‘Van Gogh & European Landscapes’ in Dayton

A pair of paintings by Vincent van Gogh will spend the summer at the Dayton Art Institute as part of a Focus Exhibition that showcases the works alongside pieces by other European landscape painters who preceded the legendary Dutch artist. 

Van Gogh created “Field with Stacks of Grain” and “Daubigny’s Garden” (pictured) in July 1890, during the final month of his life. The painting of the garden of French landscape painter Charles-Francois Daubigny is one of three that Van Gogh made. Both Van Gogh paintings in “Van Gogh & European Landscapes” are on loan from private collections in Switzerland.

The landscapes exemplify the artist’s signature style of building his compositions with thick dashes and swirls of color. The Focus Exhibition allows museum visitors to get an up-close look at these two works, which are rarely seen outside Europe.

“He seems to be the embodiment of the passionate artist,” Dayton Art Institute chief curator and director of education Jerry N. Smith says of Van Gogh, “where we truly see his emotion and feelings laid out on the canvas.”

The exhibition includes 15 pieces in all, including works by Daubigny and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, both of whom were influences on Van Gogh, as well as other landscape artists. 

456 Belmonte Park N., Dayton 45405, 937/223-4278, daytonartinstitute.org