Making Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers

This lecture is part of the Summer Term Creative Conversations series; dialogues between artists, curators and writers. Curated by Dr Claudia Tobin, lectures are held on Wednesday evenings either at the School or online.

Please note this event is taking place in person at the Royal Drawing School, and tickets are limited.

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Sunflowers by Van Gogh, 1888, oil on canvas, 92.1 x 73 cm, The National Gallery, London.

Van Gogh : Poets & Lovers, the first exhibition at the National Gallery devoted to a key figure of Modernism, looked at the two crucial years of intense creativity Vincent spent in Arles, 1888-1890. It offers a revisionist view of what he achieved there, downplaying ever-popular mental illness, instead foregrounding his allegorical treatment of the motifs he chose to depict and how he positioned himself as professional artist and key player in an emerging Paris and international avant-garde.

Christopher Riopelle has been a curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the National Gallery. He has taught at the American College, Paris, New York University (Washington Square), and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He lectures and publishes internationally.

Van Gogh's Chair, Vincent van Gogh, 1888, Oil on canvas, 91.8 x 73 cm

Cover image: Sunflowers by Van Gogh, 1888, oil on canvas, 92.1 x 73 cm, The National Gallery, London.