Tulipmania at Gardens by the Bay

The Tulipmania exhibition this year takes it’s inspiration from one of the Netherland’s most celebrated artists, Vincent van Gogh with some of his famed artwork like ‘Self Portrait with Straw Hat’ and ‘The Starry Night’ come to life with tulips!

Saturday 1 April – Sunday 7 May 2017 border
Vincent Van Gogh was a painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in history. In over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks – around 860 oil paintings – and most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still life, portraits and are characterised by bold colours; dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His suicide at 37 was followed by years of mental illness and poverty.

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat – Van Gogh painted many self-portraits, most of which were studies during introspective periods when he was not keen to interact with others. He also painted himself because he could not hire a model due to lack of funds but determined nevertheless to hone his skills – “I purposely bought a good enough mirror to work from myself, for want of a model”.

The Starry Night – Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an idealized village. It is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and has been since 1941. It is regarded as among Van Gogh’s finest works and is one of the most recognized paintings in the history.

The Red Vineyards near Arles – This was painted in early November 1888 and supposedly is the only piece sold by the artist while he was alive.

Wheatfield with Crows – This was painted in July 1890, in the last weeks of van Gogh’s life. It is said that it was his expression of both sorrow and a sense of his life coming to an end. The crows are used by Van Gogh as a symbol of death and rebirth, or of resurrection and the road, in contrasting colours of red and green, it is said to be a metaphor for a sermon he gave based on Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” where the pilgrim is sorrowful that the road is so long, yet rejoices because the Eternal City waits at the journey’s end.

Undergrowth with Two Figures – In a letter to his younger brother dated June 30 1890, Van Gogh explained the structure and brilliant colours of Undergrowth with Two Figures, “The trunks of the violet poplars cross the landscape perpendicularly like columns,” adding “the depth of Sous Bois is blue, and under the big trunks the grass blooms with flowers in white, rose, yellow, and green.” Concealed amid the lush carpet of grass and flowers and a proliferation of slender tree trunks, two lovers represent the theme of nature’s growth and fertility.