“Essentially, it’s like this: You need life for art to be created!”
The Portrait of Dr Gachet is in storage in a granary in Berlin along with thousands of other confiscated artworks. Here it comes to the attention of one of the leading National Socialists: Hermann Göring wants to turn it into cash abroad. By a circuitous route, the work finds its way into the possession of a Jewish family in Amsterdam who are compelled to flee the Nazis themselves a short time later The Portrait of Dr Gachet goes to New York with them. There it not only witnesses how times change, but also how the image of van Gogh evolves: Is there any truth in the myth of the mad genius? Can van Gogh’s art be separated from his biography?
The art market likewise changes its perception of van Gogh, and the prices for his art soar. Exactly one hundred years after its execution, the painting’s owners decide to sell it.
FINDING VAN GOGH is a podcast series by the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, in cooperation with Johannes Nichelmann and Jakob Schmidt.
Find out more on www.findingvangogh.com
Media partners: Monopol Magazin für Kunst und Leben, Lage der Nation - der wöchentliche Politik-Podcast aus Berlin
picture credits: Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr Gachet, 1890, private collection, photo: Bridgeman Images // Benno Reifenberg, 1943, DLA Marbach