Photo caption: This is the first time that Paul Gauguin’s 1887 painting The Mango Trees, Martinique (Van Gogh Museum, Vincent van Gogh Foundation) is being reunited with the large, elaborate preparatory study in pastel, Martinican Women (1887, private collection). Photo: Jan-Kees Steenman
Amsterdam, 2 October 2018
The Van Gogh Museum presents Gauguin & Laval in Martinique. This is the first ever exhibition devoted to a crucial, but up until now neglected period in the artistic career of Paul Gauguin: the four months that he spent in Martinique in 1887, together with Charles Laval. The colourful, innovative artworks that the two friends created on the island proved to have a huge impact on their artistic development and future careers.
Gauguin & Laval in Martinique unites a large number of the paintings, drawings and sketches that the two French artists created on the Caribbean island for the first time. Many of the loans are part of private collections and are otherwise rarely exhibited or published, if ever at all.
The Van Gogh Museum is home to several significant works by Gauguin and Laval from their Martinican period. Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo made the initial acquisitions for this collection as early as 1887.
As a part of the exhibition, contemporary artist Jean-François Boclé (1971, Martinique) reflects on the artists’ perceptions of the island with a unique installation.
The exhibition runs 5 October 2018 to 13 January 2019. Where: Van Gogh Museum Museumplein 6, Amsterdam. Check Ryanair or British airways for flights there are plenty of nearby hotels.
