Adventures with Van Gogh

Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories will range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries. © Martin Bailey

Another insect discovered in a Van Gogh painting—and this time it has left behind a trail

Show opening in Dallas and travelling to Amsterdam reveals findings from three-year international research project into Vincent's olive grove pictures

a blog by Martin Bailey

Stunning $30m Van Gogh watercolour resurfaces at Christie’s New York following complex behind-the-scenes deal

The auction house—which estimates the painting at $30m—helped broker a deal between the seller and the descendants of two Jewish families who had it in the Nazi era

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?

Amsterdam museum opens exhibition on Vincent’s early painting of a peasant family gathered for a meal

a blog by Martin Bailey

70 paintings in 70 days: Van Gogh’s astonishing achievement at the end of his life

A dramatic sunset over a château was one of Vincent's last landscapes—and one of his largest

a blog by Martin Bailey

Where was Van Gogh originally buried? We still don’t know

In an extraordinary scene, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Vincent’s skull was held aloft and moved in 1905

Van Gogh’s mysterious Wheatfield with Crows—what does it really mean?

Long assumed to be Vincent’s final painting, this foreboding scene is also full of life

a blog by Martin Bailey

Caught: the drug baron who claims to have bought €20m stolen Van Gogh paintings for 'their artistic value'

Arrested in Dubai, the story of Mafia suspect Raffaele Imperiale confirms long-suspected links between the drugs trade and art theft

a blog by Martin Bailey

Secrets of the two unknown Van Gogh Sunflowers

One has been always been hidden away in private collections and will fetch a fortune when it emerges; the other was destroyed by an American bomb

a blog by Martin Bailey

Ten surprising facts about Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, his greatest masterpiece

From a brothel garden to Nazi leader Hermann Göring’s fake—all part of the sunflower story

a blog by Martin Bailey

Exuberant Van Gogh landscape—featuring his beloved olive and cypress trees—could well make $40m at Christie's New York

Always hidden away in private collections, the painting will probably sell to a someone in the Far East

a blog by Martin Bailey

Discovered: a very early photograph of the trees in Van Gogh’s final picture, painted just hours before he fired the fatal shot

On the anniversary of Vincent’s death, his picture can be seen as “a suicide note in colour”

a blog by Martin Bailey

The Harvest: painted in a single summer's day, here's why this is Van Gogh’s finest landscape

Vincent needed to recover from his intensive work with a stiff drink and his beloved pipe

a blog by Martin Bailey

Exclusive: Rescued from an attic, lost Van Gogh landscape surfaces in Japan—here it is in colour

Vincent's watercolour of a Dutch meadow with cows was exhibited once, in 1903, and is known only from a small black-and-white photograph

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s self-portraits: what do they really reveal?

An exhibition at London’s Courtauld Gallery will be the most comprehensive ever held of Vincent's paintings of himself

a blog by Martin Bailey

How Van Gogh helped set up a brass band in his village

Dutch trombonist discovers documentary evidence revealing that Vincent supported a musical group which still plays today

A new Van Gogh work discovered hidden in a book

Reproduced here for the first time: a trio of sketches from Vincent’s village—designed as a bookmark

a blog by Martin Bailey

Discovered: American couple buys a picture by Van Gogh’s friend Edmund Brooke for $45 in antiques shop

Vincent was fascinated by his Australian colleague’s links with Japan—and together they painted landscapes in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise

a blog by Martin Bailey

A Degas bought by the Van Gogh Museum sparks off an ethical debate: are female nudes OK?

The controversial pastel stars in a show of new acquisitions in Amsterdam

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh 'immersive experiences': a guide to the global battle now reaching London

Presenting a vivid insight into Vincent’s art, Van Gogh Alive opens today in Kensington Gardens

a blog by Martin Bailey

India’s 'vaccine prince' has a Van Gogh landscape in his living room

Adar Poonawalla, who runs the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccine producer, claims to have the finest collection of European art in the sub-continent

a blog by Martin Bailey

How a Van Gogh painting was stolen from a Cairo museum—not once, but twice

The Khalil Museum, with its fabled Impressionists in a mansion by the Nile, has reopened after an 11-year renovation—without Vincent’s flower still-life

a blog by Martin Bailey

Irises: anniversary of Van Gogh’s finest garden picture, painted on his first morning in the asylum

Monet asked how the artist who made this exuberant masterpiece could possibly be unhappy—and a century later it became the most expensive work at auction

New discoveries about Van Gogh’s olive grove paintings revealed in upcoming Dallas and Amsterdam exhibitions

In Provence, Vincent loved the gnarled trees with a passion that rivalled his beloved sunflowers

Van Gogh's $30m riverscape with an absinthe-coloured sky comes up for sale at Christie’s

The story of Le Pont de Trinquetaille—with the young female mudlark and the ruffians from the red-light district

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s unknown period: his life in a remote Dutch heathland region

A new study and a 2023 exhibition will reveal how Vincent’s art developed in Drenthe—an escape from city life and his lover Sien

a blog by Martin Bailey

David Hockney follows in Van Gogh’s footsteps, painting fleeting spring blossom

Martin Gayford’s book pays tribute to Britain’s greatest living artist before an exhibition at London’s Royal Academy

a blog by Martin Bailey

Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?

The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums

a blog by Martin Bailey

Who bought the €13m Van Gogh? Britain’s second richest family

Montmartre painting was auctioned twice by Sotheby’s, after a bidder failed to have the necessary cash

a blog by Martin Bailey