VAN GOGH EXHIBITION AT LONDON’S NATIONAL GALLERY FINALLY BRINGS ONE OF HIS VISIONS TO LIFE

A triptych of Van Gogh's paintings, including two 'Sunflowers', forms part of a major new exhibition of the Dutch master's works

A hundred years after acquiring one of Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers", the National Gallery in London has brought one of the Dutch painter's visions to life by showcasing it with two of his other works side-by-side for the first time.

The triptych forms part of a major exhibition dedicated to the post-Impressionist titled "Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers".

The exhibit focuses on Van Gogh's output during the two years that he spent in the south of France, in Arles and Saint-Remy de Provence, between February 1888 and May 1890.

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"His art takes on a new amplitude, a new inventiveness, everything emerges from it," exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle says of this period in Van Gogh's life. "He becomes ever braver and bolder in how he paints, new freedom, new rhythms that enter in."

The exhibition brings together some 50 paintings and drawings that testify to Van Gogh's talent for raising emotions thanks to his subtle and intense use of colours.

Many are already well-known masterpieces, such as Starry Night, but some had never left their original private collections or museums.

In a room with yellow walls, three paintings are notably exhibited: two "Sunflowers" - one that has belonged to the National Gallery since 1924, the other specially loaned by a museum in Washington - surrounding The Lullaby, a painting depicting a woman seated on an armchair.

Riopelle explains that in 1889, Van Gogh had the idea of using a "Sunflowers" painting with a yellow background and one with a blue background to flank The Lullaby, and that the three pictures together "would comfort sailors at sea".

He adds that Van Gogh's intention, as explained in letters to his brother Theo, would represent "something consoling in life".

This is the first time that the works have been exhibited together in this way.

Predictably, nature and the landscapes of the south of France are at the heart of most of the works. Van Gogh saw this productive period in southern France as "a chance to make a mark", says Cornelia Homburg, co-curator of the exhibition, stressing that the exhibition strives to be respectful of Van Gogh's "artistic ambitions".

There is a series on olive trees, another on the mountains around Saint-Remy de Provence, and also the gardens of a psychiatric institution in the same city, where Van Gogh stayed for several months.

"He was not just a person tormented and suffering all of that," Riopelle says.

"He was a person deeply committed to the beauty of nature, deeply committed to friends and family and deeply committed to establishing a career as an avant-garde artist."