Vincent van Gogh
We present today's work thanks to the Kröller-Müller Museum, which acquired this flower still life by Vincent van Gogh in 1974. From the start there were doubts about whether it was really by Van Gogh: the size was unusual, the flowers were considered too excessive, and the style of painting was deemed inconsistent with Van Gogh’s development. X-ray studies revealed that ... there are two wrestlers painted under the flower still life. In January 1886, Vincent wrote to his brother Theo: "This week I painted a large thing with two nude torsos – two wrestlers [...] And I really like doing that." Was he talking about the wrestlers under the flower still life? That too was uncertain.
In 2012, with a new research technique and a team of experts from TU Delft, Antwerp University, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, it was determined that the underlying painting is indeed by Van Gogh. He painted the flower still life over it later. Since then the flower still life itself has been given a prominent place among other works by Vincent van Gogh in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum.
P.S. Have you been to the Kröller-Müller Museum? If not, here are 5 reasons to visit the place with the largest Van Gogh collection outside of Amsterdam!
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