Van Gogh at the Phillips

Beautiful Japanese Maple and Beautiful Building in Washington, DC

Walt and I went downtown yesterday afternoon to see a special exhibit at the Phillips Collection, 'Van Gogh's Repetitions.' On display were about 30 works of Van Gogh,  borrowed from museums around the world (many from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris)  and that show how he often painted different versions of the same subject. It was interesting to see the changes he made with successive paintings, adding a book here, an umbrella on a table, flowers in the background. The Phillips is a nice museum, just the right size for an hour or so of viewing. I was especially happy to see one of my favorites on display, a painting of his bedroom in Arles, titled simply 'The Bedroom.'  I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the paintings, of course, so I have included a few from the internet. There were three or more versions of each painting on view.

'The Bedroom'

The exhibit was a joint project between the Phillips Collection and the Cleveland Museum of Art, and it will go to Cleveland after it closes in DC in January 2014.

'The Road Menders'

'La Berceuse'