Host to the first major Van Gogh exhibition in London in over forty years, the Royal Academy have chosen to display his works alongside over 35 original letters of correspondence with due respect to the compulsive and eloquent self-expression within both mediums. The letters, which offer rarely viewed insights into Van Gogh’s artistic process, show a sensitive yet determined intellectual, with many being displayed alongside the paintings or drawings on which they are based. Recent extensive research into the letters has produced new insights, according to the catalogue, into ‘how the letters enhance and shape our view of this modern master’.

The large, imposing, colour-coded rooms of Burlington House are a fitting setting to showcase the emotional development of one of the world’s favourite post-impressionists. Temporary walls within these rooms allow for a more personal experience of a highly personal subject, with some transparent sections cleverly showing both sides of the most important letters.

The first room you encounter contains just one painting, Still Life with Plate of Onions, labelled with minimum details along with a short passage from one of the artist’s letters in which he discusses its production. This painting is clearly meant to be the ideal introduction to his works as a whole, with its clear, deliberate composition and combination of colourful linear texture and dashes. Alongside this, we are shown a succession of letters which portray the way Van Gogh’s thoughts and ideas poured from his pen, with his writing filling all available space on their pages.
Each successive room contains a selection of chronological and themed works with a brief description and a quote from a letter plastered across the facing wall, so as to incite within you the feelings and emotions that Van Gogh himself felt mid-creation. In one case, the phrase ‘in all of nature, in trees for instance I see expression and soul’, acts as a backdrop to a period of obsession with perspective and nature, shown through a mixture of pencil, ink and watercolour drawings.

The progression through the rooms parallels Van Gogh’s life. Following on from landscapes, you are led into a room entitled The Peasant in Action, which is filled with both drawings and oil paintings of peasants at work. The sketchy style of these evokes the laborious movements of the figures, especially in Cottage in Brabant, which advertises Van Gogh’s affection for the thatched cottages of this area whilst also reflecting the simple, honest lives of his models through the rich tones of thickly applied paint.

Moving into his still life phase we are confronted with the bright, floral images of Van Gogh’s many depictions of sunflowers. The viewer is drawn into his world further still, as they follow his development into more confident, expressive designs, such as The Olive Trees, which reflects the vivacity of the entire room with its colourful contours acting as an emphasis of nature that we accept as reality.

Compared to exhibitions of new artists, when visiting this show we already have high expectations, or at least have accepted that Van Gogh is incredibly talented; our opinions are confirmed and expanded upon as we wander through these rooms. And through the interaction between the paintings and the letters, we may even learn something about his creative process along the way.

Until Apr 18

NADINE LOACH