Van Gogh’s Cypresses Opens at the Met
Cantor Foundation Board Members
Van Gogh’s Cypresses, made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 15, 2023, with a celebration attended by over 600 guests, including art lovers, collectors, and members of the media.
The exhibition features 40 paintings, drawings, and prints by Vincent Van Gogh that depict cypress trees. Rarely seen works lent from private collections are presented alongside paintings and sketches loaned from other museums.
A recurring motif in Van Gogh’s paintings, appearing mainly near the end of his life, the cypress is widely thought to represent death and mourning given the presumed symbolic connection between the trees and the artist’s own mortality.
The New York Times examined behind-the-scenes conservation efforts and mysteries surrounding peculiarities in many of the Cypresses, including visible signs of pebbles and outside materials in some of the works. These imperfections within the Cypresses reflect a uniquely human aspect of his art as Van Gogh, a deeply troubled man who tragically died by suicide at the age of 37, expressed feelings of frustration that have endured in his work for over a century.
The exhibition will run through August 27th, 2023.
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