On June 26, 2015 Marriage Equality became the law of the land. With hundreds of others I celebrated on the Supreme Court steps because the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, making marriage equality legal, granting due process and equal protection to hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples.
Later that glorious day, I chatted with President Obama’s official photographer Pete Souza in front of the White House which was lit up in rainbow colors in celebration of the LGBTQ community. While we watched, the Presidential Marine Corps unit arrived. Onboard was President Obama returning from his moving speech at the memorial service for the church folks who were gunned down by a young white supremacist in South Carolina. President Obama sang "Amazing Grace" that day. Arrivals and departures…
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
June 1889
Oil on canvas
36 3/4 x 29 1/8 in. (93.4 x 74 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
“To give an idea of Provence it’s vital to do a few more canvases of cypresses and mountains.
… It took me all the time to observe the character of the pines, cypresses, &c. In the pure air here, the lines which don’t change and which one finds again at every step.”
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Saturday, 4 January 1890 836
“Van Gogh’s Cypresses” is the perfect exhibition for this moment in time. In our pixel soaked, AI drenched, climate change endangered world we are in need of a sojourn to physical reality and a soulful engagement with the natural world. This exhibition at the Met in New York brings together Van Gogh's paintings, drawings, and illustrated letters that engage the theme of cypress trees. Many of the artworks are fragile and light sensitive, so are rarely loaned out. Expertly put together by Engelhard Curator of Nineteenth-Century European Painting Susan Alyson Stein, the current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York runs from May 22–August 27, 2023.
It was a pleasure to virtually venture through the exhibit by following Ms. Stein’s exploration of Van Gogh’s paintings of cypress trees and the mythological and historical lore hidden beneath Van Gogh’s richly hued paint in the video attached below and her masterful exhibition catalog.
Over the years, I have seen most of the paintings illustrated in the catalog in their home museums in Paris, New York, London, Amsterdam and beyond. Yet, viewing them gathered in this volume, I seem to see them anew. Van Gogh’s richly textured oil paint shines in the reproductions. I can almost hear the wind and smell the air of Provence in these artworks. A bittersweet melancholy hangs over this collection of cypress inspired artworks and not only because these trees are often seen as guide posts or markers of the world beyond our corporeal bodies. Two of the most iconic artworks in this collection - The Starry Night and Wheat Field with Cypresses were painted by Van Gogh at the asylum in Saint-Rémy where he admitted himself after a psychological crisis. The swirls of paint in these artworks become trees and harbingers of galaxies beyond.
Viewing these artworks through Ms. Steins prose, we are privy to a vision beyond mere depictions of nature. Inspired by his artistic colleagues Monticelli, Gauguin, Seurat, and Émile Bernard - Van Gogh was attempting to create paintings that evoked the deep past but were completely new at the same time.
Susan Alyson Stein explains that “cypresses held an ineluctable allure for Van Gogh.” These inescapable cypress trees enabled Van Gogh to “bring his art to the next level and make his mark as a modern painter.”
Van Gogh spent two years and three months in the South of France. From February 1888 through May 1890, he put down with ink on paper and oil paint on canvas artistic themes that emerged from his deep observations of nature and his internal responses to the light and landscape of Provence.
After leaving Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh died soon after he returned to Northern France. At Van Gogh’s funeral held on July 30, 1890, the catalog informs us that The Moniteur des arts reported that Doctor Gachet “spoke a few touching words over his friend’s coffin, which disappeared under branches of cypress trees and bouquets of large sunflowers.”
The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
1889
Oil on canvas
29 x 36 1/4" (73.7 x 92.1 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The paintings in the exhibition Van Gogh’s Cypresses have been gathered from across the globe. From the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, to collections in Cologne, Bremen, Essen, Otterlo, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, New Haven, and New York, Van Gogh’s cypresses have been brought together for the first time since 1901.
Country Road in Provence by Night
(Landweg in de Provence bij nacht)
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
12-15 May 1890
Oil on canvas
36 x 29" (90.6 x 72 cm)
Kroller Muller Museum, Netherlands
The catalog has an introduction and five major sections. The intro and three of the sections are authored by Susan Alyson Stein. These sections “The Roots of His Invention: Arles, February 1888-May 1889”, “The Making of a Signature Motif: Saint-Rémy, May-September 1889”, and Signing Off in Style: Saint-Rémy, October 1889-May 1890” take us through Van Gogh’s life and artistic production in Provence with the guiding lens of his cypress paintings.
