Exact Spot Of Van Gogh’s Last Art From Hours Before Suicide May Have Been Found
Image via Shutterstock
Researchers claim that the exact spot where Vincent van Gogh painted his final masterpiece before he shot himself has been discovered in a French village.
With the help of a postcard, scientific director of the Institut Van Gogh Wouter van der Veen came to believe that the artwork Tree Roots was painted in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris before he died.
The painting features brightly-colored tree trunks, roots and stumps that were found near the village. Van der Veen claimed that the artwork and a postcard dating from 1900 to 1910 looked similar. The site was located near the Auberge Ravoux, the inn where Van Gogh stayed before he shot himself in 1890.
“The sunlight painted by Van Gogh indicates that the last brush strokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon, which provides more information about the course of this dramatic day ending in his suicide,” Van der Veen said.
Van der Veen made the breakthrough as he went through documents during the coronavirus lockdown. He presented his findings to Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, where experts did a comparative study of the painting and the postcard.
Researchers of the museum, Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp, said that it is “highly plausible” that the final location has been identified.
“In our opinion, the location identified by Van der Veen is highly likely to be the correct one and it is a remarkable discovery,” Meedendorp said. “On closer observation, the overgrowth on the postcard shows very clear similarities to the shape of the roots on Van Gogh's painting. That this is his last artwork renders it all the more exceptional, and even dramatic.”
A ceremony was held in Auvers-sur-Oise after the discovery of the location.The ceremony was attended by Emile Gordenker, Willen van Gogh, the great grandson of Vincent’s brother Theo, according to The Guardian.
[via BBC, opening image via Shutterstock]
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