A Single Treasure on Display -Van Gogh Museum-

Pollard Willow, July 1882
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The newly purchased ‘Pollard Willow’, a watercolor painting by Van Gogh, is now on display for the public at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Although a watercolor, this work is a proper painting by Vincent van Gogh, and its purchase, the first in five years for the Van Gogh Museum , will prove an meaningful addition for the museum. Axel Rüger, the museum’s director, commented on this occasion that this work, as one of the paintings Van Gogh worked on during his stay in the Hague, would be an excellent acquisition.

Before the summer of 1882, Van Gogh worked largely in pencil and pen, and appeared not to have worked in watercolor often. However, from July of that year, he started creating sketches in watercolor, and a change is visible at the same time, from the portraits he had been doing, to landscapes; from sketching exercises to preparatory drawings; and from monochromatic, to colored work. Speaking in terms of Van Gogh the painter, these works were created in a period of important developments.

Letter with letter sketch from Vincent to Theo van Gogh, 31 July 1882
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

This watercolor depicts a landscape; a path runs along a river or canal, near which a tree -the pollard willow- stands, its top branches cropped. In the distance railway depot buildings can be made out, and figures of people. The sky is swallowed in pressing clouds; here is Holland’s specific brand of melancholy weather. In his letters to his brother Theo, Vincent van Gogh writes of things to do with this painting. In one letter, he refers to the willow tree on the road near his house. In another, he writes how pleased he is with the watercolor painting he made. The Van Gogh Museum was already in possession of these letters in which Van Gogh wrote of this painting, and the purchase of the work itself had been a particular ambition for some time.



The painting will be on display in the museum’s underground floor between May 10 and July 10, together with oil paintings from the same period, and related letters. Then, when the Van Gogh Museum enters a period of remodelling in September, the work will feature for another two months only as part of the exhibition at the Hermitage Museum. Because it is a watercolor, it will enter a period of ‘rest’ after this.

Not only the Van Gogh Museum but some others, as well, have recently created exhibitions centered around the display of one work in particular. In February, Madrid’s Museo del Prado featured Breughel’s work, the only just restored The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day, in its own room. A painting acquired in the second half of 2010, it was displayed together with image panels showing stages of the repairs and information on techniques of painting restoration. Then there are the National Galleries of London and Scotland, which recently purchased Titian’s Diana and Callisto, on display in London until July. This work will make a pair with the purchase made in 2009, Diana and Actaeon. Such ‘single treasure’ exhibitions tend to get lost in the shadows of large-scale exhibitions, but they may increase in the near future, with a goal of reporting on restorations and displaying new purchases, and for the sake of connecting museums and people.

Van Gogh Museum

Paulus Potterstraat 7 Amsterdam
(From Central Station in Amsterdam, take tram 2 or 5 to the Van Baerlestraat stop.)
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl

Museum: daily 10 am to 6 pm, Friday to 10 pm
Ticket office: daily 10 am to 6:30 pm, Friday to 9:30 pm.
Shop: daily 10 am to 6:15 pm, Friday to 9:45 pm.
Museum café: daily 10 am to 6:30 pm.
Library Museumplein 4: Monday to Friday 10 am to 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm to 5 pm
Closed 1 January

*From 29 September 2012 to 25 April 2013, much of the Van Gogh Museum collection will be relocated in the Hermitage Amsterdam.

Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)

The renovation work at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam is well underway with the re-opening aimed for the Spring of 2013. As one of the new parts of the museum, the Asian Pavilion was introduced to the Dutch media recently.

The department’s curator, Mr. Menno Fitski, explained that the Netherlands has developed a deep-rooted relationship with Asia through its longstanding trade relations, and has collected various works of art from especially China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. Of those collected works the museum owns some 7000 pieces. From this large collection, some 365 pieces will be on display at any one time in the new Asian Pavilion and of those, 250 pieces will be regularly rotated. Eventually almost the entire collection will have been exhibited to the public.

The uniquely shaped Asian pavilion, which is separate building linked to the old Rijksmuseum building, was designed by the Italian architect Antonio Ortiz. The pavilion has a ground floor and a basement with an overall area totalling 670 square meters. The plan is to display works of art from India and Indonesia on the ground floor, and works from Japan, China and Korea in the basement. A pair of Niō (strong, angry guardians of the Buddha) statues from Japan were recently added to the collection. Together with a 12^th century sculpture from India representing the god Shiva, and a statue of Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) from China, these form the centrepiece of the pavilion.

