One hundred and thirty years ago today, Vincent van Gogh, one of the Netherland’s most renowned painters, died. Experts believe that they have found the location of his final work thanks to a postcard and a pandemic.
The sequence of events which led to van Gogh’s shooting and ultimately his death, have long been disputed, however, Wouter van der Veen believes he has now found the precise location where van Gogh painted his final work: Tree Roots. It is hoped that this finding will aid the understanding of what van Gogh’s final day entailed.
Van der Veen, who is the scientific director of the Van Gogh Institute, notes: “We now know what he was doing during his last day. We know that he spent all day painting this painting.”
His methods, much like those of the late painter, are unorthodox. Looking at images of Auvers from around 1905 which he had borrowed from Janine Demuriez who collected historical postcards, van der Veen stumbled upon one which shows a cyclist pausing beside a steep embankment with clear tree roots. The postcard sat beside van der Veen’s laptop when it hit him – he had seen this image before, in van Gogh’s final work.
Van der Veen notes: “A lot of people have already seen it, and recognize the subject, the motif of tree roots. It was hidden in plain sight.”
For van der Veen, van Gogh’s final work indicates the artist’s “struggle of life, and a struggle with death. That’s what he leaves behind. It is a farewell note in colours.”
