Art Historians Discover Place Where Van Gogh Painted His Last Masterpiece

[Michie]

Postcard Rue Daubigny, Auvers-sur-Oise overlaid with the painting Tree Roots (1890) by Vincent van Gogh. ©arthénon.


A group of art historians has discovered the exact location where Vincent van Gogh painted his final masterpiece before his death in 1890.

When Wouter van der Veen, scientific director of the Institut van Gogh, found an early 20th-century postcard featuring a scene including tree trunks and roots growing on a hillside, he immediately sent it to a pair of senior researchers at the Van Gogh Museum.

Based on Van Gogh’s working habits and the comparative study of the famous Tree Rootspainting beside the postcard, the experts concluded it’s ‘highly plausible’ that the correct location had been identified.


Wouter van der Veen said in a statement: “The sunlight painted by Van Gogh indicates that the last brush strokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon, which provides more information about the course of this dramatic day ending in his suicide.”

Teio Meedendorp from the Van Gogh Museum explained: “That this is his last artwork renders [the discovery] all the more exceptional, and even dramatic.

“He must often have passed by the location when going to the fields stretching out behind the castle of Auvers, where he painted several times during the last week of his life and where he would take his own life.”

Continued below.
Art Historians Discover Place Where Van Gogh Painted His Last Masterpiece

 

[Chris V++]

Postcard Rue Daubigny, Auvers-sur-Oise overlaid with the painting Tree Roots (1890) by Vincent van Gogh. ©arthénon.


A group of art historians has discovered the exact location where Vincent van Gogh painted his final masterpiece before his death in 1890.

When Wouter van der Veen, scientific director of the Institut van Gogh, found an early 20th-century postcard featuring a scene including tree trunks and roots growing on a hillside, he immediately sent it to a pair of senior researchers at the Van Gogh Museum.

Based on Van Gogh’s working habits and the comparative study of the famous Tree Rootspainting beside the postcard, the experts concluded it’s ‘highly plausible’ that the correct location had been identified.


Wouter van der Veen said in a statement: “The sunlight painted by Van Gogh indicates that the last brush strokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon, which provides more information about the course of this dramatic day ending in his suicide.”

Teio Meedendorp from the Van Gogh Museum explained: “That this is his last artwork renders [the discovery] all the more exceptional, and even dramatic.

“He must often have passed by the location when going to the fields stretching out behind the castle of Auvers, where he painted several times during the last week of his life and where he would take his own life.”

Continued below.
Art Historians Discover Place Where Van Gogh Painted His Last Masterpiece

Most are probably aware of this already but there is a lot of speculation that Van Gogh never committed suicide. There are even some suspects. I tend to agree, I mean who shoots themselves in the stomach? He gets a bad rap for cutting off his ear, but in a manic fit you can almost see the manic logic. His thinking probably went something like... 'Ok lady, I need you to talk to me. Here's my ear to prove my dedication. I'm listening...' New Research Suggests van Gogh Was Killed - artnet News New Research Suggests van Gogh Was Killed - artnet News