Susan Alyson Stein

“To give an idea of Provence it’s vital to do a few more canvases of cypresses and mountains.
… It took me all the time to observe the character of the pines, cypresses, &c. In the pure air here, the lines which don’t change and which one finds again at every step.”
Vincent Van Gogh to Theo Van Gogh, January 4, 1890
“Van Gogh’s Letters” p. 836

“Van Gogh’s Cypresses” is the perfect exhibition for this moment in time. In our pixel soaked, AI drenched, climate change endangered world we are in need of a sojourn to physical reality and a soulful engagement with the natural world. This exhibition at the Met in New York brings together Van Gogh's paintings, drawings, and illustrated letters that engage the theme of cypress trees. Many of the artworks are fragile and light sensitive, so are rarely loaned out. Expertly put together by Engelhard Curator of Nineteenth-Century European Painting Susan Alyson Stein who also wrote the wonderful book accompanying the current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which runs from May 22–August 27, 2023.

It was a pleasure to virtually venture through the exhibit by following Ms. Stein’s exploration of Van Gogh’s paintings of cypress trees and the mythological and historical lore hidden beneath Van Gogh’s richly hued paint in her masterful exhibition catalog.

Over the years, I have seen most of the paintings illustrated in the catalog in their home museums in Paris, New York, London, Amsterdam and beyond. Yet, viewing them gathered in this volume, I seem to see them anew. Van Gogh’s richly textured oil paint shines in the reproductions. I can almost hear the wind and smell the air of Provence in these artworks. A bittersweet melancholy hangs over this collection of cypress inspired artworks and not only because these trees are often seen as guide posts or markers of the world beyond our corporeal bodies. Two of the most iconic artworks in this collection - The Starry Night and Wheat Field with Cypresses were painted by Van Gogh at the asylum in Saint-Rémy where he admitted himself after a psychological crisis. The swirls of paint in these artworks become trees and harbingers of galaxies beyond.

Viewing these artworks through Ms. Steins prose, we are privy to a vision beyond mere depictions of nature. Inspired by his artistic colleagues Monticelli, Gauguin, Seurat, and Émile Bernard - Van Gogh was attempting to create paintings that evoked the deep past but were completely new at the same time.

Susan Alyson Stein explains that “cypresses held an ineluctable allure for Van Gogh.” These inescapable cypress trees enabled Van Gogh to “bring his art to the next level and make his mark as a modern painter.”

Van Gogh spent two years and three months in the South of France. From February 1888 through May 1890, he put down with ink on paper and oil paint on canvas artistic themes that emerged from his deep observations of nature and his internal responses to the light and landscape of Provence.

After leaving Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh died soon after he returned to Northern France. At Van Gogh’s funeral held on July 30, 1890, the catalog informs us that “The Moniteur des arts” reported that Doctor Gachet “spoke a few touching words over his friend’s coffin, which disappeared under branches of cypress trees and bouquets of large sunflowers.”

The paintings in the exhibition Van Gogh’s Cypresses have been gathered from across the globe. From the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, to collections in Cologne, Bremen, Essen, Otterlo, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, New Haven, and New York, Van Gogh’s cypresses have been brought together for the first time since 1901.

The catalog has an introduction and five major sections. The intro and three of the sections are authored by Susan Alyson Stein. These sections “The Roots of His Invention: Arles, February 1888-May 1889”, “The Making of a Signature Motif: Saint-Rémy, May-September 1889”, and Signing Off in Style: Saint-Rémy, October 1889-May 1890” take us through Van Gogh’s life and artistic production in Provence with the guiding lens of his cypress paintings.

The fourth section entitled “Untangling Nature” by Charlotte Hale and Silvia A. Centeno explores the art materials used by Vincent and describes in depth his painting process.

The fifth section by Alison Hokanson with the assistance of Marina Kliger provides an overview of literary and artistic uses of the cypress tree theme.

Highly Recommended!… (mehr)