Vincent van Gogh
Sunset at Montmajour (1888)
Van Gogh Museum discovers new painting by Van Gogh The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has discovered a new painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890): ‘Sunset at Montmajour’ (1888).]]>
September 9th, 2013, source: Van Gogh Museum
Axel Rüger, Director of the Van Gogh Museum, declared: “A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred in the history of the Van Gogh Museum. It is already a rarity that a new painting can be added to Van Gogh’s oeuvre. But what makes this even more exceptional is that this is a transition work in his oeuvre, and moreover, a large painting from a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement, his period in Arles in the south of France. During this time he also painted world-famous works, such as ‘Sunflowers’, ‘The yellow house’ and ‘The bedroom’.”
Van Gogh had great ambitions with this painting. With this work he wanted to present himself as a poet among the landscape painters and was deeply disappointed when he felt he had not managed to solve certain problems convincingly. It is true that he was often dissatisfied with his achievements, because he even considered world-famous paintings such as “Starry night” (1889) in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and “The sower” (1888) in het Kröller-Müller Museum at Otterlo as not all that successful.
The relatively large painting (93.3 x 73.3 cm) has been technically researched by restorer Oda van Maanen, in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, with X-ray photos and computer analyses of the type of canvas used. The pigments used have also been identified. Microscopic research has been carried out into the various layers of paint. Everything supports the conclusion: this work is by Van Gogh.
“Sunset at Montmajour” will be shown in the exhibition “Van Gogh at work” in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 24 September.
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