Sunday lectures

The Van Gogh Museum presents a series of lectures for all those interested
in finding out more about Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. Every
first Sunday of the month the museum hosts a presentation highlighting the
latest research into the collection or a current exhibition. Researchers,
curators and restorers tell the story behind the art on display and
present new insights and findings.

The lectures start at 14.00 in the auditorium and last 30-45 minutes.
Entrance is free for visitors to the museum. The language is Dutch. In
case of speakers from abroad the language is English.

Programme

Sunday, 6 April 2008: ?The sunflowers according to Van Gogh?
by Louis van Tilborgh, curator Van Gogh research (Van Gogh Museum) and
author of 'Van Gogh and the sunflowers'

Van Gogh attached great importance to his still lifes with sunflowers, and
after his death they quickly gained iconic status. But would Van Gogh have
regarded this as justified? A lecture on the significance of the sunflower
still lifes for Van Gogh, and how they subsequently came to be regarded.

Extra lecture (starts at 16.00)
Sunday, 13 April 2008: 'Illustration, Caricature, Comics'
by Patricia Mainardi, professor of art history (New York City University)
(in English)

Sunday, 4 May 2008: ?Ophelia's eyes: the Shakespeare of Millais?
by dr Bart Westerweel, professor emeritus of early modern English
Literature (Leiden University)

Literature was an important source of inspiration for the English artist
John Everett Millais. This lecture gives contextual background to Millais'
depictions of scenes from poems and plays by authors such as John Keats
and William Shakespeare. The lecture concentrates particularly on Ophelia,
the famous painting inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which Millais
depicts Hamlet's beloved Ophelia just before she drowns herself.

Sunday, 1 June 2008: ?Gauguin in the Van Gogh Museum?
by Leo Jansen, curator of paintings (Van Gogh Museum)
The paintings by Paul Gauguin in the Van Gogh Museum?s collection tell the
story of his quest for a new style and for recognition as a modern artist.
At the same time they are illustrative of the admiration Vincent and Theo
van Gogh felt for his talent and the support they gave him. This
exceptional triumvirate is the focus of this lecture.