DESCRIPTION : The rivalrous friendship of Vincent
van Gogh and Paul Gauguin — including an intense two-month
collaboration in Arles, in the south of France — is one
of the most revealing relationships in the history of modern
art. This dynamic interaction proved to be challenging and stimulating
for each man, in both personal and aesthetic terms, enabling
them to define and develop their individual goals for the future
of painting. Both men came relatively late to a career in art
and were primarily self-taught, although important differences
in their cultural and intellectual formations set them apart.
When they first met in Paris in late 1887, they were two of a
number of artists seeking a way to move beyond Impressionism,
the fragmentation of which had been revealed by the group's 1886
exhibition. They found common ground in the belief that progressive
art should be created at a distance from urban corruption, a
conviction that led Gauguin to Brittany and van Gogh to Arles
in the early months of 1888.
Once established in Provence,
van Gogh (with the help of his art-dealer brother Theo) persuaded
Gauguin to join him there, in hopes of founding a Studio of the
South. Gauguin arrived on October 23, 1888, and settled with
van Gogh in the Yellow House, which served as living quarters
and studio. Drawing on the rich scholarly literature devoted
to both artists, on their voluminous correspondence and writings,
and on new technical investigations, this book presents a thorough
exploration of their activities in Arles. Landscapes and portraits
painted in tandem provide the opportunity to envision the dialogue
between them and to chart patterns of exchange and resistance.
Rising to the challenges of new materials and motifs, van Gogh
and Gauguin demonstrated for one another their evolving ideas
about the very nature of modern art.
The Studio of the South experiment
dissolved abruptly on December 23, 1888, when van Gogh injured
himself and Gauguin returned to Paris. But the two men maintained
a fruitful correspondence until van Gogh's death in 1890, and
Gauguin continued to ponder the nature of his friend's achievement
even in Polynesia, where he worked in self-imposed exile until
his own death thirteen years later.
Published on the occasion of
a landmark exhibition organized by The Art Institute of Chicago
and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Van Gogh and Gauguin :
The Studio of the South is a provocative study of influence
and innovation, offering a new perspective on some of the best-known
masterpieces of modern art as well as fresh insight into two
of its central personalities.
The Art Institute of Chicago
