Van Gogh Retrospective Opens
67 Works of Dutch Artist on Display
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff reporter
The first retrospective of Vincent Van Gogh's works in Korea opens Saturday at the Seoul Museum of Art, downtown Seoul.
Sixty-seven of the Dutch post-Impressionist's works, including 45 oil paintings and 22 drawings and lithographs, were carefully chosen from the Van Gogh Museum and Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands to be displayed in Seoul until March. 16. The two museums own more than half of the remaining Van Gogh works around the world.
Among the masterpieces on display are ``Self-portrait'' (1887), ``Irises'' (1890), ``Church in Auvers'' (1890), a lithograph of ``The Potato Eaters'' (1885), ``The Yellow House'' (1888) and ``Portrait of Joseph Roulin'' (1889).
Seo Soun-jou, Van Gogh exhibit commissioner and Hankook Ilbo cultural project center director of exhibitions, said this is the biggest exhibition of Van Gogh's works since the exhibition marking 100 years since his death at the Van Gogh Museum in 1990.
The exhibition ``Van Gogh: Voyage into the Myth'' is organized in a chronological order to help visitors understand the development of Van Gogh's artistic career. There will be representative works from each of Van Gogh's periods: early Netherlands period (1880-1885), Paris period (1886-1888), Arles period (1889), Saint-Remy period (1889-1890) and Auvers-sur-Oise period (1890).
Seo said it is amazing how Korea managed to get the Van Gogh exhibition, especially since it is one of the most coveted exhibitions in the world. He said this is probably the most expensive exhibition ever held in Korea, with insurance for all the works valued at around 1.4 trillion won.
The Hankook Ilbo, the sister company of The Korea Times, is organizing the event with the Seoul Museum of Art and KBS Korea. The exhibition will be open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and weekends, holidays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed on Mondays.
Tickets are 12,000 won for adults, 10,000 for students (13-18 years old), and 8,000 won for children (7-12 years old). Children below seven years old and senior citizens (65 years old and over) will be allowed to enter for free. Group discounts are also available.
For English and Korean information, visit www.vangoghseoul.com.