Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most influential and well-known personalities when it comes to the world of art. His last portrait disappeared from the public eye almost three decades ago. The Städel Museum in Germany commissioned a podcast series to trace the journey of the painting’s colourful history. By Amitha Ameen
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Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is well known for his paintings, the most recognised and famous one being the Starry Night. While that painting is valued at over 100 million dollars, it is his very last painting that has caught the attention of the art world.
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Van Gogh’s last painting before he took his own life was a portrait of Dr Paul Gachet, the neurologist who treated him. A few weeks before his death in 1890, Van Gogh had painted two portraits of the doctor. While one of it was presented to Dr Gachet, which now resides at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, it is the final version that was in Frankfurt that has gone missing.
This last painting is said to stir many different emotions and is one of the most extraordinary portraits made by Van Gogh. The painting was once a highlight of the Städel collection – that is, until the Nazis confiscated it in 1937, declaring it a work of so-called ‘degenerate art’ (as reported on The Art Newspaper).
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More recently, when the museum conducted an exhibition titled ‘Making Van Gogh’ in October 2019, it featured many of his works along with an empty picture frame, one that was originally supposed to hold the ‘Portrait Dr Gachet.’
Through the years and much after the artist’s death, the portrait had changed many hands before finally being sold to the Austrian investment manager Wolfgang Flöttl. Due to financial problems, the painting once again changed hands to its present owner, a mystery collector who is living in Switzerland.
And it is for this very reason, that the Städel had commissioned a five-episode podcast series of “Finding Van Gogh” aimed at tracing the painting’s eventful history. You can listen to the podcast on the museum’s website, Spotify, Google Podcast and Apple Podcast.
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