In the snowy February of 1888, Vincent van Gogh, in search of respite, moved south from Paris to Arles, eventually renting a house—now known as “the Yellow House”—with a vision of establishing an artists’ retreat. Paul Gauguin came to stay in October of that year, but left in late December when a blazing row erupted and Van Gogh broke down, infamously severing his left ear. After five more months of repeated psychosis and hospitalization, the Dutch artist, in May 1889, admitted himself to an asylum in nearby Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he stayed until the following May, prone to episodes that drove him to eat paint.
Opening today, and marking the bicentenary of London’s National Gallery, “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” brings together more than 50 works that tell the story of the artist’s most explosive period, those 27 months in the South of France.
