Summary: The exhibition Calm and Exaltation. Van Gogh in the Bührle Collection presents eight paintings by Vincent van Gogh. This selection allows us to see not only the different phases in the Dutch artist’s career, but also the vision of a collector, the Swiss industrialist Emil Bührle (1890–1956), for whom it was crucial that his collection should convey the stylistic development of each artist represented within it. Thus the thread running through his dazzling acquisitions of works by Van Gogh is the lightening and brightening of Vincent’s palette and his synthesis of different influences in his art. The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles has been granted the loan of six canvases from the Foundation E. G. Bührle Collection, Zürich, which holds in all seven works by Van Gogh. These six canvases are presented here alongside two other loans. The Old Tower (1884) and Peasant Woman, Head (1885) are early works painted in the Dutch town of Nuenen, while Bridges Across the Seine at Asnières (1887) and Self-Portrait (1887) date from the artist’s time in Paris, where he was inspired by Impressionism and Pointillism. Lastly, The Weeders and Blossoming Chestnut Branches (both 1890) testify to the artistic maturity that Vincent attained at the end of his career. In Blossoming Chestnut Branches, Van Gogh shows us the exaltation of spring. The brushwork is resolutely energetic, the colours vibrant and the composition bold in its horizontality. Vincent’s extended stay in Provence is represented by two loans respectively issuing from a private collection and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Although the clear light and bright colours of the South found their way into his paintings of this period, in Entrance to a Quarry (1889) Van Gogh returns to the more sombre palette he had favoured in the North. With Olive Orchard (1889), likewise painted in the countryside around Saint-Rémy, one of the artist’s favourite Provençal motifs takes its place in the exhibition. (^Available June 2017^)

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