-Sept. 2, 2012
“Van Gogh and Gauguin: An Artistic Dialogue in the South of France,” VMFA, March 27-June 13, 2004
“Vincent van Gogh,” Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Paris, Feb.-March 1960, no. 56
“Maitres française du XIXe et XXe siècle,” E.J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, June-August 1958, no. 14
“Verzameling H.P. Bremmer,” Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, March 9-April 23, 1950, no. 37
“Schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh, J.B. Jongkind, Floris Verster,” Juinck and Scherjon, Amsterdam, May 14-June 18, 1932, no. 20
“International Exhibition,” Cologne, May 25-Sept. 30, 1912, No. 32
Curator’s Talk: The Reinstallation of the Mellon Collection
1:14:33The collection of European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts given by Paul and Rachel Mellon constitute an essential facet of the museum’s identity. Dr. Sylvain Cordier, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, discusses the reinstallation of the Mellon Collection.
Paul Mellon Lecture: Van Gogh and the Olive Groves
1:10:15On Thursday, November 4, 2021 Dr. Nicole R. Myers, The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art, Dallas Museum of Art presented the VMFA Paul Mellon Lecture titled, Van Gogh and the Olive Groves.
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