Martin Bailey

‘Mystery of a masterpiece’: how Van Gogh’s postman portrait ‘disappeared’ from London’s Tate Gallery a century ago

Now owned by New York’s MoMA, the painting of Joseph Roulin is the star loan for a major exhibition opening in Boston

Matisse wanted to buy a Van Gogh portrait—instead, his brother bought a bicycle

Years later, inspired by Vincent’s paintings, the French artist became a “wild beast”

The ten most expensive Vincent van Gogh paintings

His ‘Sunflowers’ painting does not make the list—and there are other surprises too

a blog by Martin Bailey

You’ve got mail: pathbreaking exhibition on Van Gogh’s postman opens shortly in Boston, then heads to Amsterdam

While painting Joseph Roulin and his wife and children, Vincent wrote in great excitement: “I’ve done the portraits of an entire family”

25 years on: how Somerset House became a centre for contemporary art

The London institution had a false start as a museum, but is now thriving with its winning combination of hosting temporary exhibitions and art fairs, and renting studio spaces to creatives

The Kiefer-Van Gogh exhibition comes to Amsterdam and London, with fresh works inspired by the German artist’s pilgrimage 60 years ago

At the last minute hundreds of Kiefer’s home-grown sunflower seeds stuck on a huge painting needed to be replaced after they had attracted insects

Could this Van Gogh have come from Nazi Germany?

As Birmingham’s peasant woman painting goes on loan to Charleston, we explore the question of its provenance

Van Gogh’s hospital painting comes to London, returning for the first time in a hundred years

The picture shows the ward where the artist slept after mutilating his ear—I witnessed the room’s tragic demolition

What we learned from the show of Monet’s London paintings at the Courtauld

Specialists and curators on what gathering Thames paintings from around the world revealed

Was a new Van Gogh really discovered at a garage sale? Here’s why I remain unconvinced

The New York-based LMI Group claims the $50 portrait is a previously unknown work by the Dutch master, perhaps now worth $15m, but the Van Gogh Museum rejects it

How many Van Goghs have been stolen—and where are they now?

A new Dutch book provides the first comprehensive account of how the artist’s work has been targeted by thieves

Investigation shines fresh light on British Museum’s looted, Dürer-inspired diptych

The piece, one side of which is an enamel copy of a 16th-century woodcut, the other side crafted in Ethiopia, reveals how European icons became incorporated into the African country’s traditions

Framing Van Gogh: why the artist preferred not to surround his works with gold

The National Gallery’s blockbuster exhibition, ‘Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers’, provides an unusual opportunity to see how the artist’s works have been framed by their owners

Where to see Van Gogh's work in 2025: Boston, London and beyond

This year also marks the 150th anniversary of Vincent’s time as a young art dealer in England

What links Van Gogh, Trump, a golden toilet and Cattelan's $6.2m banana?

This unlikely grouping is part of an astonishing story involving New York’s Guggenheim Museum

Protestscomment

The Year in Review: escalating art attacks and responses to war

This year has been marked by a rising number of politically-motivated attacks on art. But we should not forget the power of art to unite diverse groups of people

Snug as a bug: conservation work reveals beetle in Gauguin cat painting

The painting, which has just gone on display at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, was previously hidden away in a private collection for over a century

Van Gogh was not fantasising when he painted mountain landscapes with ‘The Two Holes’

A pair of pictures with this bizarre geological feature have been brought together at London’s National Gallery, on loan from New York

A Van Gogh painting, newly authenticated in an unexpected Polish museum, has gone on display in a church dome

Bought by a British collector, the Dutch landscape was donated to an institution dedicated to Pope John Paul II

Vienna Art Week celebrates 20th anniversary with Rembrandt—and lots of gold

Event, which was the first of its kind in the world and now involves more than 20 institutions, is run by museums rather than dealers

British Museum still taking money from tobacco firm

Japanese acquisitions have been funded by maker of Benson & Hedges, Winston, Camel and Silk Cut

Van Gogh’s finest ‘London drawing’ was not done in the UK, but later in Amsterdam

The sketch of Austin Friars Church throws fresh light on Vincent’s draftsmanship, suggesting he was even more of a late developer as an artist

Leonardo Cartoon was ‘presentation drawing’ in Florence commission bid

Leonardo’s largest known drawing was hung with the Mona Lisa in his studio, says Per Rumberg, the curator of the Royal Academy’s Florentine Old Masters exhibition opening this month