"Adventures with Van Gogh has just marked its 300th post since the weekly blog was launched in 2018. For the 200th, in February 2023, we ran a compilation of what had then been the ten most popular posts. This week, starting with the most popular, we look back at the posts which have attracted most readers since then. Some of the topics were predictable, others came as quite a surprise. All have recently been updated with new information for this latest compilation."
"A quirky subject was the second most popular: the story of a geological feature in the mountains near the asylum where Van Gogh lived for a year outside Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The artist painted a ridge in Les Alpilles (the Little Alps) which has two holes through it that were weathered in the limestone. This strange sight appears in The Olive Trees (June 1889) at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Not so: the two holes are indeed there."
Three hundred entries have been produced since a weekly launch in 2018, prompting a retrospective ranking of the most-read Van Gogh topics, all updated with new information. The top entries range from market valuations to artistic subjects and biographical controversy. The highest auction prices are listed, led by Orchard with Cypresses (April 1888) at $117 million. A geological curiosity in Les Alpilles is examined, confirming a double-holed ridge that appears in The Olive Trees. The contested circumstances of Van Gogh’s death are addressed, with the conclusion that suicide remains the most convincing explanation based on contemporary belief and ten supporting reasons.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]