At long last, does a confirmation of the authenticity of the Yasuda Sunflowers actually matter? No. Instead, the addition of possibly forged Sunflowers pieces in van Gogh’s repertoire causes us to scrutinize his works, which is valuable because it allows us, as objective viewers of art, to better appreciate his unique painting style. Consequently, this process places a greater cultural and monetary value on the original work. Moreover, it causes indisputably genuine paintings, like the original London version of Sunflowers, to be placed under the microscope of inspection, thereby allowing us to pinpoint certain characteristics of van Gogh’s style and thus understand him as an artist and his artistic expressions. At the same time, this process ultimately uncovers suspected fakes, but that outcome is overshadowed by what we learn from van Gogh’s artistry. To this end, Louis van Tilborgh, curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, claims the thorough evaluation of van Gogh’s Sunflowers is in fact, a “healthy” exercise. He maintains that, “By researching the paintings in such detail, we are gaining a much deeper understanding of van Gogh’s work as a whole” (qtd. Ryback). Similarly, Sjraar van Heugten, head of collections at the Van Gogh Museum, echoed this sentiment by claiming that “The work that is currently done for the collection catalogue of van Gogh’s paintings will shed more light on these – and possibly other – works that might have been painted by other artists” (qtd. Ryback), meaning that this is in fact a valuable exercise.
Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers
Paul Gauguin
Oil on canvas
73.0 x 92.0 cm.
1888
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Coming full circle, we now see that Gauguin’s work, Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers, Arles 1888, actually painted a picture of what was to come. A forgery controversy of Sunflowers followed, but at the same time, a truth was uncovered. Indeed, it’s even possible that Gauguin, in this work, was illustrating van Gogh painting the Yasuda copy of Sunflowers. In a recent finding, performed in 2002, Hendriks and van Tilborgh, from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, authenticated the Yasuda Sunflowers, declaring it a valid reproduction of the original work painted by van Gogh and ending the debate of alleged counterfeit. This finding sent shockwaves throughout the art community. Had all the debate over suspected forgery of the Yasuda work been worth the attention it received? It seems so. By authenticating the work, the experts had consequently legitimized the colossal price paid for the work as a bona fide painting by van Gogh. The monumental price essentially reflected the overall uncertainty of the presence of a forged Sunflowers work in the field of van Gogh pieces, and therefore resulted in an overwhelming increase in monetary value of this rare painting. In short, this was a measurement of the societal worth of the more highly-valued genuine work. As can be witnessed, there is no doubt that even after his premature death at the age of 37, Vincent van Gogh continued to infuse controversy into the art world with his Sunflowers. As the German satirist Alfred Kerr asserted, “Der tote Vincent malt und malt,” which means, “The dead Vincent keeps painting and painting” (qtd. Ryback). Even after death, the whirlwind of intrigue and mystery behind his works lives on and keeps our society and culture from forgetting his name: Vincent can Gogh.