Vincent van Gogh never visited Japan. Yet, the art from there had the most profound influence on him. Titled ‘Van Gogh & Japan’, a film by David Bickerstaff, examines this very relationship between him and the Japanese art and how the latter influenced and affected his work.
Born in Netherland, Gogh was 33 years old when he moved to Paris. At the age of 37, he committed suicide after battling mental illness and poverty. But, what happened in these five years made him the artists we know of today.
In Paris, he would visit the new galleries of Japanese art and then create his own image of Japan - through in-depth research, print collecting and detailed discussions with other artists. His encounter with the Japanese artworks had given his work a new and exciting direction. After leaving Paris for the south of France – which he thought was as near to a kind of Japan as he could find - the productive and yet troubled years that followed saw Van Gogh bending Japanese influences to his will and defining himself as a modern artist with clear Asian precursors.
The film, which drew inspiration from an exhibition at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum in 2018, travels not only to France and the Netherlands but also to Japan to further explore the remarkable heritage that so affected Van Gogh.
Exhibition screening will be held at Godrej Dance Theatre, NCPA on July 9, 3 pm and 6:30 pm onwards. Tickets available at bookmyshow.com