Through Sept. 7, the Van Gogh Church in Etten-Leur features a unique sunflower exhibition. Come feel Vincent van Gogh's famous paintings: high-quality, two-and-a-half-dimensional reproductions of a masterpiece by Vincent van Gogh.
All Sunflowers, a self-portrait and a work by Van Gogh's friend Paul Gaugain, who portrayed Van Gogh painting sunflowers in 1888. These unique reproductions, made by Neggers Reclame from Etten-Leur as part of the Year of the Sunflower, allow visitors to experience the world-famous works up close, enjoy the brightness of his colors and experience and feel the energy of his brushstrokes!
Durable and 2.5D thick
Thijn Neggers: "The reproductions, including the famous Vase with 15 Sunflowers' are printed with our very latest flatbed printer. With this printer we can print directly on plate material. A very sustainable way because we no longer need film. The special thing is that we can print 2.5D thick. So we can build up the layers of ink so that the structure of the painting can really be felt."
Sunflowers in the lead role
Like his contemporaries, Van Gogh painted many flower still lifes. But he did it slightly differently. After some practice with different flowers, he chose one flower: the sunflower. In the eyes of his peers, sunflowers may have seemed a bit rustic and inelegant. Vincent actually found that interesting, and also liked to paint spent specimens. He gave the sunflower the starring role in a number of paintings. Vincent knew his sunflower paintings were special. Others saw that too. When he had died, his friends brought sunflowers to his funeral. The sunflower had come to belong to Vincent, just as he had hoped.
Gratitude
Vincent made the first still lifes of sunflowers in Paris. They impressed painter Paul Gauguin. For Vincent, this felt like a great honor. He had just met Gauguin and looked up to him. That this particular painter appreciated his work confirmed his feeling that he was on the right track.
Not long after, Vincent moved to the south of France. He wanted to start an artist community there: a place where artists could live and work, and inspire each other. When he heard that Gauguin would actually come, he painted several still lifes of sunflowers to decorate the guest room. Gauguin called the paintings "all Vincent. For Van Gogh, his paintings of sunflowers had special meaning. They expressed "gratitude," he wrote.
Year of the Sunflower
The exhibition takes place as part of the Year of the Sunflower, an initiative of Van Gogh National Park and Van Gogh Brabant and is a prelude to the opening of the 7,500-square-meter field painting Vase with 15 Sunflowers at De Menmoerhoeve in Etten-Leur during August. For the full program, visit www.jaarvandezonnebloem.nl
Etten-Leur marked the beginning of Vincent van Gogh's artistic career in 1881. In this North Brabant municipality he also had his very first studio and first registered as a painter
Exhibition 'Totally Vincent'
Van Gogh Church, Market 4 Etten-Leur
T/m Sept. 7, 2024, 1:30-5 p.m.
Tickets: www.vangoghkerk.nl
A maximum of 100 tickets are available each afternoon.
