At Mudec in Milan, an exhibition on Van Gogh that explores his cultural references

WasVincent van Gogh a painter moved solely by his feeling, as some shoddy exhibitions have told us, and as the vulgate portrays him? Not at all: Van Gogh was a very up-to-date artist, he was an avid reader, he knew contemporary art, he had literary interests. He was, in essence, an educated painter. And to dispel the stereotypes around his figure intervenes an exhibition, entitled precisely Van Gogh. Cultured Painter, dedicated precisely to the relationship between Van Gogh and his cultural sources. The appointment is at Mudec in Milan from September 22, 2023 to January 28, 2024. The exhibition is curated by art historian Francesco Poli, Mariella Guzzoni, researcher and curator of the Van Gogh: Living with Books thread that runs throughout the exhibition, and Aurora Canepari, conservator esponsabile of the Museo d’Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone in Genoa, curator of the Van Gogh and Japanism section.

A few months after the highly successful exhibition in Rome, held at the Palazzo Bonaparte, Van Gogh thus returns to Italy, and with roughly the same works: the Milan exhibition is in fact the result of a collaboration with the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, which has an extraordinary collection of paintings and drawings by the Dutch painter, in the world second only to that of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The same museum had supplied Palazzo Bonaparte with works for the Roman exhibition, and again several works, some forty in number, will arrive directly from Otterlo, including such notable works as the studies of heads and figures for The Potato Eaters, and the drawings of seamstresses and gleaners from the Dutch phase, and then again the Moulin de la Galette, theSelf-Portrait,Interior of a Restaurant, Still Life with Statuette and Books, all works from the Paris years (1886-87), and then, from the Arles period (1888-1889), the Orchard Surrounded by Cypresses, the View of Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, The Green Vineyard, and the Portrait of Joseph-Michel Ginoux from the Arles period. There will be no shortage of famous works from the last phase, that of Saint-Rémy (1889-1890) before the epilogue of Auvers-sur-Oise: here, then, to close the exhibition, are works such as Landscape with Haystacks and Rising Moon, Haystacks under a Cloudy Sky, Pines in the Hospital Garden,Olive Grove with Two Olive Pickers, Tree Trunks in the Green, and The Ravine, all painted during his internment at Saint-Rémy Hospital.

The exhibition’s itinerary will follow an iter at once chronological and thematic, with the aim of proposing an unprecedented reading of Van Gogh’s works that, as mentioned above, will seek to highlight in particular the relationship between the artist’s pictorial vision and the depth of his cultural dimension, through the development of two major themes: on the one hand that of his passionate interest in books (we know what titles the artist had in his library, which helped to shape, for example, his interest in nature and peasant life), and on the other hand the fascination with Japan fueled by his love for Japanese prints, which he collected in large numbers (many, therefore, were paintings directly inspired by Japanese art).

In the rooms, works from the Kröller-Müller Museum are presented in dialogue with the first thread of the exhibition, namely with a selection of more than thirty original editions of art books and magazinesfrom the curator’s collection and from the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena, scattered in themed showcases throughout the exhibition. Finally, a third theme of essential importance to the painter’s artistic formation was the influence on him of Jean-François Millet, a great master of art and life for Vincent. Millet’s profoundly religious view of nature is the role model from which he drew inspiration for his choice to become a painter.

Opening hours: Mondays from 2:30 to 7:30 pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:30 am to 10:30 pm. Last admission one hour before closing. Infoline: 0254917. More information can be found on the Mudec website. Tickets: full 18 euros, reduced 16 euros (over 65, children and young people 6-26, disabled, military, police not on duty, teachers, accompanying Municipality of Milan employee, accompanying Mudec Membership Card holder), special reduced 14 euros (Municipality of Milan employees with badge, volunteers National Civil Service or working at the Municipality of Milan with badge, journalists with ODG badge with stamp of thecurrent year non-accredited, employees of Gruppo 24 Ore), reduced Deloitte employees 10 euros, reduced family 16 euros adults and 12 euros children from 6 to 13 years old (valid for each adult accompanying children, maximum two adults for two children, third child up to 13 years old free).

At Mudec in Milan, an exhibition on Van Gogh that explores his cultural references

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