Mr. Fitski highlighted three of the pavilion’s special characteristics during his introduction. First, the relaxed atmosphere allows visitors to view the works at leisure. Second is the unique look of the pavilion, which is designed to highlight the works of art displayed within it. Thirdly, despite the building being quite compact, its use of the stairs and hallways give a surprisingly spacious feeling.

Famous works of art that are very popular with visitors, for example Rembrandt’s “Night Watch” and works by other 17^th century painters that the Dutch are proud of, will be displayed together in the central part of the new Rijksmuseum. Also, to allow visitors with only a little time to capture the essence of Dutch painters, a special elevator has been built that takes them directly to the Night Watch Room where the “Night Watch” is on display, and then on to the adjacent “Gallery of Honour”.

Starting with the call for a new design, the Rijksmuseum faced many difficulties during the renovation process, but the end is now finally in sight. However, the renovation is not the Rijksmuseum’s only problem. Despite being one of Europe’s model countries economically, the Netherlands has not been able to escape the current economic crisis. Last year the Dutch government drastically cut subsidies to art and music. Therefore, the various agencies involved in the world of art have been forced to find sponsors and funding in order to financially support themselves.

Many organizations are of course sympathetic towards the (fine) arts. An appeal has been sent out to companies with a long-term outlook for public relations and advertising; donations have been requested through ‘patron’ type groups and a campaign has been set up requesting ordinary individuals also to make donations, which in the Netherlands are tax-deductible. Everywhere great efforts are therefore being made to find support for the arts.

Rijksmuseum, The Masterpieces

Jan Luijkenstraat 1, 1071 CJ Amsterdam
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/

Opening hours:

Every day from 9:00 to 18:00
Closed: 1 January
On 25 December the museum closes at 18.00
Please note: the museum ticket counter closes at 17:30!

Exhibitions in England: Da Vinci and Vermeer

Cambridge, the Fitzwilliam Museum

There are two exhibitions currently on display in England which are being flooded with attention.
The first is the exhibition being held at London´s National Gallery: Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan. As you may know, Leonardo da Vinci underwent training to be a painter in Florence, but from 1482 to 1499 he was in the service of Ludovico Sforza (nicknamed Il Moro, the Moor for his dark skin color), the head of the Sforza family and Duke of Milan.
In the exhibition, the focal point is da Vinci’s work as a painter from his Milan period. Beside the work Lady with an Ermine (Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland), thought to be a painting of Ludovico’s mistress Cecilia Gallerani, the two famous versions of the Virgin of the Rocks, owned by the Louvre and the National Gallery of London, and the Madonna Litta (from the Depository of the Hermitage) are on display. The two paintings of the Virgin of the Rocks have been exhibited facing each other in one room so a viewer may make comparisons. This exhibition provides a golden opportunity to see these famous works, brought together.
 　
On view for the first time is the painting Christ as Salvator Mundi (private collection) which came to light this year as having been painted by da Vinci specifically. Since it is a work that has been missing for so long, I expect we will not be able to avoid a debate on its authenticity, but I certainly felt fortunate to see it with my own eyes.


Of da Vinci it is often said that nearly all of his works are unfinished. However, the painting of The Last Supper, remaining on the wall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, is known as one of few exceptions. The Last Supper is one of the last on display at this exhibition -but not the wall, of course. It is a faithful reproduction in oil from around 1520. It has retained its vivid colors, and moreover, several details, such as Christ’s foot, can be seen which are no longer visible on the original. We still remember the long period of restoration for the original mural painting, lasting from 1977 to 1999; the reproduction on display was vital to the restoration of details lost to the original.


Next is the pride of Cambridge: the Fitzwilliam Museum, currently showing the exhibition Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence. The exhibition is compact, featuring 32 paintings, all in oils. The group of works are paintings of women taken away from the ordinary, by the 17th century Dutch master Vermeer and several of his contemporaries. Of the works, Vermeer’s are these four: The Music Lesson (Royal Collection, St. James's Palace, London),  A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (National Gallery, London), The Lacemaker (Louvre, Paris) and a second version of A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (private collection). The works by Vermeer’s contemporaries Gerrit Dou, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch, Nicolaes Maas, are all in very good condition and make a wonderful addition to what I am not afraid to call a gem of an exhibition. Surprisingly, there is no entrance fee. The daily amount of visitors, I was informed by happy museum staff, is indeed as large as when the Fitzwilliam Museum first opened.

National Gallery

Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Opening hours:

Weekdays 10am – 6pm
Fridays 10am – 9pm

Fitzwilliam Museum

Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Saturday: 10:00 - 17:00
Sundays, Bank holiday Mondays: 12:00 - 17:00
Closed on Mondays, Good Friday, from December 24-26 & 31, and on January 1st 2012