Van Gogh Museum shows controversial masterpiece ‘The Potato Eaters’

Amsterdam Oct 10 (BUS): Five people sit in a cramped kitchen eating dinner, their faces tired and disfigured – puffy noses, bony hands intertwined. The scene is dark and gloomy.

“The Potato Eaters” is one of Vincent van Gogh’s first masterpieces (1853-1890) and without a doubt the artist’s biggest “failure”, at least according to its critics at the time.

Even today, the Dutch painter is famous for his delightful paintings – bright “sunflowers” ​​and the landscapes of southern France flooded with light.

But now for the first time, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam dedicates an exclusive exhibition to this early depiction of peasant life, full of darkness but also admiration.

About 50 paintings, drawings, drawings and letters will be on display as of Friday (October 8), Emily Gordenker, the museum’s director, said, telling the story of the painting – “a story of ambition and perseverance.” ).

The painting was never sold or exhibited during Van Gogh’s lifetime. However, today it is world famous and considered a major work in the development of the painter, she said.

Vincent van Gogh painted “De aardappeleters” in 1885 during a turbulent time spent with his parents in Nuenen, southeast Holland. He made many studies and drawings for her.

It is one of Van Gogh’s “most thoughtful paintings,” said Briggy Gerets, the museum’s curator.

The painter himself called it a “test master” and, according to the curator, wanted to make a breakthrough with him. But the painting failed.

Van Gogh received harsh criticism for this work, especially for its use of dark colors and distorted depictions of people’s faces.

READ MORE  The first full-size 3D scan of the Titanic shows the shipwreck in new light

The works show five people from a poor family having dinner by the light of an oil lamp. In front of them on the rough wooden table a bowl of steamed potatoes. Woman pouring coffee.

To bring the painting to life, the museum has now recreated the scene with a mockup of the spotlight exhibition “Potato Eaters. False or Masterpiece?”.

Van Gogh wanted to depict the harsh reality of peasant life, a life that he himself admired. Giretsy said it deliberately showed the characters with rough faces and bony hands that had been worn out from labor. Van Gogh wanted to show the peasants all their cruelty.

He said the colors were earthy, as dark as the earth. The color of the faces was “a dirty unpeeled potato, of course”.

But the painting did not lead to the breakthrough in the art market in Paris, which the artist had hoped for. Even his brother, the art dealer Theo, disliked him, and his friend and fellow painter Anton van Rappard criticized him as ugly and rough.

But Van Gogh stuck to it and considered it throughout his life as one of his best works – and certainly one of the most important.

He once explained that the message was more important than correct anatomy and technical perfection. He said that art should not be beautiful, it should be honest.

“I want to paint what I feel and I feel what I paint.” At the end of his life, he even thought about drawing a new version of “Potato Eaters”.

READ MORE  The Museum of the Future: A new beacon for knowledge and innovation

HF

Source link

Leave a Comment