Van Gogh’s unknown period, exploring the landscape of the remote north

Van Gogh’s three months in Drenthe, within the north of the Netherlands, has been the least studied interval in his creative profession. That has now modified, because of an bold present which has simply opened on the Drents Museum, within the provincial capital of Assen.

Travelling with Vincent: Van Gogh in Drenthe (till 7 January 2024) tells the story of the 30-year-old artist’s journey, each bodily and psychological. The imaginatively introduced exhibition marks the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of his arrival within the northern Dutch province.

Vincent arrived from The Hague, the place he had lived for practically two years, more often than not sharing a modest condo along with his girlfriend, Sien Hoornik, and her two younger youngsters. A tragic determine, she had beforehand earned her residing as a streetwalker.

Relations between Vincent and Sien deteriorated, and in September 1883 (then aged 30) he reluctantly broke up together with her, leaving her in The Hague. “I wish to be alone with nature”, he wrote to his brother Theo simply earlier than his departure. He then took the lengthy prepare journey to the village of Hoogeveen, within the peat space of Drenthe. It lies 200 kilometres north-east of The Hague, close to the German border.

The Drents Museum exhibition presents 4 of Van Gogh’s six surviving Drenthe oil work, together with 12 of the 16 works on paper. This will appear a small group, however there are literally numerous works within the present, making it nicely well worth the journey to Assen. Together with six earlier and two later Van Goghs, there are over 60 works by different artists, who have been both admired by Vincent or who depicted Drenthe scenes.

Annemiek Rens, the curator, spent years negotiating to borrow as lots of Van Gogh’s Drenthe works as she may. Among the many coups is getting Panorama with a Farm (September-November 1883), which had been quietly owned by a Canadian household for 40 years. Peatery (September-November 1883), an atmospheric watercolour, has travelled from Carlos Slim’s Musea Soumaya in Mexico Metropolis. The charming Row of Farmhouses (September 1883) is from a Wuppertal museum.

The Drents Museum purchased The Peat Barge (October 1883) in 1997. It additionally acquired a half share, together with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, in Peasant Burning Weeds (October 1883), which was bought at Sotheby’s in 2019 for $3.1m. This oil portray has been restored for the exhibition, with the elimination of discoloured varnish revealing its full drama.

Seeing the Drenthe works introduced collectively, their darkish and moody environment is palpable. Van Gogh was clearly solely too conscious of the peat cutters’ arduous lives. He himself would have discovered it uncomfortable working outdoors, because the temperature went down and the times grew to become shorter. Some components of Drenthe are very picturesque, however the flat space the place Van Gogh alighted was in his day swampy. The artwork that he produced there would hardly have appealed to city collectors on the lookout for bucolic scenes.

The awful Drenthe work should certainly additionally mirror one thing of Van Gogh’s temper. Then dealing with the trauma of abandoning Sien (and worrying that she would possibly return to her former occupation), he felt extraordinarily lonely and had no contact with fellow artists.

Referring to Sien, Vincent wrote to Theo: “Once I see some poor lady on the heath with a toddler in her arms or at her breast my eyes turn into moist.” Vincent was actually justified in worrying about her. Like him, she too ultimately took her personal life, plunging right into a Rotterdam canal on a freezing night time in 1904.

Maybe Van Gogh’s most intriguing Drenthe work just isn’t a panorama, however a extremely expressive portrait of an unknown lady, who appears to be carrying mourning headgear. With downcast eyes, she seems unhappy, however sturdy. One would like to determine this lady and to find out about her life, however thus far the solutions have eluded artwork historians. She could nicely have been sketched when the artist travelled by barge from Hoogeveen to maneuver to the extra distant village of Nieuw-Amsterdam, the place he was to spend most of his time in Drenthe. Van Gogh should certainly have thought again to Sien as he sketched the dejected lady.

One other level that struck me seeing the Drenthe works reassembled is the wide range of methods that Van Gogh employed, utilizing oil paints, watercolours and drawings, with sizes small to massive. He had solely began to make use of oil simply over a 12 months earlier, and in Drenthe he experimented with supplies, looking for a private fashion.

It’s actually a delight to see Van Gogh’s Drenthe works within the space during which they have been created, though there was a lot change in 140 years. Hoogeveen and Nieuw-Amsterdam, as soon as villages, at the moment are fashionable cities, with suburbs. A lot of the previously swampy land has been reclaimed and become fields. Only a few of the buildings which seem in Van Gogh’s work survive, though at the least it’s doable to go to the home the place he as soon as lodged in Nieuw-Amsterdam. From the small balcony, one can think about Van Gogh’s view of the drawbridge over the canal (it has since been changed with a contemporary bridge). Now a customer attraction, the home is reopening on 4 October, following a renovation challenge.

Quickly after arriving in Drenthe, Vincent had written to Theo to say that he would possibly “keep for good”, however because the weeks handed and winter approached, his life grew to become more and more difficult. Vincent additionally felt remoted, having little in widespread with the native folks. He determined to maneuver on.

On 4 December Vincent walked the 30 kilometres from Nieuw-Amsterdam to Hoogeveen, to catch the prepare again to the south of the Netherlands, the place his dad and mom have been residing within the village of Nuenen. Two days later he wrote to Theo: “Drenthe is great, however staying there is dependent upon many issues—is dependent upon whether or not one has the cash for it, is dependent upon whether or not one can endure the loneliness.”

Rens, the exhibition curator, says that “the struggles and difficulties he skilled in Drenthe have been what enabled him, a lot later, to provide his masterpieces”. Though true, there may hardly be a better distinction between the darkish work of Drenthe and the sun-drenched works that he created simply 5 years later in Provence.