Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art on artrepublic.com

With the artists’ concentration on a few, often the same objects, still life painting gradually also turned in an ideal field of experimentation for their possibilities of expression. Painterly issues of representation became more important than the originally so prominent contents many works were charged with without ever replacing them entirely. It was above all in still life painting which held a low position in the hierarchy of genre categories that the artist had to prove his specific skills and a work’s attraction and value depended on its composition and ingenious assemblage of objects, its convincing colouring and masterly brushstroke. The paintings also evidence the expertise in rendering the most different materials and surfaces in a manner that deceives the eye. The artists experimented with various kinds of lighting from the even brightness of daylight to the weak glow of a single candle, utilizing them for the mise-en-scène of manifold situations and moods.

Celebrated works from international collections will include The Starry Night (MoMA), Eugène Boch (The Poet) (Musée d'Orsay), and The Potato Eaters (Van Gogh Museum), as well as other iconic paintings, including The Night Café (Yale University Art Gallery), which will only be shown at MoMA, and works on paper. Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night is the first collaborative project between MoMA and the Van Gogh Museum. The exhibition will be on view at MoMA from September 21, 2008, to January 5, 2009, and at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from February 13 to June 7, 2009. It is organized by Joachim Pissarro, Adjunct Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Bershad Professor of Art History and Director of the Hunter College Galleries, Hunter College, New York; and Sjraar van Heugten, Head of Collections, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Throughout his career, Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) attempted the paradoxical task of representing night by light. His procedure followed the trend set by the Impressionists of "translating" visual light effects with various color combinations. At the same time, this concern was grafted onto Van Gogh’s desire to interweave the visual and the metaphorical in order to produce fresh and deeply original works of art. These different artistic concerns found themselves powerfully bound together in his nocturnal and twilight paintings and drawings. Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night will present new insight into Van Gogh’s depictions of night landscapes, interior scenes, and the effects of both gaslight and natural light on their surroundings. Representing all periods of the artist’s career, the exhibition will comprise approximately 40 works, including paintings, drawings, letters, and letter sketches that Van Gogh sent to his brother Theo and to close friends such as the artists Emile Bernard and Paul Gauguin. Together, these works will elucidate the artist’s creative process and the role of night scenes in the larger context of his oeuvre.

OPENING HOURS: Sat - Mon: 10.30 - 17.30, Wed- Thur: 10.30 - 17.30, Fri: 10.30 - 18.00

Image Credits

Slide Show 1: 

Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/4" (73.7 x 92.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest.

Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888. Oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 36 1/4" (72.4 x 92.1 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903.

Vincent van Gogh. The Potato Eaters. 1885. Oil on canvas, 32 5/16 x 44 7/8" (82 x 114 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).

Slide Show 2:

Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night over the Rhône. 1888. Oil on canvas, 28 ½ x 36 1/4" (72.4 x 92 cm). Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Gift of M. and Mme Robert Kahn-Sriber, in memory of M. and Mme Fernand Moch, 1975. © Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Hervé Lewandowski.

Vincent van Gogh. The Sower. 1888. Oil on canvas, 12 5/8 x 15 3/4" (32 x 40 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).

Vincent van Gogh. Lane of Poplars at Sunset. 1884. Oil on canvas, 18 1/16 x 12 11/16" (45.8 x 32.2 cm). Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands.