The Irises In This Work Of Art From Van Gogh Were Not Supposed To Be Blue
At the Getty Center in Los Angeles, a painting by Vincent van Gogh called Irises is on display and has been seen by many viewers. The flowers in the painting appear to be blue, but they were originally purple.
A new exhibition at the museum will reveal how light has caused the color of Irises to change over time. There will also be a reconstructed version of the artwork to show what the original violet hue may have looked like.
The Dutch artist began the piece the day after moving into a psychiatric hospital on May 9, 1889. The flowers he painted were in the garden of the institution.
“For years, we have wanted to undertake research on our van Gogh Irises, a painting that is always on view at the Getty,” said Timothy Potts, the museum director.
“The museum’s closure during the Covid pandemic provided an opportunity to bring the painting into the studio for extensive research and analysis. This exhibition showcases the revelatory results of those studies.”
The project began due to van Gogh’s own writings. On his first day at the hospital near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, he wrote a letter to his brother, who was an art dealer named Theo. In the letter, van Gogh expressed optimism about his decision to go to the hospital.
He also mentioned that he was working on two paintings: “violet irises and a lilac bush,” inspired by the institution’s garden.
In addition, one account from the 19th century claimed that van Gogh’s irises were purple. In September 1889, art critic Félix Fénéon wrote about van Gogh’s artistic skills and noted an example of the “violet patches” of the flowers in Irises.
So, conservators at the Getty Center analyzed the painting with a stereo microscope to look for hidden details. Then, they scanned it with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the painting’s elemental composition.
They discovered a red pigment in Irises known as geranium lake, which was often used by van Gogh and other painters from the late 19th century. Apparently, van Gogh mixed it with blues to create purple for Irises. However, geranium lake is extremely sensitive to light.
It explains why the flowers currently appear blue. Over the years, light has caused the red component of the pigment to fade.
Furthermore, during the examination, the researchers found a piece of pollen stuck within the thick paint in the bottom left corner of the artwork. The pollen is likely from an umbrella pine in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence hospital’s garden.
Now, visitors to the museum’s exhibition will be able to see Irises the way it may have looked when van Gogh was painting it.
“The reconstruction that came from this research allows us to see Irises in a new light and gain a better appreciation of the artist’s intention,” said Catherine Patterson, a chemist at the Getty Conservation Institute.
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