Tag: Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh: Stolen painting returned to art sleuth in Ikea bag – three years after museum raid

Vincent van Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, painted in 1884, was snatched during an overnight break-in at the Singer Laren museum, east of Amsterdam, while it was closed during a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, by Vincent van Gogh. Pic: AP

A Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from a museum in the Netherlands during a COVID-19 lockdown has been returned to an art sleuth in an Ikea bag.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, also known as the Spring Garden, was snatched from the Singer Laren museum, about 30km (19 miles) east of Amsterdam, on 30 March 2020, when the attraction was closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Thieves smashed glass doors during an overnight raid to take the 1884 artwork, which was on loan from the Groninger Museum, in the city of Groningen, around 180km (112 miles) from the Dutch capital.

It has “suffered but is – at first glance – still in good condition,” the Groninger said.

The museum singled out Dutch art sleuth Arthur Brand for his “key role in this case” – but declined to provide further information on how the painting was recovered.

Mr Brand, nicknamed the “Indian Jones of the art world”, is seen in footage on the Dutch national broadcaster NOS as he takes the painting out the Ikea bag, unwraps it and shows it to the camera.

‘Extremely happy and relieved’

Director Andreas Bluhm said in a statement: “The museum is extremely happy and relieved that the work is back.

“We are very grateful to everyone to contributed to this good outcome.”

“Police have been closely involved in all phases (of the recovery of the painting),” the museum added.

The oil painting, which is being kept temporarily at the Van Gogh Museum in the Dutch capital, will be subject to scientific examination in the coming months.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/stolen-van-gogh-painting-recovered-three-years-after-museum-raid-12959997

Meet the Woman Who Made Van Gogh Famous

2021 seems to be Vincent van Gogh’s year. There are at least five different traveling interactive exhibits in nearly 40 U.S. cities where people flock to literally immerse themselves in his words and works. Some attribute this current van Gogh craze to a scene in the Netflix show “Emily in Paris” which takes place in a “Starry Night” light show. Others think that people are simply looking for new experiences after a year of pandemic isolation.

From famed pieces like “The Starry Night” and “Cafe Terrace at Night” to a litany of self-portraits (some of which include depictions of his famously self-maimed ear), van Gogh’s portfolio is overwhelming in its brilliance. It’s astonishing to think that he sold only a few paintings in his lifetime, and for small sums of money, yet in 2017 his painting “Laboureur Dans Un Champ” sold for over $81 million.

So, how did this now-iconic painter escape mainstream attention during his lifetime?

For starters, van Gogh was famously eccentric, which didn’t translate well into his “day job” as an art dealer. “We get the impression that Vincent did not excel at sales. He was a failure as an art dealer at Goupil [a fine art dealer]. It is said Vincent was fired from Goupil for not being sufficiently cordial to clients,” says Nadine Granoff, director of research for Van Gogh Experts, a van Gogh authentication and appraisal company, in an email interview. This could have burned bridges and turned potential buyers off to his own works in the short term. “He probably seemed a bit eccentric in the world of commerce,” she adds.

It’s also possible that van Gogh simply didn’t live long enough to see all his hard work pay off. He died in 1890 two days after he shot himself in the chest with a revolver at the age of 37 (although some later accounts postulate he was murdered). Thus ended a life plagued with epileptic seizures and debilitating psychotic episodes. As the Van Gogh Museum website notes, at the time of his death, “he was uncertain about the future and felt that he had failed, as a man and as an artist. Even though he was, in fact, starting to get recognition for his work.”

Source: https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/johanna-van-gogh-bonger.htm

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