Naturally I was expecting to encounter masterpieces, but would there be also unresolved, unfinished or just simply bad paintings lacking in composition, colour, or feeling?
Even though equipped with a VIP pass courtesy of the Museum's media department, I had to focus on the paintings and not on the throngs of visitors on this grey and rainy Swiss summer's day. The last fabulous exhibition I saw at the Basel Art Museum was the early works of Wassily Kandinsky Paintings 1908 - 1921 in 2006, when I was, as now, very impressed with the natural light in this museum, created by a system of opaque windows in the roof. No artificial lighting is required, creating a wonderful natural light, and no problems with reflections of paintings protected by glass, in this case the majority of the 70 dating from 1884 to 1890.
Another plus is that the informational texts (in German, French and English of course) are displayed in adjoining rooms, away from the individual paintings, so no distracting bombardment of facts next to the various works.
I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted first by a self portrait and, not disappointingly, indeed some quite inferior early landscapes. Van Gogh's greatest works sell in the several tens of millions of dollars; the highest ever paid was for the Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which sold for US$ 82.5 million including buyer's premium in 1990 to Japanese Ryoei Saito. The painting disappeared after his death. So even Van Gogh's 'worst' pictures will command substantial sums.
Most of Van Gogh's significant paintings today are held in the collections of the world's major art museums. Some works are traded privately (as rumour has it for
Portrait of Dr. Gachet) and occasionally, his works come into the auction room. More often than not, these auctioned pictures are far from his best work.
One such example in the Basel exhibition is Watermill at Gennep from 1884, a very large dark work, and particularly uninspiring. It was on the auction market in June 1996 at Sothebys London, and sold for the rather uninspiring price of £500,000.
Entering the next section of the exhibition, the change from the gloomy Nuenen paintings to the early Paris works is overwhelming. The Paris rooftop pictures are definitely more enjoyable, and two of these have also appeared in the auction room. View from Vincent's Room is now seemingly owned by Galerie Bruno Bischofberger of Zurich, and there are no less than four auction records to be found.
Most recently, the oil on board was sold for US$4.4 million in May 2007 at Christies New York. Previously, it appeared with the same auction house in May 2005, selling for US$2.4 million. However, it failed to sell in November 2000, when Sothebys New York had it on offer for US$ 1.8 million to US$ 2.2 million, after selling it in May 1996 for US$1.5 million (all hammer price).
The other perhaps more attractive scene is the more painterly Vue de Paris aux Environs de Montmarte. This oil on canvas was sold through Sothebys London for £520,000 in February 2007.
Two more paintings from the Paris period also have an auction track record: Woman Walking in the Garden, 1887, listed as private collection, and Entrée du parc Voyer d'Argenson à Asnières, 1887. The former, with an estimate of US$4 to US$5 million, didn't sell at Sothebys New York in November 2000. However, it was sold previously - on estimates of US$5 to 7 million - for just US$3.1 million in November 1996 at Christies New York. Entrée du parc… sold for the hammer price of US$1.6 million in May 2000, still a quite uninteresting picture, yet it does reveal Van Gogh's changing palette and technique.
Certainly, we can see the bad or lesser works by Van Gogh as development, but I believe we can also accept them as not very good. That is why an exhibition of this type is so important: that we may see the whole of the man, not just his best, but also his worst, and that we may appreciate not only the genius of Van Gogh, but also his journey to reach the peak of his talent.
According to Artprice, there were only 94 recorded sales of Van Gogh oil paintings at auction in the last 23 years, and of these probably half were resales. With an ever decreasing supply of Van Gogh works on the market, prices will continue to increase relatively. For his greatest works, there will be no limit to what might be paid, if and when such would appear. However, collectors will continue to be very picky over the lesser works and what they are prepared to pay.
Between Earth and Heaven - the Landscapes is on at the Basel Art Museum, Switzerland, until 27 September 2009.
