One of the most highly anticipated museum exhibitions in South Carolina history opens at the Columbia Museum of Art on October 4. Van Gogh and His Inspirations showcases the famously mysterious and intense 19th-century Dutch artist, renowned as much for his vibrant Expressionist paintings as his peculiar nature.
For this monumental show–the first exhibition of Van Gogh’s work in South Carolina history–the Columbia Museum of Art spent years securing loans from private collections and 12 major museums across the U.S.–among them, the National Gallery of Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford.
The result is a 60-piece collection curated specifically and exclusively for the 69-year-old institution, remaining on view in the South Carolina capital through January 12.
As a show that explores “how Van Gogh became Van Gogh,” notes chief curator Will South, it juxtaposes Van Gogh’s original paintings, drawings and etchings with authentic works by a dozen other talents who influenced his creative evolution–from Charles-Francois Daubigny to Gustave Dore and even Rembrandt.