Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Van Gogh in France

What can one say about looking at art in France... it is crazy how much there is to see.  You could look at art around the clock and be there for months.  So inevitably I had to cull and pick certain places, museums and galleries over others in the hopes that someday we will return and I can see ones that I missed this trip.

Arles was a place that I was drawn to see because of Van Gogh's short time living there.  While there we visited The Fondation Vincent Van Gogh and walked around the town.  The famous yellow house no longer exists, but the Cafe Vincent Van Gogh remains and the town has erected displays at some of the locations that Van Gogh immortalised in paint while he lived there.


The Fondation is a modern gallery that had two exhibits on:  "Van Gogh in Provence" and artist Glenn Brown's "Suffer Well" which had several pieces that referenced to Van Gogh's life and work.
The space is intimate and very well curated showing examples of Van Gogh's evolution from classical to expressionistic painting.  It is possible to see the whole gallery in about 2 hours which is perfect when viewing art with children.



Glenn Brown's work.  Above Suffer Well and below one of his sculptures made of oil paint referencing Van Gogh's thick brush strokes and palette.





A few scenes of Arles. 


 There were also many highlights of seeing Van Gogh's paintings in the Musee D'Orsay.  Seeing the third version of Bedroom in Arles in person was incredible.  That painting seemed to exude light.
More about the art on our trip to come.

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JJ