Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Image: arthénon
A postcard called  “Rue Daubigny, Auvers-sur-Oise” is superimposed with parts of the painting “Tree Roots” (1890) by Vincent van Gogh, revealing new insights on the artist’s last hours.

One doesn’t need to go to Mars or the Himalayas or Sedona to make discoveries. One doesn’t need to skydive or eat insects or tag sharks to have new experiences. Not that people shouldn’t seek out adventure, but the truth is, there’s always quite a lot to discover right where you are — maybe just deepening your understanding of what makes an old friend tick.

I loved this story of a discovery about the great Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, a discovery made just by studying an old postcard and thinking.

Jasmine Weber writes at the arts website Hyperallergic, “In one of the most captivating artistic discoveries made amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a researcher has pinpointed the likely location of Vincent van Gogh’s final painting, ‘Tree Roots’ (1890).

“Wouter van der Veen, the scientific director of the Institut van Gogh, noticed the oil painting’s clear resemblance to a portion of a postcard from the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, where the Dutch painter took his life in 1890. Dated between 1900-1910, the postcard shows mangled tree roots growing out of the hillside; when superimposed onto the photograph, the painting seems to be a perfect match.

When France lifted its COVID-19 lockdown this May, Van der Veen was able to visit the spot and found the large trunk still looked as it had over a century ago.

“Van der Veen submitted his findings to two senior researchers at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp. The pair believes there is a ‘high plausibility’ that the the hillside in the town where van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life, was the same as the motif in ‘Tree Trunks,’ which belongs to the museum’s collection. …

“ ‘On closer observation, the overgrowth on the postcard shows very clear similarities to the shape of the roots on Van Gogh’s painting,’ [Meedendorp] said in a press release. …

“ ‘The site is also consistent with Van Gogh’s habit of painting motifs from his immediate surroundings,’ said van Der Veen. He adds that the ‘sunlight painted by Van Gogh indicates that the last brush strokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon,’ contributing further information about van Gogh’s last hours.

“The Institut van Gogh has since worked with local authorities to build a protective wooden structure around the site.” More.

In one more example of the benefits of having plenty of time to think, the BBC adds that Mr Van der Veen “had the revelation at his home in Strasbourg, France, during lockdown. … [and] visited the site to verify his theory in May 2020, once coronavirus restrictions had been lifted in France.

“A ceremony was held in Auvers-sur-Oise, a few miles north of Paris, [in July] to mark the discovery of the apparent location. Emilie Gordenker, the general director of the Van Gogh Museum, and Willem van Gogh, the great-grandson of Vincent’s brother Theo, were in attendance to unveil a commemorative plaque at the site.” More at the BBC.