★★★★★
One hundred years ago the National Gallery bought Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers. It wasn’t an easy deal. Curators in 1924 weren’t convinced by Van Gogh — odd, mad and dead — and it took some arm-twisting. Van Gogh’s star has risen since. He’s about as bankable and blockbustable as they come. Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers celebrates two hundred years of the National Gallery and a century since the museum acquired its Sunflowers.
The title is a stretch. Yes, Van Gogh painted symbolic portraits of the “Poet” type. Yes, sallow lovers haunt his gardens, more stricken than lovestruck. No, it doesn’t really cover the vineyards, the olive trees, the cypresses, the stevedores. No matter. The paintings may sing from a different hymn