Cezanne to Van Gogh: The Collection of Doctor Gachet [Hardcover]

Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Gachet sparked considerable and somewhat notorious debate when it was sold at auction in 1990 for the record-breaking sum of $82,500,000. In Cézanne to Van Gogh: The Collection of Doctor Gachet, readers find out how, if one painting could be worth so much money, this one might be it. Regarded by his contemporaries as "one of the liveliest and most sympathetically original of men," the physician, art collector, and amateur artist Paul Gachet (1828-1909) was a friend and patron to a number of struggling artists including Cézanne, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, and van Gogh. He invited them to make use of his attic studio in Auvers, France, and in return was often rewarded with fine examples of their work. This arrangement eventually afforded him one of the most legendary collections of impressionist and postimpressionist art in the world. And although scholarship on the artists he knew is enormous, it is rare to be made privy to the complex set of circumstances that go into the nascence of such an important collection.

Van Gogh completed the portrait that would immortalize Gachet, who had treated him for depression, only weeks before ending his short and tumultuous career by committing suicide in 1890. He wrote, "I painted a portrait of Dr. Gachet with an expression of melancholy, which would seem to look like a grimace to many who saw the canvas. And yet it is necessary to paint it like this, for otherwise one could not get an idea of the extent to which ... there is expression in our modern heads, and passion--like a waiting for things as well as a growth. Sad and yet gentle, but clear and intelligent--this is how one ought to paint many portraits."

Cézanne to Van Gogh is published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, during the summer of 1999. For the first time, the collection amassed by Gachet, originally unveiled in 1954, is being exhibited outside of France, and in this catalog it is published in its entirety. The collection contains paintings, drawings, prints, copies, and such souvenirs as the palettes of Cézanne and van Gogh, as well as the actual still-life objects seen in many of their paintings. This volume includes informative essays by both French and American curators as well as a wealth of new information, including the detailed results of new technical studies using macrophotography and x-radiography. A 328-page hardcover overflowing with 500 illustrations, 117 in color, Cézanne to Van Gogh is both the fascinating story of a unique collection and a major contribution to the study of postimpressionist art in late-19th-century France. --A.C. Smith --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Fifty years ago, the children of Dr. Paul-Ferdinand Gachet (1828-1909) donated to the French state the vast collection of impressionist and post impressionist artworks that their father had amassed from his personal contacts with the artists. These pieces were fervently guarded, ocassionally sold, and often copied by Dr. Gachet and his son Paul, both amateur artists, giving rise to questions of authenticity. Now, this richly illustrated catalog depicts these paintings, drawings, and copies as well as memorabilia on display recently at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with correspondence, photographs, and the results of radiography addressing such controversial issues. A summary catalog of the entire collection and a detailed chronology compiled by the son should be of special interest to scholars. Distel, curator at the Metropolitan, presents a fascinating look at the figure of Van Gogh immortalized. Recommended for research and special art history collections.AJoan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Paul-Ferdinand Gachet (1828-1909), a physician and amateur painter, was among the first to appreciate the work of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Pissarro and other Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. He befriended many artists, and bought and received as gifts a large number of artworks, including masterpieces such as Van Gogh's "Church at Auvers" and Cezanne's "A Modern Olympia". Beginning in 1949, Gachet's children made a series of major donations to the French state from their father's extraordinary collection. Published to accompany an international exhibition, this volume presents the entire Gachet donation of paintings, drawings, prints, and even memorabilia, and also provides information on the works and the copies of them. An essay describes the eventful lives of the Gachets and their close relationships with Cezanne, Van Gogh and others.