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Roses

Vincent van Gogh1889

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan

Van Gogh lived in Arles for half a year after his first breakdown, which resulted from an argument with Gauguin in December 1888, and then entered the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy on May 9, 1889. This painting of roses was thought to be a work from the final days of his stay in Arles prior to his move to Saint-Rémy, but the revised view that the painting depicts one corner of the Saint-Rémy hospital grounds was expressed during the 1985 van Gogh exhibition held at the NMWA. Given that the doctors at the hospital restricted his activities and painting range to the hospital grounds, van Gogh seems to have limited his painting motifs to images from gardens during May of that year. "Since I've been here, there's been enough work for me to do, what with the neglected garden with its tall pines and long, unkempt grass mixed with all sorts of weeds and I haven't even been outside. When I send you the four canvases of the garden I am working on, you will se that, considering my life is spent mostly in the garden, it is not so unhappy." (Letter 592, May 22, 1889). Van Gogh's style distanced itself from that of Gauguin, changing from the planar style developed under Gauguin's influence to a gradual return to van Gogh's own native use of rough brush work. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.85)

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  • Title: Roses
  • Creator Lifespan: 1853 - 1890
  • Creator Nationality: Dutch
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: Auvers-sur-Oise
  • Creator Birth Place: Groot-Zundert
  • Date Created: 1889
  • Location Created: Holland
  • Provenance: P. F. Gachet, Auvers-sur-Oise, from 1890 to 1909; P. Gachet, Auvers-sur-Oise; Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris; Kojiro Matsukata; Sequestered by the French Government, 1944; Returned to Japan, 1959.
  • Physical Dimensions: w413 x h330 mm
  • Painter: Vincent van Gogh
  • Object title (Japanese): ばら
  • Object notes (Japanese): ゴーガンとの諍(いさか)いをきっかけとした1888年12月の最初の発作から半年、ゴッホはアルルになおも留まっていたが、1889年5月8日にサン=レミの精神療養院に移る。本作品はこれまで、サン=レミに移る以前のアルル時代最後の時期の作品とされてきたが、サン=レミ療養院の庭の隅を描いたものとする修正意見が1985年のゴッホ展(国立西洋美術館)で提出された。当初、病院の医者はゴッホの行動と制作の範囲を病院の庭に限定したため、5月の間はもっぱら庭のモチーフを描いたようだ。「ここに来て以来、荒れた庭――大きな松の木立があって、その下には様々な植物や雑草が手入れされぬままに伸びている――だけで作品のモチーフは充分で、まだ外に出ていない」。「今やっている4点の庭を描いた作品を送れば、僕が毎日のほとんどを庭で過ごしていることが分かって、そう不幸でないと思うだろう」(書簡592、5月22日)。ゴッホの作風は、ゴーガンと離れたことで、彼の影響下で生まれた平面的な様式から、ゴッホ本来の粗い筆致に次第に戻っていく。しかもその後のサン=レミ時代にはっきりと現れてくる「うねるような」筆致を並置する彼独特の技法もすでにここに窺うことができるのである。(出典: 国立西洋美術館名作選. 東京, 国立西洋美術館, 2006. cat. no. 85)
  • Artist Name (Japanese): ゴッホ、フィンセント・ファン
  • Type: Paintings
  • Rights: Matsukata Collection, http://www.nmwa.go.jp/en/information/privacy.html
  • External Link: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

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