Van Gogh painted some of his most breathtaking works during his two years in the south of France

When Vincent van Gogh left Paris in 1888, he was tired of city life. The Dutch post-impressionist traveled to the south of France, where he hoped to find peace. The tumultuous two years that followed were some of the artist’s most productive, during which he created hundreds of breathtaking paintings.

At the National Gallery in London, a new blockbuster exhibition – “Van Gogh: poets and lovers”—explores Van Gogh’s creative output between 1888 and 1990. As he moved between several homes in Arles and a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy, he experimented with bold colors and new techniques. He died by suicide the following July.

“It was a productive period during which the artist – despite emotional turmoil, nervous breakdowns and periodic institutionalization – produced some of his most famous, inventive and moving works,” the artist writes. New York TimesEmily LaBarge.

In Arles, Van Gogh rented rooms in a house known as the Yellow Housetrue fellow artist Paul Gauguin went with him for a short period. He painted some of his most celebrated pieces in the house and covered the walls with carefully curated displays of his work. The new show highlights some of these arrangements and displays paintings in the same manner as the artist did more than 100 years ago.

‘Poets and Lovers’ is named after two portraits from 1888 that hang together in the gallery, just as they once hung above Van Gogh’s bed: The ‘poet’ is Eugène Boch, a Belgian painter who remembered van Gogh by the poet Dante Alighieri. Meanwhile, the “lover” is Lieutenant Milliet, a friend of the artist who was a “local soldier Lothario,” according to the Times.

The exhibition shows more than 50 works of art, including lesser-known pieces and heavy hitters (such as Starry night And The bedroom), per a statement from the gallery. There are also paintings of olive trees, landscapes in the south of France and the gardens of the psychiatric hospital where the artist stayed for about a year.

Van Gogh’s mental health deteriorated during this period. However, the curators have decided not to focus too closely on these challenges, but instead emphasize Van Gogh’s creative development.

“We want to show the artist instead of the tortured soul,” says co-curator Cornelia Homburg Observer‘s Vanessa Thorpe, adding, “Van Gogh’s time in the south of France is the moment of creative maturity when he really thought about how to become a modern artist.”

‘Poets and Lovers’ also fulfills Van Gogh’s wish to bring three of his masterpieces together in a striking triptych. This exhibition features two of his famous sunflower paintings – one has a light blue background, while the other is set against a rich layer of gold – on either side of The lullabya serene portrait of a woman sitting in a chair.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote that he hoped the triptych would “comfort sailors at sea” and represent “something comforting in life,” according to the co-curator. Christopher Riopelle tells Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Bringing the three paintings together was no easy feat. While the version of Sunflowers against a gold background belongs to the National Gallery, the other two paintings traveled from the United States to London: The lullaby is borrowed from Boston’s Museum of Fine Artswhile the other Sunflowers is on loan from the Art Museum of Philadelphia.

“The curators have done a fantastic job of obtaining all these loans, including major masterpieces,” Martin Baileyan expert in the field of Van Gogh, says the Observer. “They will have to fight for everyone.”

“Van Gogh: poets and lovers‘ can be seen at the National Gallery in London until January 19, 2025.