The Van Gogh Museum's new acquisitions: a van Gogh letter, a Caillebotte and a Münter

Three important new acquisitions in May for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which is enriching its collections with an important letter by Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890) and two paintings, a still life by the great Impressionist Gustava Caillebotte (Paris, 1848 - Gennevilliers, 1894) and a landscape by the Expressionist Gabriele Münter (Berlin, 1877 - Murnau am Staffelsee, 1962).

Van Gogh’s letter dates from February 1890 and was sent to the poet and art critic Albert Aurier (Châteauroux, 1865 - Paris, 1892) following the latter’s review of van Gogh’s work: Aurier, in particular, had seen the Dutch painter’s works at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris in 1889, and then again in Brussels in 1890, and was pleasantly impressed. Van Gogh responded to the article from the Saint-Rémy clinic where he was hospitalized, expressing his feelings and impressions of the artists he admired, and promising Aurier to send him a study of cypress trees as a token of thanks for the kind words spent on him. Several works that are part of the Van Gogh Museum’s collection are mentioned in the letter, and the missive provides a deeper insight into the artist’s choices and his vision of art.

Caillebotte’s Still Life is a Dish with Peaches painted around 1882: this is the first Impressionist still life to enter the museum’s collection and is a very modern work, somewhere between the achievements of the early Impressionists and van Gogh’s reflections (precisely because of its proximity to post-Impressionist experiences the work was purchased).

Finally, Gabriele Münter’s House in the Winter Sun is the first work by the German artist to enter a Dutch public collection. Dating from 1909, it is a typical work of the production of the artist who was among the most important members of the Der Blaue Reiter group and is known for her expressionist landscapes. It is known that Münter greatly appreciated the art of van Gogh, whom she pointed to as her main role model for her works produced between 1908 and 1913.For the Van Gogh Museum to exhibit House in the Winter Sun is to show the public a significant example of how van Gogh had inspired the German Expressionists.

Image: Gustave Caillebotte, Plate with Peaches (1882; oil on canvas, 38 x 46.4 cm; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum)

The Van Gogh Museum's new acquisitions: a van Gogh letter, a Caillebotte and a Münter

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