MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON, TO PRESENT VAN GOGH PAINTING

IMITATION MAY BE THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY, BUT FOR VINCENT VAN GOGH, IT WAS A MEANS OF SELF EDUCATION FOR THE ARTIST IN THE 1880s, WHO COPIED NUMEROUS WORKS BY JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET TO TEACH HIMSELF HOW TO DRAW AND PAINT. THE VISUAL DIALOGUE THAT ENSUED BETWEEN MASTER AND STUDENT IN THE FOCUS OF VISITING MASTERPIECES, AN ONGOING SERIES AT THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON (MFA), WHICH SHOWCASES GREAT ART FROM MUSEUMS AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS AROUND THE WORLD WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE MFA'S ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTION. TO INAUGURATE THE SERIES, THE MUSEUM WELCOMES VAN GOGH'S 'THE SOWER', ON LOAN FROM THE VAN GOGH MUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM, TO BOSTON FOR JUXTAPOSITION WITH THE WORK THAT INSPIRED IT, MILLET'S 'THE SOWER, ONE OF THE MFA'S CELEBRATED MASTERPIECES. THE PAINTINGS, WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN TOGETHER IN BOSTON, WILL BE ON VIEW FROM 11.MAY TO 8.AUGUST IN THE IMPRESSIONIST GALLERY. THE SPECIAL INSTALLATION PRESENTS TWO DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF A FARMER SOWING SEEDS IN THE FIELDS OF FRANCE PAINTED BY MILLET AND VAN GOGH. IT ALSO FEATURES THREE MASTERPIECES BY VAN GOGH FROM THE MFA'S COLLECTION, CREATED DURING THE ARTIST'S SOJOURN TO PROVENCE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE FROM SPRING 1888 UNTIL LATE SPRING 1890. THESE INCLUDE 'POSTMAN JOSEPH ROULIN', 'LULLABY: MADAME AUGUSTINE ROULIN ROCKING A CRADLE (LA BERCEUSE), PAINTINGS OF VAN GOGH'S CLOSE FRIENDS IN THE RURAL TOWN OF ARLES, AS WELL AS 'RAVINE', A LANDSCAPE HE PAINTED SHORTLY AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN THE ENVIRONS OF THE ASYLUM IN THE TOWN OF SAINT-REMY, WHERE HE SPENT MOST OF THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LIFE.
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