Jacob Maris-Le moulin
Jacob Maris
Le moulin, 1879
La Haye, Mesdag Museum
© Mesdag Museum

The exhibition first evoked Vincent’s youth, with three paintings made in 1884-1885, illustrating the province of Braban where the two brothers grew up.Photographs and documents helped outline the family background: whilst the father was a pastor, three uncles were art dealers, whom actively helped Vincent and Theo in taking up this profession.

Paul Gauguin-Oranges et citrons avec vue sur Pont-Aven
Paul Gauguin
Oranges et citrons avec vue sur Pont-Aven, 1890
Baden, Stiftung Langmatt Sidney et Jenny Brown
© Stiftung Langmatt Sidney et Jenny Brown

Theo as an art-dealer
From 1873 to 1879, Theo, after a short time in Brussels, worked for the Goupil branch in The Hague, a busy artistic centre thanks to a group of painters known as “The Hague School”. The Goupil branch largely contributed to the dissemination of their work. Theo became friends with many of these painters. During Theo’s stay in Paris from 1880 to 1890, his activities as an art dealer are well documented thanks to letters exchanged with his brother and other artists, but also thanks to the account books of the Goupil establishment kept at the Getty Museum (Los Angeles). The choice of works presented in this exhibition was made using these books.

Emile Schuffenecker-Nature morte avec une coupe de fruits
Emile Schuffenecker
Nature morte avec une coupe de fruits, 1886
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum
© Kröller-Müller Museum

An accomplished art dealer, Theo offered his customers a choice of paintings, sculptures and graphic art as wide as possible, his activity concentrating mostly on contemporary artists. Although he was bound by the Goupil headquarters’ guidelines, he nonetheless had a measure of freedom and he promoted the impressionists and avant-guard artists, friends of his brother (in particular Gauguin).
One room was thus devoted to Theo as a traditional seller, with paintings and sculpture of the fashionable artists that made up most of the sales. Also exhibited were highly valued representatives of the Barbizon School – Corot and Daubigny (of whom 68 and 46 paintings were respectively sold by Theo between 1881 and 1890) – and Millet, Rousseau, Diaz … along with such stars of the Salon as Gérôme and Meissonier.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *