Landscapes by Van Gogh’s Contemporaries

Works from the Collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel

The Landscapes is accompanied by a presentation of landscape paintings
by his contemporaries. When Van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886, he had only
a rough idea of current tendencies in French painting. Thanks to his brother
Theo, who was an art dealer in Paris, he quickly discovered the full spectrum
of contemporary trends. As the artists appreciated Theo, they welcomed his brother Vincent with open arms. Soon Vincent was coming and going in the studios of the French capital. Coming to grips with the impulses of contempo-
rary French art would be a decisive experience that helped him to unleash his own artistic potential. He made friends with some of the artists, among them
Paul Gauguin, who later visited him in Arles. Van Gogh became acquainted
with other artists via their works, which he saw in exhibitions or was shown by
dealers.

The exhibition brings together landscape paintings by the older, middle and younger generations of French artists. The start is made by works by Camille Corot, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Impressionist landscapes are represented by artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Signac, Auguste Renoir,
Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro. They are joined by the other great fore-
runners of modern art: Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne. These perspectives ultimately lead to the fiercely coloured landscapes of the Fauves André Derain, Georges Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck and Henri Matisse.