Van Gogh "Repetitions" Exhibit Extended At The Cleveland Museum Of Art

[Steven_Draker]

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland will get a few more days to linger over a popular exhibition on Vincent van Gogh's double visions.

 

The Cleveland Museum of Art, which says it is facing strong demand for tickets to its "Van Gogh Repetitions" exhibition, is extending the show from Sunday, May 25 through Sunday, June 1.

 

The museum describes the show, co-organized with the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., as the first ever to examine van Gogh's practice of painting multiple versions of his favorite compositions.

 

"The last few weekends, we've had really robust visitorship," said August Napoli Jr., the museum's deputy director and chief advancement officer. "It's really exciting. People are buying tickets at a really robust pace."

 

Given the demand, Napoli said the museum wanted to extend the show through the full Memorial Day weekend and beyond.

 

Napoli said the show is on pace to reach its expected attendance of roughly 40,000 over 12 weeks, or 3,300 a week.

 

The show includes four versions of van Gogh's six portraits of the postman Joseph Roulin. Other "repetitions" include two versions of a painting of a street under repair in the Provencal town of Saint-Remy; two versions of a portrait of Roulin's 11-year-old son, Camille; plus multiple version of images of the postman's wife, Augstin, and their baby, Marcelle; and other subjects.

 

At a fundamental level, the exhibition assembles some of the most famous and widely reproduced artworks in the world.

 

In a deeper sense, the show explores how van Gogh dwelled on the same motifs in multiple images, like a composer pursuing a theme and variations.

 

The show acknowledges that van Gogh's habit of painting more than one version of his favorite motifs provided entree to forgers who painted fakes inspired by his example.

 

The exhibition includes two works no longer considered to be originals. The museum believes, however, that all the other works in the show -- roughly three dozen -- are originals.

 

source: http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2014/05/van_gogh_repetitions_exhibit_e.html

 

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