Day 325 - van Gogh still life


 December 22, 2022

Gallery 822 also houses works from the Annenberg bequest - in this case, paintings by van Gogh and Gauguin and from Monet's late period. It's yet another treasure trove: Many of the works, including van Gogh's "La Berceuse" and "Wheat Field with Cypresses," have attained iconic status.  (I am using the word "iconic" far too often, I realize, but am at a loss for another term.) 

I was planning to write about "Wheat Field with Cypresses," but the artist's "Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase," although relatively small in format (perhaps 26 inches high and 24 inches wide), made my eyes open wide. Although I'm certainly aware of the insects that Dutch artists inserted into their flower paintings to remind us of corruption and mortality, we, or at least I, tend to think of the still life as a relatively tranquil genre. But this painting strikes me as almost hallucinatory.  The flowers spill over the vase in wild, jungle-like profusion; the green leaves protrude in all directions, coiling like snakes. The brilliant blue background is anything but soothing. And while,  after closer inspection, I can see that the vase sits on a wooden table, initially it seems to be suspended in air, contributing to the general feeling of uneasiness the painting evokes in me.

I read that that work was completed in 1890, the last year of van Gogh's life. And of course I know that he was mentally ill. I wonder how much my response to the painting is shaped by this knowledge, and whether someone unaware of van Gogh's psychological struggles would react in the same way.  But I know I could not live with this painting - it is far too disturbing. 


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