Adventures with Van Gogh

Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories will range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries. © Martin Bailey

Van Gogh's $30m riverscape with an absinthe-coloured sky comes up for sale at Christie’s

The story of Le Pont de Trinquetaille—with the young female mudlark and the ruffians from the red-light district

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s unknown period: his life in a remote Dutch heathland region

A new study and a 2023 exhibition will reveal how Vincent’s art developed in Drenthe—an escape from city life and his lover Sien

a blog by Martin Bailey

David Hockney follows in Van Gogh’s footsteps, painting fleeting spring blossom

Martin Gayford’s book pays tribute to Britain’s greatest living artist before an exhibition at London’s Royal Academy

a blog by Martin Bailey

Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?

The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums

a blog by Martin Bailey

Who bought the €13m Van Gogh? Britain’s second richest family

Montmartre painting was auctioned twice by Sotheby’s, after a bidder failed to have the necessary cash

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The astonishing tale of how a US vice president’s Van Gogh work ended up in Iran

Vincent’s print—inscribed “At Eternity’s Gate” by the artist—went from Nelson Rockefeller to Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art

a blog by Martin Bailey

Boris Johnson says Van Gogh’s Sunflowers 'lifts the soul'—as the London masterpiece is unveiled in Australia

Britons will have to wait a bit longer to enjoy the painting as Covid-19 delays the National Gallery’s international tour, now on its final stop in Canberra

a blog by Martin Bailey

Bought for around $1,000, now worth $10m: where was the newly unveiled Van Gogh landscape hidden away?

Montmartre windmill painting is on view with Sotheby’s for the first time since it left the easel

a blog by Martin Bailey

Pissarro predicted that Van Gogh 'would either go mad or leave the Impressionists far behind'

Fresh evidence of Camille’s admiration for Vincent: an unpublished document reveals he owned the Dutch artist’s portrait of their paintseller friend Père Tanguy

a blog by Martin Bailey

Hockney and Van Gogh paintings meet in Houston for exhibition on the joys of nature

Despite Covid-19, the show will open with works now safely flown across the Atlantic

a blog by Martin Bailey

Seller of $92m Botticelli also collected Van Gogh

Sheldon Solow’s Rhône riverscape is worth $40m—but what will happen to it now that the billionaire New York collector has died?

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s Japanese girl could fetch record $10m at auction

A Provençal drawing coming up at Christie’s New York is based on a painting in Washington, DC

a blog by Martin Bailey

Is Van Gogh hiding at the back of this Toulouse-Lautrec drawing?

In this rare depiction of Vincent, now in a Hiroshima museum, he is observing a raucous cabaret in Paris

a blog by Martin Bailey

A lost Van Gogh self-portrait had the most extraordinary frame that included his much-loved sunflowers—here it is reconstructed

The painting—which went missing in a German salt mine during the war—was given a gilded frame with swirling lines

a blog by Martin Bailey

Treats for Van Gogh fans in 2021: exhibitions, museum openings and books

We look ahead at the events to enjoy this year—assuming coronavirus doesn't scupper them

a blog by Martin Bailey

Barbra Streisand just bought a Van Gogh painting—once owned by Penthouse boss Bob Guccione—for a cool $4.5m

Californian-based singer and actress, now 78, has long collected art and design, starting with a Matisse in 1964

a blog by Martin Bailey

Why the Van Gogh Museum might never have existed—new research reveals how the family collection was nearly sold off

In 1911, the Kröller-Müller couple tried to acquire 200 of Vincent’s paintings and 600 drawings

a blog by Martin Bailey

Poignant Van Gogh watercolour of a windmill coming up for sale

Sheltering from a rainstorm at the mill, Vincent and his brother Theo made a teenage pact

Hunt still on for a Van Gogh self-portrait lost deep in a salt mine during the Second World War

The Magdeburg masterpiece may have been burned at the end of hostilities—but some believe it might have been looted and survive

a blog by Martin Bailey

A separated pair: the story behind Van Gogh’s famed empty chairs

An insight into what the two paintings reveal about Vincent's life with Gauguin in the Yellow House

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Did alcohol withdrawal really cause Van Gogh’s mental crises?

Vincent was allowed 42 units of wine in the asylum—three times more than today’s recommended limit

a blog by Martin Bailey

New book solves the mystery of Van Gogh's lost harmonium portrait

Vincent scrunched up a study for a second portrait of Marguerite Gachet, the daughter of his Auvers doctor

a blog by Martin Bailey

Two Van Gogh fakes in Washington? Strong evidence produced against early drawings at the National Gallery of Art

Revelations in new book about an attic discovery throw fresh light on Vincent’s decision to become an artist

a blog by Martin Bailey

In a moving letter, Van Gogh complains about quarantine after his forced removal from the Yellow House

New exhibition at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is a unique opportunity to see Vincent’s correspondence, normally locked away in a vault

a blog by Martin Bailey

Coveted Van Gogh bouquet to be sold at Sotheby's New York, valued at $18m

Chequered past: from the Bear Skin to the Nazis, a once-restituted painting is now coming up for auction

a blog by Martin Bailey

The most famous bedroom in art history: secrets of Van Gogh’s nocturnal life

A story of changing wall colours, a pair of pillows, wartime bombs and the hunt for a lost bed

a blog by Martin Bailey

Gauguin and Van Gogh: their shared love of Japan revealed

“Beautiful women” in Gauguin’s rediscovered manuscript are now identified as by Kunisada—Vincent’s favourite Japanese printmaker

a blog by Martin Bailey

Gauguin claims credit for Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: the revelations of a rediscovered manuscript

In Avant et Après—just acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery—Gauguin details his tumultuous time with Van Gogh

a blog by Martin Bailey