Van Gogh sunflowers re-united
January 29 2014
Video: BBC
I've come to this a little late, but if you're in London it's well worth going down to the National Gallery to see two of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings hanging together for the first time since 1947. In the clip above, Martin Bailey, who has just written the definitive book on Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, 'The Sunflowers are Mine', explains the history of the two pictures.
Both sunflowers are at the National till 27th April. You can read more about the display here.
Update - a reader writes:
I joined the queues at the weekend and enjoyed the opportunity to see them side by side – I hope it’s not too partisan of me to say so, but it’s actually a reminder of how good the London original is!
The much-vaunted display of ‘new research’ is a bit bizarre – the information panel about the x-rays they have done reveals absolutely nothing that can’t be seen by the naked eye from a few feet away.
And one more minor grumble – I was disappointed to read that that there had been no discussion of the possibility of showing these paintings (where the impasto application of paint is especially important to the effect) without a glaze, given that they could have had an attentive security guard each for this sort of special occasion. My eyes may have been playing tricks on me, but it seemed like the glass was more reflective and disruptive on the Amsterdam version.
