Portrait of Dr Gachet
Hemakumar NANAYAKKARA
The famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh is best known as one of the
greatest Post- Impressionist painters. He powerfully influenced the
current Expressionism in modern art.
Expressionism is a subjective art form which reveals the inner
spiritual and emotional experiences rather than external appearances and
physical reality.
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Different modes of ‘Portrait of Dr. Gachet’. Pictures:
www.artexpert.com |
Van Gogh began his career as an artist at the age of 27. During his
final 10 years of life he has done about 2000 different types of works
including more than 900 paintings. His most admired works have been
painted during the last two years of his life while he suffered from
mental illness. Van Gogh died at a young age of 37 by commiting suicide.
Vincent van Gogh was little appreciated during his life time but his
reputation enormously grew after his death.
Portrait of Dr Gachet is one of the most praised works of this great
artist.
There are two versions of this portrait, both were painted in June
1890 during the final months of Van Gogh's life in Auvers-sur -Oise,
near Paris, while the artist stayed there for medical treatment. The
medical physician Dr Paul Gachet took care of Van Gogh and supported his
creative work as well.
In 1890 Van Gogh wrote a letter to his brother Theo about the
Portrait of Dr Gachet: "I have done the Portrait of Dr Gachet with a
melancholy expression, which might well seem
like a grimace to those who see it... Sad but gently, yet clear and
intelligent, that is how many portraits ought to be done... There are
modern heads that may be looked at for a long time, and that may perhaps
be looked back on with longing a hundred years later".
In this portrait Dr Gachet sitting at a table and leaning his head
onto his right arm, left hand place on the table where the Foxgloves
are.
Dr Gachet used Foxgloves to extract "Digitalis" for the treatment of
certain heart patients.
In 1990 the first version of the portrait was sold to a Japanese
industrialist named Ryoei Saito for US$ 82.5 million at an auction in
Christie's , New York.
Once Saito scandalized the art world by saying that he wanted his
masterpiece to be cremated and buried with him upon his death, later he
said it was just a joke.
After the death of Saito in 1996, it wasn't clear who really owned
this particular Van Gogh masterpiece.The representatives of Saito's
company ensured that the painting is still around but didn't tell any
details about it's exact location or the ownership.
The public interest on this painting is so high that any museum of
the world would love to have it on display.
The second version of the Portrait of Dr Gachet is one of the most
visible works of art in the world, is currently displayed at Musee
d'Orsay in Paris, France. |
