Van Gogh and Nature

From his earliest letters to his last great works of art, Vincent van Gogh showed an extraordinary fascination with the natural world. Youthful studies of trees, flowers, and heath-land were accompanied by verbal descriptions of the changing seasons, while increasingly ambitious pictures showed the Dutch landscape in all its aspects. His travels to England, Belgium, and France brought new encounters with nature and a shift from biblical perspectives to modern attitudes influenced by contemporary literature and science. In Arles and Saint-Rémy, most notably, Van Gogh painted elemental landscapes in snow, wind, rain, and sunshine, while making incisive images of insects, leaves, and rocks that reflect his knowledge of illustrated natural history publications. Van Gogh and Nature will be the first exhibition to explore this subject in depth. Some forty oil paintings and ten drawings will survey the artist’s developing relationship with his natural surroundings. 

 

Van Gogh and Nature is made possible by the generous contributions of Denise Littlefield Sobel and Diane and Andreas Halvorsen. Major support is provided by Acquavella Galleries and the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from Howard Bellin; the Consulate General of the Kingdom of The Netherlands; the Robert Lehman Foundation; and the Netherland-America Foundation. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.