Up close with Van Gogh
View(s):Netherlands Ambassador Bonnie Horbach, will be the Chief Guest when the Sky Gallery and the ‘Fareed Uduman Artforum’ present: ‘Van Gogh In Sri Lanka’ from May 11-21. The collection of 50 beautifully framed museum quality canvas prints of some of Van Gogh’s best works in the exact sizes of the originals will be a feast, for all art lovers.
Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat’ (Van Gogh Museum)
Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter – often referred to as a ‘tortured artist’ ranks among the most famous and influential figures in the history of western art. Together with Cezanne, Gauguin and Seurat, Van Gogh led the movement of ‘post-Impressionism’ unified by their interest in expressing their emotional and psychological responses to the world through bold colours and expressive, abstract and symbolic images.
Born in 1853, Van Gogh began painting at the age of 27. His entire collection of over 2000 paintings and drawings was painted in just a single decade. Interestingly, the best of his works was accomplished during the last two years of his turbulent life. Van Gogh died tragically in 1890 at the age of 37. He walked into a wheatfield and shot himself in the chest with a pistol. Earlier, he had sliced off his own ear after a heated argument with Gauguin and thereafter spent a year in a mental asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He was extremely productive here, painting some of his best works, including ‘The Starry Night’.
He was only able to sell just one painting in his lifetime — ‘The Red Vineyard’ (in 1890) and struggled for recognition – while painting those masterpieces that sold for millions after his death.
Jomo Uduman, the founder of Sky Gallery and the Fareed Uduman ArtForum, said that after visiting the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam a few years ago he was overwhelmed by Van Gogh’s art. Aware that only a very few in Sri Lanka have the privilege of visiting such a museum, he had this dream to bring Van Gogh up close to art lovers here. He found out that Van Gogh’s art was now in the public domain, and set about finding an overseas printer with a library of photos of Van Gogh’s paintings who could print them exactly like the originals – an exhausting, but finally successful project. Studying Van Gogh’s paintings hanging in galleries all over the world he decided on a matching design and theme for the frames, which he then got specially manufactured in Sri Lanka. Stretching the canvases and the final framing was outsourced, while the painting and dressing up of all the frames were done in Zeppelin’s Studio.
Exhibits include iconic paintings like: The Starry Night, Portrait of Pere Tanguy, Three Sunflowers, 14 Sunflowers, Portrait of Dr.Gachet, Sorrowing Old Man, Bedroom in Arles, Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat, The Siesta, Trees in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, The Drinkers, Two Diggers Among Trees, The Brothel, Starry Night Over The Rhone, Portrait of Patience Escalier, The Reaper, Avenue of Poplars in Autumn.
The exhibition will be on from Thursday, May 11 to Sunday May 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Admission is free.
Visitors kindly note that there are steps to climb up to the Gallery at 65/9, Kirula Road Colombo 5. Contact : 0777329596.
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