Writer: David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky
Director: David Bickerstaff
Bringing the art world’s blockbuster exhibitions to the big screen, Exhibition on Screen returns with an in-depth look at the National Gallery’s Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers.
The documentary sticks to its trusted format of detailed close-ups and analysis, and it is a return visit to the work of Vincent Van Gogh. This time, there is a focus on the final years of Van Gogh’s life: a period of intense creativity that produces some of his most iconic work.
Moving from Paris to the south of France in 1888, Van Gogh tries to, unsuccessfully, establish an artist’s colony in Arles. Inviting his friend Paul Gauguin to join him, this sees Van Gogh enter a phase of competition with the older artist: his art flourishes. When the artists’ temperaments do not gel, and Gauguin leaves, Van Gogh is plunged into another mental health crisis, this time he is treated at the sanatorium in San Remy. But during this period, Van Gogh paints with energy and ambition: bigger canvases, more impressive scenes. He is pressing forward.
With a select group of contributors, including the National Gallery’s exhibition curators, Cornelia Homburg and Christopher Riopelle, Exhibition on Screen editorialises Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers. Lachlan Goudie, an artist and broadcaster, is particularly effective in describing the techniques Van Gogh applied to his canvas. We see Van Gogh working around problems by adapting his brushstrokes: how to convey shivering leaves; lamplight reflected on water. The difficulty of capturing the transient bloom of Nature. Goudie analyses Van Gogh’s paintings, including his daring use of colour, as a transfer of energy: a “river of movement”. It is a fair assessment.
In looking this closely at Van Gogh’s paintings, the documentary encourages us to think of Van Gogh differently. While his death is only two years away, when he takes his own life in July 1890, we see Van Gogh working – almost up to the last moment – exploring and progressing. There is an inescapable feeling of optimism.
Unpacking the themes of the exhibition, we also discover Van Gogh’s fondness for literature. Van Gogh even sees himself and Gauguin as the Italian poets Petrarch and Boccaccio. We learn that he was a great reader of poetry: his favourites included Walt Whitman and Dante. Over 900 of Van Gogh’s letters remain – many written to his art dealer brother, Theo – and these too illustrate the literate, poetic side of Van Gogh. Voiced by Jochum ten Haaf, Van Gogh’s voice comes to life: we have a nearly daily record of what inspires him. He lists colours with breathless enthusiasm. Again, the film steers us away from the usual observations on Van Gogh: we’ve already heard them. We shift from the tragedy of his biography into his legacy as an avant-garde artist.
His feverish dabs of paint read differently under this new lens: Van Gogh lustily grabs at everything art has to offer. The myth of the isolated genius steps back to reveal an artist who was part of a much bigger picture.
VanGogh: Poets & Loverscomes to cinemas nationwide on 6thNovember.
The Reviews Hub Score:
A new perspective
