van gogh’s letters

van gogh’s letters: the artist speaks the exhibition opens today – 9 october 2009 and runs until 3 january 2010 at the van gogh museum, amsterdam

vincent van gogh was not only a ground-breaking artist, but also an ardent letter writer, who left to the world one of the most fascinating and multi-faceted bodies of artistic correspondence that we know. van gogh’s letters take centre stage in the exhibition ‘van gogh’s letters: the artist speaks’.

more than 120 original letters are on show alongside the works that van gogh was writing about. these important documents have seldom or never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.

the 902 letters,  of which more than 800 are held in the van gogh museum, chronicle in direct and compelling style the story of his eventful life, the close bond with his brother and confidant theo and the development of his work. these documents of more than 120 years ago with their many wonderful letter sketches unite the artist with the letter writer. especially for this exhibition the van gogh museum has been able to secure the loan of three special letters from vincent van gogh to the artist emile bernard (1868-1941) from the morgan library & museum in new york.

in the exhibition quotations from the letters guide the visitor through van gogh’s paintings and those of his contemporaries, offering insights into his views on art and the role of the artist.

the reader is witness to his dreams and disappointments, his passions and tribulations, friendships and quarrels, the battle with his illness and his all-encompassing desire to create art that would live on.

van gogh’s correspondence has a special bearing on his art because of the sketches of his own work that he included in his letters. these sketches served no artistic purpose but were made with the sole intention of showing theo and his other correspondents what the paintings or drawings he was working on or had completed actually looked like. visitors are able to view a large number of letter sketches and enjoy the unique opportunity of being able to compare them with the paintings and drawings on which they are based.

enjoy van gogh’s letters at home or on the move with the van gogh museum’s first i-phone application. available for download free of charge via the itunes app store, in english and dutch. the software is linked to the museum’s show and the museum announced this app for october 6, but unfortunately it seems not to be available yet. the application is called ‘yours, vincent’ .