Van Gogh shows the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome: the most famous works

On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the birth of Vincent Van Gogh, the Bonaparte Palace in Rome offers an exhibition with some of the most famous works of the undisputed genius in the history of art. The exhibition is organized with the patronage of the Lazio Region, the Municipality of Rome – Department of Culture and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Starting October 8, 2022, Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome is devoting an exhibition to the most beloved and controversial artist ever known: Vincent Van Gogh. The exhibition was created to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the birth of the genius (March 30, 1853) and offers some of his most famous works.

Vincent Van Gogh – Self-Portrait (1887)

Produced by Arthemisia, the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Kröller Müller Museum in Otterlo and is curated by Maria Teresa Benedetti and Francesca Villanti. Among the works, 50 from the prestigious museum of the Netherlands, also the famous Self-portrait of 1887. Here again, many biographical testimonies, to tell the ‘lights’ and the ‘shadows’, just like the distinctive trait of his strokes of brush, who built the human and artistic history of the genius of art history.

Van Gogh: his story through his works

Vincent Van Gogh is known not only for the masterpieces he was able to create and which have become a symbol of art history, but also for his personal story. Characterized by fits of madness, hospitalizations, a tormented life which ends with the tragic epilogue of his death, at the age of 37, on July 29, 1890 in Auvers. A shot in the chest, which has always led to the hypothesis of suicide, but on which, years later, doubts and hypotheses are advanced. But what stands out from the works of the great genius, who lived at the end of the 19th century, is how much of this human tragedy is found in his magnificent creations. Works full of pathos, feelings and sensitivity that made Van Gogh one of the most beloved artists in the world.

Vincent Van Gogh – The Potato Eaters (1885)

The Palazzo Bonaparte exhibition in Rome revolves around 50 works from the prestigious Kröller Müller Museum in Otterlo, which houses the greatest masterpieces of the painter Van Gogh. From Holland (hometown) to Paris; passing through Arles, to Saint-Rémy and Auvers-Sur-Oise where he died. A journey through his incomparable brushstrokes and play of colors. From the relationship with darkness, which emerges in the landscapes of youth, to the study of the earth. The latter is a period from which emerges the work of potato pickers, weavers, woodcutters, women who do housework or dig the ground. Representations of fatigue, but also of gentleness, of faces, of expressions, of life.

The works of the last period

In each work of Van Gogh emerges the intense awareness of life and the contrasting relationship that the artist had with it. In the exhibition at the Palais Bonaparte, particular emphasis is placed on the Parisian period, during which the artist devoted himself to the search for color, following the Impressionist route, but with a freer choice of subjects. Van Gogh seeks and finds a language that is more immediate, more his own and, for this reason, unique. At this time, moreover, the relationship of the artist to human figures is reinforced and the production of a series of self-portraits is proof of this. The artist’s desire emerges to want to leave his “trace” and the representation of a greater experience than in the past.

Vincent Vang Gogh – The Desperate Old Man (1890)

From this period, in fact, is the famous Self-Portrait on a Blue Ground with Touches of Green from 1887. Here, an intense gaze turned towards the viewer and the rapid brushstrokes, with the strokes of color stretched side by side, return a tumultuous and complex soul. It was also the period when bright colors appeared in the representation of nature, such as Le Soeur produced in Arles in June 1888. Then again Le jardin de l’Hôpital à Saint-Rémy (1889) and Il Gurrone (1889) in which everyone hopes seems to disappear. A cycle that ends with The Desperate Old Man of 1890 in which all of man’s despair seems to emerge and his struggle continues with the rhythms of life.