The fourth section entitled “Untangling Nature” by Charlotte Hale and Silvia A. Centeno explores the art materials used by Vincent and describes in depth his painting process.
The fifth section by Alison Hokanson with the assistance of Marina Kliger provides an overview of literary and artistic uses of the cypress tree theme.
The French poet, critic, painter Albert Aurier praised Van Gogh’s paintings in an article where he described Vincent’s “cypresses shooting up their nightmarish silhouettes of blackened flames.”
"Astrud Gilberto, whose dreamy interpretation of The Girl from Ipanema became the most popular version of the song, has died aged 83.
Paul Ricci, a collaborator with Gilberto, confirmed the news on social media, writing that he had been asked to announce it by Gilberto’s son Marcelo. “She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world and she changed many lives with her energy,” he added.
Born in 1940 in the Brazilian state of Bahia and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Astrud Weinert married musician João Gilberto in 1959. In 1963, she accompanied him on a trip to New York where he would record with jazz artist Stan Getz and fellow Brazilian bossa nova star Antônio Carlos Jobim. The session’s producer wanted an English-language singer to help The Girl from Ipanema cross over to a US audience, and Astrud – who had no previous recording experience – was the only person who could speak it."
Gregg Chadwick
City of Desires (Rio de Janeiro)
72"x96" oil on linen 2000-2008
Private Collection, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Astrud Gilberto (1940-2023) n'y est plus. La chanteuse brésilienne qui a immortalisé plusieurs chansons de la Bossa nova, y compris La Fille d'Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) avec Stan Getz en 1964, l'année tragique du coup d'état militaire au Brésil https://t.co/vZu6mbkWye
— Ana Lucia Araujo, PhD (@araujohistorian) June 6, 2023
My painting "Elephant Song" has made its journey to the Los Angeles Zoo and is available for bidding NOW at the Beastly Ball. The painting is on display with a selected group of environmentally oriented artworks at this link https://one.bidpal.net/beastlyball2023/browse/all(details:item/7)
"Elephant Song" depicts an African Elephant in its natural environment. The title refers to the low frequency method of elephant communication. Elephants sing using the same physical principles as humans - using their immense larynx to produce very low notes.
Pitched below the range of human hearing, these infrasounds can travel long distances and enable elephants to connect with other elephants in hearing range.
"Elephant Song" is featured at tonight's Beastly Ball benefit for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association. The event is held each Spring at the L.A. Zoo and this is my third year participating. For 60 years, the nonprofit Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) has funded exhibits, capital projects, field conservation efforts, education and community outreach programs, and more at the Los Angeles Zoo, an international leader in the preservation of wildlife and care of animals.
The “best party in town” returns tonight June 3, with favorite L.A. eateries, special animal experiences, dazzling entertainment, an incredible silent auction, and more. It’s the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association’s largest and most important fundraiser of the year, bringing in critical support for our work on behalf of the Los Angeles Zoo and its efforts in wildlife conservation, public education, and creating innovative experiences to connect people with nature.
The Beastly Ball's online silent auction features a range of wild items and experiences. Browse the offerings and make bids NOW, all from your phone, wherever you are.
45 years ago today, Bruce Springsteen released his highly-anticipated fourth studio album “Darkness On The Edge Of Town.” To celebrate the anniversary, fans can now dive even deeper into the sonic world of “Darkness.”
Listen to a new 20-song live playlist from The Darkness Tour '78 — all previously unavailable on major streaming platforms — including performances of every song from “Darkness On The Edge of Town” and a trove of bonus material from that period.
"Vincent van Gogh lived in Auvers-sur-Oise from 20 May 1890 until his death on 29 July of the same year. He was tremendously productive in these months and made several of his most renowned masterpieces, including 'Wheatfield with Crows' and 'Tree Roots'.
In the anniversary year of 2023, the Van Gogh Museum and Musée d’Orsay are organizing a major exhibition about the final months of Vincent van Gogh’s life, which he spent in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise. The exhibition 'Van Gogh in Auvers. His Final Months' is on view from 12 May until 3 September 2023."
Find out more: https://www.vangoghmuseum.com/vangogh...
