Vincent Van Gogh’s art is beloved by many. How can you help but be moved by his powerful brushwork and the pulsating colors that vibrate on his canvases? The artist’s genius is celebrated in the thought-provoking “Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers” documentary, part of the Great Art on Screen series at the M.V. Film Center, playing on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
The film takes place in London’s National Gallery, which organized its largest ever Van Gogh exhibition 100 years after first acquiring his work. Director David Bickerstaff seamlessly interweaves comments by experts with long, languid shots of the galleries where the stunning paintings are hung with breathing room between them.
As the camera lingers on individual pieces, we hear from Van Gogh himself through excerpts of letters from the 900 or so that survive. These missives to his brother Theo and fellow artists give us insight into his incisive mind.
The show focuses on the two years and three months the artist spent in the South of France starting in 1888, when he fled Paris. Co-curator Cornelia Homburg shares that this was a time of great intensity for Van Gogh as an artist and in his personal life. We learn how he was acutely aware of how to establish his identity as an avant-garde colorist. Co-curator Christopher Riopelle says, “There’s an insatiable appetite to know about this man who, 25 years after his death, one, was to become the most famous artist in the world and two, already fakes were being produced,” which, he points out, is the greatest form of flattery.
The exhibit features some of Van Gogh’s most remarkable works: portraits of himself and others, landscapes, and still lives. His dynamic brushwork, robust mark-making, and intense pigments immediately convey Van Gogh’s innermost emotions, and create a visceral response to the paintings. Homburg comments that he wanted to craft something for his audience — art that touched the viewer.
Van Gogh was extremely interested in the scientific studies of the time about how we see color. When he came to Paris, Van Gogh painted with a dark palette, thinking that this was necessary for great art. When he saw the impressionists, post-impressionists, and neo-impressionists, Van Gogh realized he needed to drastically change his style.
The exhibit’s subtitle refers to recurring themes in his art from this period. Van Gogh infused the sometimes scrappy parks in front of his abode and those around the asylum where he was hospitalized with a poetic atmosphere. Art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnson tells us that Van Gogh read a great deal of poetry, and loved to capture places of quiet contemplation. “He looks with the intensity of a poet,” she explains.
In many works, including “The Poet’s Garden,” Van Gogh inserts small renderings of a couple, speaking to the word “love” in the exhibition’s subtitle. We learn, too, that Arles, the area in which he was staying, was known for beautiful women, and that he had made full use of the brothel.
The curators also included wonderful drawings reflecting Van Gogh’s familiarity with and admiration of Japanese art. While monochromatic, he reinterprets nature’s textures, forms, and shadows into repeated patterns of lines, cross-hatching, and dots so that the resulting images become modernist tapestries of mark-making.
Ultimately, “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” is a glorious private tour on the big screen, with the camera strolling leisurely through the galleries, stopping at individual works where we hear comments by others and those of Van Gogh, increasing our insight and enjoyment of his work.
While nothing will replace seeing art in person, the film fills you with a rewarding exhilaration — a feast for the mind and eyes.
“Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers” plays at the M.V. Film Center on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 pm. For information and tickets, visit mvfilmsociety.com/2024/09/van-gogh-poets-lovers.
