The Royal Academy is currently showing the biggest exhibition of Van Gogh’s paintings, drawings and letters to held in London for over 40 years.
2010 is the centenary of the first Post Impressionist exhibition to be held in England, which included 22 Van Goghs. Prior to 1910, no major paintings by Van Gogh had been seen in this country. Post Impressionism came as a shock to art lovers who had grown up with Victorian narrative painting, and the London press’s reaction to Van Gogh’s work was particularly hostile.
The publication of the letters was crucial in changing attitudes to his painting. (The earliest English edition appeared in 1912.) Van Gogh had written regularly to his brother Theo, and also artist friends such as Emile Bernard, who he had met in Paris. After the deaths of Vincent and Theo, most of the letters were preserved, translated and published by Theo’s widow, Johanna van Bonger, who made this her life’s work. Vincent was able to write very expressively, and his correspondence gives a more intimate picture of his life and thought than that of any other artist of that period. The current exhibition places some of the original letters, often illustrated with small ink sketches, in relation to the paintings, shedding light on the development of his ideas.
