Van Gogh rules at the Royal Academy

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Today Bea and Jackie accompanied us to the The RA for The Real Van Gogh The Artist and his Letters. I had read enough of the Penguin book about the letters to understand a little of Van Gogh and this great exhibition has motivated me to read the rest. We visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam in the 80s and found this new exhibition a treat. It explained his evolution as an artist and I was amazed by the life in his black chalk studies for The Potato Eaters. It was interesting to see how he changed styles very fast, for instance Orchard with Peach Trees in Blossom (April 1888) painted in the previous year’s style which seems pointillist in pastel colours, then in the same month Orchard Bordered by Cypresses painted in a bright bold style.

 If I had to choose a favourite it would be Enclosed Field with Peasant

What an artist! The queues were horrific so we joined the RA to gain immediate entry. As a bonus it was a joy to sit in the Friends Room afterwards and enjoy a nice cup of tea away from the crowds...

This gallery has excellent reproductions of some of the paintings that were in the exhibition.

late note. on 2 Dec 2017 I was approached by this company to add a link to their site: https://www.artsy.net/artist/vincent-van-gogh