Introduction
More than a century after his death, Vincent VanGogh (1853-1890) has become
a legend, and his paintings are icons in the popular imagination. Their
wide appeal, however, should not overshadow their importance in the development
of modern art. For all their appearance of spontaneous creation, his works
were rationally conceived. Striving to express visually his deepest feelings--whether
of happiness or anguish--Van Gogh was innovative in his use of bold color
contrasts and dynamic brushwork. The singular intensity he brought to painting
became a source for many expressionist movements of the twentieth century.
This selection of seventy-two paintings surveys Van Gogh's entire career,
from the rural
scenes he painted in Holland in
the early 1880s to the sun-drenched wheatfields from his years in the south
of France, to the last, more subdued landscapes of Auvers-sur-Oise painted
shortly before his death in 1890.