Shadow Self – Portal to a Parallel World

In 1885, Van Gogh travels to Amsterdam to visit the newly opened Rijksmuseum. On the day of his visit, he paints Cityscape in Amsterdam (1885). Still wet from the paint, he takes this painting to the Rijksmuseum. During his visit, he is blown away by Rembrandt's Jewish Bride . He calls Rembrandt a poet and writes: 'would you believe that I would give 10 years of my life if I could sit here for a fortnight in front of this painting […]'. The visit to the Rijksmuseum is a great inspiration for his use of colour. This is immediately reflected in the paintings he makes afterwards.

Color, color and more color

Two years later, Van Gogh travels to Paris. Inspired by the artists he meets there, he experiments with bright colours and striking cut-outs. Here he also paints Bank with Trees (1887).

Fascination for yellow

In 1888, exhausted from life in the big city, Van Gogh goes in search of peace and warmer colours and moves to Arles. That summer, fascinated by the yellow ripe grain, he paints a series of cornfields, including the painting that can now be seen in the Rijksmuseum.

Loan

The three paintings are on long-term loan from the Amsterdam P. and N. de Boer Foundation. In 1921, Pieter de Boer and his brother Rudolf opened an art dealership in Amsterdam. Pieter de Boer and his wife Nellie Pressburger also collected art themselves. One of their main focuses was the work of Vincent van Gogh. Over the years, they managed to acquire three paintings and five drawings. After the death of his wife, Pieter de Boer placed their private collection in a foundation.