George S. Keyes

It seems a little weird to me that before the exhibition hosted in 2000 by the Detroit Institute of Arts (and chronicled in this catalogue) that there had never before been a show dedicated to the portraits painted by Van Gogh, but I guess everyone has previously been focused on his landscapes, cafe scenes, and sunflowers. I definitely agree with the curators that Van Gogh’s portraits are worth a dedicated examination, even though “Starry Night” will always be my favourite of his show more pieces, since each piece shows the same dedication to his artistry that one would expect from one of the best painters. Careful brushstrokes, a unique sense of colouration, and vivid characterization are present throughout this collection, and I was pleased to discover some unexpected themes emerge from this curation. Portraits are a typical focus for many artists contemporary and historical as a means to earn a living prior to the photographic medium becoming more accessible, but I was surprised to discover that Van Gogh’s portraits eschewed this trend to focus on subjects of his own choosing and (when he ran out of subjects) self portraits. Even though some of his subjects were dressed in costume or given a fixed scope of depiction by the artist, Van Gogh’s preoccupation with character (unique or not is up to the viewer) is an interesting revelation, and gives a further depth than the base artistry portrayed by his technique. While I might not have liked, per se, each of the portraits herein, I appreciated the chronological act of collection for this exhibition, and in particular found the evolution of his technique away from the Dutch masters and into his own style to be excellently portrayed. The accompanying text was also well narrated (barring the missing chunks from my maligned thrifted copy…) by the curators, each having a unique voice that brought Van Gogh’s paintings together with their historical context well and illuminating the core themes of the exhibition. I’ll have to replace this volume at some point with a unmarred copy, since the previous owner did a great job of tearing out half pages and sections (seriously /rolls eyes), and peruse it again for a more in depth look into the many faces of Van Gogh. show less