Van Gogh’s Olive Grove Paintings Are Reunited In A New Exhibit

Vincent Van Gogh, A Walk At Twilight, 1889-1890, Oil On Canvas, Collection Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand. Purchase, 1958.

Through February 6, the Dallas Museum of Art hosts the first exhibition—and sole North American showing—dedicated to Vincent van Gogh’s olive grove paintings, a series the renowned artist created during his time as a self-admitted patient at the asylum of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

“Van Gogh and the Olive Groves” showcases approximately 27 works, including 10 paintings (of the 15) in van Gogh’s olive grove series, 14 additional works by the artist, and three works by contemporaries Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard. Culled from public and private collections, the paintings trace the evolution of van Gogh’s experimentation with this quintessential Provence motif from June to December of 1889, exploring his affinity for producing a series of works dedicated to the same subject and showcasing his investigation of color, line and form.

Co-curated by Nicole R. Myers, the Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, and Nienke Bakker, Senior Curator of Paintings at the Van Gogh Museum—who jointly state they “are thrilled to reunite the olive grove series for the first time”—this exhibition will later make its way to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.