Vincent Van Gogh Paintings: Volume 1: Dutch Period 1881-85 - Tapa dura

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is the custodian of more than 200 paintings and some 500 drawings by Vincent Van Gogh. It is the largest and most representative collection of his work in the world. The museum's holdings, which came from the Van Gogh family, are being made accessible through a series of detailed collection catalogues. The paintings will be discussed in three volumes, the drawings in five. Vincent Van Gogh Paintings Volume 1: Dutch period 1881-85 examines the 44 Dutch paintings in the Van Gogh Museum. The collection contains acknowledged masterpieces like The Potato Eaters, The Cottage and Still-life with Bible. There are also many studies of heads, still-lifes and people at work in which Van Gogh experimented with the effects of light and shade, colour and the use of the brush. He first began painting in 1881, and developed remarkably rapidly from an untutored beginner to a true and original master. Although usually dark, his Dutch paintings do contain a surprising amount of colour. During his time in the Brabant village of Nuenen (1883-85), he set out to show that 'one of the most beautiful things that this century's painters have done is to paint DARKNESS that is nevertheless COLOUR'.

The authors are curators at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.