Vincent Van Gogh Showcase at Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Major Exhibit ‘Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources’ Tracks the Artist and His Influences
By Charles Donelan | February 24, 2022
Vincent van Gogh, “Sheaves of Wheat,” July 1890. Oil on canvas. Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, 1985.R.80.DMA 
Vincent van Gogh, “Les Vessenots in Auvers,” 1890. Oil on canvas. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inv. no. 559, 1978.41. © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid. 
Vincent van Gogh, “Bridge across the Seine at Asnières,” summer 1887. Oil on canvas. Private Collection, Larry Ellison. 
Vincent van Gogh, “Roses,” 1890. Oil on canvas. Gift of Pamela Harriman in memory of W. Averell Harriman 1991.67.1 
Vincent van Gogh, Road to the Outskirts of Paris, May-June 1887 Oil on canvas. Private Collection, Larry Ellison.
When the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) opens its doors on the new exhibition Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources, the axis on which the art world spins will shift a little. That’s because wherever Van Gogh goes, the eyes of the largest audience that ever existed for a painter follow him. Whether it’s the astonishing prices his paintings now earn at auction or the widespread availability of reproductions of his most famous works, the public fascination with this artist seems only to increase with time.
Yet as is suggested by the title Through Vincent’s Eyes, the exhibition that SBMA has mounted, which includes 20 works by Van Gogh alongside 75 objects selected to reflect the artists and writers he most admired, stands at some distance from the crowded Van Gogh marketplace.
Why are we getting this particular Van Gogh show? In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and many more cities, people are lining up to enter a random space and view projected images of the artist’s work for an experience characterized as “immersive.”
