Van Gogh in America, Detroit Institute of Arts

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). Stairway at Auvers, 1890. Oil on canvas; 19 11/16 x 27 3/4 in. (50 x 70.5 cm). Saint Louis Art Museum, museum purchase 1:1935.

On the centenary of its status as the first public museum in the United States to purchase a painting by Vincent van Gogh, the Detroit Institute of Arts presents Van Gogh in America, a landmark exhibition features paintings, drawings, and prints by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist.

The on view now the exhibition runs to January 22, 2023 and features 74 original Van Gogh works. The DIA’s 1922 purchase of Self-Portrait (1887) was the first by a public museum in the United States and acquisitions by other leading Midwestern museums including The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Toledo Museum of Art soon followed.

Exhibition visitors can experience the defining moments, people, and circumstances that catapulted Van Gogh’s work to widespread acclaim in the United States. “One hundred years after the DIA made the bold decision to purchase a Van Gogh painting, we are honored to present Van Gogh in America,” said DIA Director Salvador Salort-Pons. “This unique exhibition includes numerous works that are rarely on public view in the United States and tells the story – for the first time – of how Van Gogh took shape in the hearts and minds of Americans during the last century.”

Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). Roses, 1890. Oil on canvas; 27 15/16 x 35 7/16. (71 x 90cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, gift of Pamela Harriman in memory of W. Averell Harriman, 1991.67.1

Works by Van Gogh appeared in more than 50 group shows before he finally received a solo exhibition in an American museum in 1935 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Reflecting and fanning the excitement among American audiences for Van Gogh was Irving Stone’s novel Lust for Life (1934), and Vincente Minnelli’s film adaptation starring Kirk Douglas (1956), which helped shape Americans’ popular understanding of the artist.

Spanning 9 galleries, the exhibition includes select works by Van Gogh’s contemporaries Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, in addition to 20th century European and American artists Raoul Dufy, Henri Matisse, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, and Joseph Stella.

Van Gogh in America , October 2, 2022 — January 22, 2023 | For more information visit DIA.

View the gallery guide here.