MUSEE D'ORSAY//VAN GOGH EXHIBITION//OUGD602

exhibition trip:
musée d'Orsay,  Van Gogh / Artaud. the man suicided by society

I recently visited the Musee D'orsay in Paris for the Van Gogh exhibition that looked closely at Artaud's (French poet, playwright and theatre director) analysis of Gogh's work.
A few days before the opening of a van Gogh exhibition in Paris in 1947, gallery owner Pierre Loeb suggested that Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) write about the painter. Challenging the thesis of alienation, Artaud was determined to show how van Gogh’s exceptional lucidity made lesser minds uncomfortable. 
Wishing to prevent him from uttering certain "intolerable truths", those who were disturbed by his painting drove him to suicide. 

Based on the categories and the unusual designations put forward by Artaud in Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society, , the exhibition will comprise some forty paintings, a selection of van Gogh's drawings and letters, together with graphic works by the poet-illustrator.

thoughts:
This was a really interesting exhibition for me as I was a fan of Van Gogh when I was younger, but in recent years my practice has been a lot more graphic design orientated rather than in the fine art direction.  It was inspiring for me to see some of the works that I looked at previous to starting a graphic design degree.  Not only was the exhibition inspiring and interesting, looking at past works and learning more about Gogh as an artist but to also get a deeper understanding of him as an individual and his personal letters between him and associates.

The exhibition was also interesting from a graphic design point of view as the exhibition used interesting photography, old transcripts and original drawings that all showed the development of Gogh's practice and his experiences throughout the years as an artist.