“Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise" at the Musée d'Orsay
By Mia Hart
This autumn, the Musée d’Orsay has unveiled a new retrospective dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh’s final months in Auvers-Sur-Oise. Comprised of over 50 paintings and 30 drawings – some of which have never been brought together before – the exhibition follows the artist’s extraordinary period of artistic revelation up until his death on 29 July 1890.
After suffering from psychosis in Arles and spending time in a psychiatric hospital in Saint Remy, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise to be closer to his brother Theo whilst receiving treatment from Dr Paul Gachet. Dr Gachet was a doctor in “melancholie”, and well acquainted with other impressionist painters. He would become the subject of many of Van Gogh’s paintings, one of the most famous Le Docteur Paul Gachet, shown in the exhibition.
Vincent van Gogh, Le Docteur Paul Gachet, 1890, oil paint, 67cm x 56cm, Musée d’Orsay
Just north of the French capital, Auvers-sur-Oise was no stranger to impressionist artists, having already provided artistic inspiration to the likes of Cezanne and Gaugin. Its bucolic environment with rolling green hills and chestnut trees that Van Gogh described as “distinctive and picturesque”, provided ample subject matter for his creative impetus. Painting in his studio every single day, he culminated over 74 works across his last two months.
The exhibition spans a menagerie of paintings from thatched houses, churches, floral still lifes and expansive landscapes that evoke a rural vitality steeped in human emotion. A statement from the museum explained that “although the painter only spent a little over two months in Auvers, this period engendered an artistic renewal, with a style and development of his own, marked by the psychological tension of his new situation, but also by the creation of some of his greatest masterpieces.” These include the Church at Auvers-sur-oise, and his final creation Tree Roots, a painting created only 36 hours before his suicide.
Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots, 1890, oil paint, 50.3cm x 100.1cm, Van Gogh Museum
The tapestry of jagged blue and orange jutting forms that verge on abstraction evoke a restlessness and discomfort, opening into the artist’s psyche. The empty spaces are somewhat menacing, suggesting its unfinished quality. Critics have read this as a deliberate farewell painting. Van Tilborgh suggested it is his way of saying “I have lived just like those tree roots. I’ve done my best, I’ve struggled with life, I’ve grown, had setbacks and now is the time it ends. I am falling."
Alongside well-known works, the museum has implemented unfamiliar works, including a collection of 11 ‘double square format’ paintings rendered on elongated canvases, creating an impressionable panoramic effect. These paintings have never been placed in tandem before.
Emmanuel Coquery, the director of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the exhibition’s co-curator explains, “This room is an unicum, the public won’t see anything like it, before a very long time.”
At the end of the exhibition, attendees can engage in a Q&A with an AI incarnation of Van Gogh, developed by the technology company Jumbo Mana which specializes in “breathing life into historical figures.” The responses from holographic Van Gogh are grounded in scientific research sourced from the epistolary correspondences of the artist to his brother Theo.
This, alongside the VR headsets in which viewers can traverse the palette of Van Gogh’s oeuvre, offer a fresh perspective and poignant insight into the prolific artist.
The exhibition runs from 3 October 2023 to 4 February 2024.
Bibliography
Musee d’Orsay. “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Final Months” Musee d’Orsay https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/van-gogh-auvers-sur-oise
Solley, Meilein. “Van Gogh Museum Suggests Artist’s Last Painting Has Long Been Misidentified.” Smithsonian Mag. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/van-gogh-museum-suggests-artists-last-painting-has-long-been-misidentified-180971572/
Belmont, Sarah. “Musée d’Orsay Exhibition Spotlights the Last Two Months of Van Gogh’s Life Bringing to Light His Final Obsessions.” ArtNews https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/vincent-van-gogh-final-months-musee-d-orsay-exhibition-1234681978/