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 range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries. © Martin Bailey
New book solves the mystery of Van Gogh's lost harmonium portrait
Vincent scrunched up a study for a second portrait of Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of his Auvers doctor
Two Van Gogh fakes in Washington? Strong evidence produced against early drawings at the National Gallery of Art
Revelations in new book about an attic discovery throw fresh light on Vincent’s decision to become an artist
In a moving letter, Van Gogh complains about quarantine after his forced removal from the Yellow House
New exhibition at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is a unique opportunity to see Vincent’s correspondence, normally locked away in a vault
Coveted Van Gogh bouquet to be sold at Sotheby's New York, valued at $18m
Chequered past: from the Bear Skin to the Nazis, a once-restituted painting is now coming up for auction
The most famous bedroom in art history: secrets of Van Gogh’s nocturnal life
A story of changing wall colours, a pair of pillows, wartime bombs and the hunt for a lost bed
Gauguin and Van Gogh: their shared love of Japan revealed
“Beautiful women” in Gauguin’s rediscovered manuscript are now identified as by Kunisada—Vincent’s favourite Japanese printmaker
Gauguin claims credit for Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: the revelations of a rediscovered manuscript
In Avant et Après—just acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery—Gauguin details his tumultuous time with Van Gogh
Van Gogh exhibitions return—exclusive news all the way up to 2024
From olive groves to peat moors: shows coming up in Dallas, Amsterdam, Detroit, Vienna, Assen, Columbus and Santa Barbara
Which is the only museum in the world actively buying up Van Goghs? It’s in the hometown of Hieronymus Bosch
The Noordbrabants Museum’s latest acquisition is Head of a Woman, bought privately for €1.6m through Christie’s
Art for the People: how a Van Gogh masterpiece ended up in an English village hall
In 1935 Samuel Courtauld lent Peach Blossoms to bring major paintings to the countryside—an inspiration for today
Van Gogh held hostage: private detective tells us he has more photographs
Will Arthur Brand’s images of the stolen painting lead to a recovery?
Courtauld Gallery acquires watercolour by A.S. Hartrick—friend and portraitist of Van Gogh and Gauguin
“Tall, dark, rather handsome”, his description of Gauguin in Breton garb
Dutch villa, which once housed nearly a thousand Van Goghs, under threat of demolition
The fate of the 1901 home in the oak garden is in the balance
Only joint letter from Van Gogh and Gauguin—recording their brothel visits—comes up for sale
Vincent describes his artist friend as having the “instincts of a wild beast”
Now stuck in Japanese lockdown, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers will not return to UK until next summer
Londoners will have to wait even longer to see the National Gallery’s 60 touring masterpieces
Executed by the Nazis: the story of Vincent van Gogh’s brave great-nephew
This month the Van Gogh family pays tribute to Theodoor, the 24-year-old student who faced a firing squad in 1945
Van Gogh Museum to reopen on 1 June, but with only a tenth of its usual visitors
Closure is having a catastrophic impact on the finances of the museum, which normally gets half its income from ticket sales
The astonishing tales of how the Sunflowers survived the Second World War
To mark VE Day, we investigate the fate of Van Gogh’s masterpieces under Hitler and Churchill
Home sweet home: renting the Yellow House, the high point of Van Gogh’s life
Vincent’s sunny abode had a spare bedroom, awaiting Gauguin’s arrival
Van Gogh experienced lockdown—how did isolation impact on his art?
The artist once told his sister that isolation was “sometimes as hard to bear as exile”—but was necessary “if we want to work”
Did Van Gogh cut off his whole ear? Or only a part?
Key witnesses had different memories, so sorting out myth and reality is a challenge—but the truth would give valuable insight into the artist’s psyche
A concise guide to Van Gogh’s adult life: how the artist celebrated his birthday over the years
From family gifts of cufflinks and chocolate to his darker days in the asylum, a look at where Vincent was and what he was doing on 30 March each year
In recent decades 28 Van Goghs have been stolen in the Netherlands—but all have been recovered
Detectives are intensifying their investigation into the latest crime, at Laren’s Singer museum, which was committed this week on the artist’s birthday
Van Gogh’s trusty pipe: how the artist believed that smoking helped his art
Vincent lay in bed, puffing away and dreamily composing his pictures
Van Gogh’s theory on Degas’s success with female nudes
A three-volume set of The Letters of Edgar Degas—including ten with references to the Van Gogh brothers—is due to be published in April
Tacita Dean’s ancestors brought a Van Gogh painting to England in 1896—now she wants to track it down
The UK artist is on the hunt for the Parisian restaurant scene, now with a secretive Texan collector
Almost burned on a bonfire and then hidden behind a door for years—rediscovered Van Gogh landscape goes on sale at Tefaf Maastricht
New York’s Hammer Galleries has priced the Paris park scene at $10m-$12m
Great lovers of Van Gogh: Swiss couple's private collection goes on show in Vienna
The Albertina mounts a display of the Hahnlosers' relatively unknown treasures
A Van Gogh and a Monet: you win one and lose another
The Dutchman’s newly attributed Oslo self-portrait is unveiled in an Amsterdam exhibition, while the Frenchman’s bohemian portrait suffers a downgrading
Kirk Douglas played Van Gogh in 1950s film Lust for Life: a look at the biopic and the myths it made
The Hollywood star, who died last week aged 103, became famous for his portrayal of the "tortured artist"