The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen
 | This article documents an art piece involved in a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (March 2020) |
| The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
| Year | May 1884 |
| Medium | Oil on paper on panel |
| Dimensions | 25 cm × 57 cm (9.8 in × 22 in) |
| Location | Currently unknown (stolen from the Singer Laren Museum on 30 March 2020) |
| Owner | Groninger Museum |
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen (Dutch: De pastorie in Nuenen), alternatively named The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (Dutch: De pastorie in Nuenen in het voorjaar) or Spring Garden (Dutch: Lentetuin: F185, JH484), is an early oil painting by the 19th-century Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, made in May 1884 while he was living with his parents in Nuenen. Van Gogh made several drawings and oil paintings of the surrounding gardens and the garden façade of the parsonage.[1]
The painting had been in the collection of the Groninger Museum since 1962, but was stolen on 30 March 2020 from an exhibition at the Singer Laren museum in Laren, North Holland, Netherlands.[2]
Background
After living in The Hague with Sien Hoornik, and then alone for a few months in Drenthe in the northern Netherlands, Van Gogh moved in December 1883 to live with his parents in the parsonage of the Dutch Reformed Church at Nuenen, near Eindhoven, where his father was pastor.[3] The laundry room at the back of the house was turned into a studio for him. Van Gogh's father wrote to his brother Theo, saying, "We do not think it's really suitable, but we have had a proper stove installed... I wanted to put in a large window as well, but he prefers not to have one."[4]
He remained with his parents in Nuenen for nearly two years, making around 200 drawings and paintings, including his first major work, The Potato Eaters. In November 1885, he moved to Antwerp,[5] and then in 1886 to Paris.[6]
Description
In Nuenen, Van Gogh documented the changing seasons in his paintings of the parsonage's garden, which was enclosed by a high stone wall and included a duck pond with a boat dock, paths and hedges, flower and vegetable garden plots and an orchard.[7]
Preceded by a series of wintery drawings,[8] this painting was probably made in May 1884.[1] It depicts a view of the garden with a dark-clothed female figure in the foreground. In the distance are the ruins of the old church, also depicted in works such as Old Church Tower at Nuenen, before it was demolished in 1885.[9] It uses the dark palette of greens and browns, typical of Van Gogh's early works, with touches of green and red in the painting indicating that winter has passed and spring has begun.[10] In a letter that Van Gogh sent to Anthon van Rappard in March 1884, he mentioned the change in the seasons: "Ben ook zoekende naar de kleur van den wintertuin. Doch die is reeds een lente tuin - nu. En is iets heel anders geworden." ("Am also searching for the colour of the winter garden. But it is already a spring garden - now. And has become something completely different.")[11]
The painting is unusually wide, measuring 25 cm × 57 cm (9.8 in × 22.4 in) without its decorative frame, exceeding double square.[12] Van Gogh may have worked with the help of a perspective window (a wooden frame strung with wires).[13] It had been in the collection of the Groninger Museum, in the Dutch city of Groningen, since 1962[14] but was stolen in 2020.
- Other examples of the parsonage garden at Nuenen in Van Gogh's work
-
Winter Garden ("Wintertuin"), pencil and ink drawing, March 1884, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F1128, JH466) -
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Winter, pen and ink drawing, March 1884, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (F1130, JH465) -
Parsonage Garden, April 1884, small drawing sent to Anthon van Rappard, private collection (F1188) -
Old Church Tower at Nuenen, May 1884, oil on canvas on panel, Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zürich (F88, JH490) -
The Parsonage Garden in Nuenen in the Snow, oil on canvas on panel, January 1885, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena (F194, JH603) -
The Parsonage Garden in Nuenen in the Snow, oil on canvas on panel, January 1885, Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles (F67, JH604) -
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, watercolour on paper, October/November 1885, Noordbrabants Museum, ’s-Hertogenbosch (F1234, JH954) -
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen with Pond and Figures, oil on panel, 1885, destroyed by fire in Rotterdam in the Second World War (F124, JH955)
Theft
The painting was stolen from the Singer Laren museum in Laren, North Holland, on 30 March 2020. This happened to be the 167th birthday of Van Gogh. The institution was closed to the public at the time due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[2][15] The painting had been on loan from the Groninger Museum.[2] Police said in a statement that the thieves broke through the glass doors around 3:15 a.m. and were gone by the time police responded to the alarm.[16]
In a statement to the press, Jan Rudolph de Lorm, the Singer Laren museum director, said: "I'm shocked and unbelievably annoyed that this has happened. This beautiful and moving painting by one of our greatest artists stolen – removed from the community… It is very bad for the Groninger Museum, it is very bad for the Singer, but it is terrible for us all because art exists to be seen and shared by us, the community, to enjoy to draw inspiration from and to draw comfort from, especially in these difficult times."[17]
See also
References
- ^ a b "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring by GOGH, Vincent van". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Rea, Naomi (30 March 2020). "Opportunistic Thieves Just Stole a Prized Van Gogh Landscape From a Locked-Down Dutch Museum Under Cover of Night". Artnet. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ Route, Van Gogh. "Vincent van Gogh in Nuenen, The Netherlands". Van Gogh Route. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "The Vicarage at Nuenen, 1885". Permanent Collection. Van Gogh Museum. 2005–2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "Peasant Painter". Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Siegal, Nina (16 October 2013). "Becoming Vincent Van Gogh: The Paris Years". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Fell, D (2005) [2004]. Van Gogh's Women: Vincent's Love Affairs and Journey Into Madness. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers. p. 56. ISBN 0-7432-0233-3.
- ^ "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Winter by GOGH, Vincent van". Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Route, Van Gogh. "Old Church, Nuenen, The Netherlands". Van Gogh Route. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ van Heugten, S. (2018). Van Gogh and the Seasons. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17971-1. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Letter 435, on or about Saturday, 8 March 1884, vangoghletters.org
- ^ "Burglary at Singer Laren". Singer Laren. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Lentetuin, de pastorietuin te Nuenen in het voorjaar (1884) - Vincent van Gogh, artsalonholland.nl
- ^ Lentetuin, de pastorietuin te Nuenen in het voorjaar, Groninger Museum
- ^ Boffey, Daniel (30 March 2020). "Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020.
- ^ Verweij, Hilde (30 March 2020). "Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum during coronavirus shutdown". Reuters. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Dutch Museum Says Van Gogh Painting Stolen in Overnight Raid". The New York Times. Associated Press. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.