Research Writing Seminar in Art History: van Gogh and Gauguin

For nine weeks at the end of 1888, Gauguin and van Gogh lived and worked together in Arles.  Despite the relatively short duration of this Studio of the South—culminating in the Dutch artist’s self-mutilation—the exchange of ideas and friendship between the two painters never diminished.  This course will examine this partnership as it unfolded from the first meeting between the the two in November 1887 until van Gogh’s death three years later.  How did the exchange of correspondence and self-portraits speak to how the artists envisioned themselves and each other?  And how did these aesthetic differences play out in their Arlesian works?  In addition to situating the artists within the artistic, social, and cultural milieu in which they worked, we will also consider the extent to which Gauguin continued this partnership even after van Gogh’s death. (Part 2 of 2 part Critical Writing Sequence for LPS BA candidates)