"Keeps its finger on the pulse of the rare book world" - William Reese

A cache of never-before-exhibited letters from Vincent van Gogh to the artist and poet Emile Bernard are to go on view at the Morgan Library and Museum from September 28th - January 6th 2008.

'Painted with Words:  Vincent van Gogh’s Letters to Emile Bernard' offers a rare look at the life and creative process of the legendary master of modern art  through the letters van Gogh wrote to his friend and colleague  Bernard as well as twenty-two paintings, drawings and watercolors  that the two artists discussed or exchanged. Comprised of missives  and artwork from the peak of van Gogh’s creativity, while he was  living in the south of France (1888–1889), the exhibition explores  in depth for the first time the important role correspondence  played in how van Gogh thought about his work and  communicated his progress to his contemporaries.  

After meeting in Paris in 1886, Vincent van Gogh and fellow student Emile Bernard embarked upon a close  friendship and in 1887 began a two-year correspondence that spanned the final years of van Gogh’s brilliant yet  psychologically troubled life prior to his suicide in 1890. Van Gogh’s lettersction of Musee d’Orsay, Paris: 'But when will I do the starry sky, then, that painting that’s always on my to Bernard illuminate the many  ways in which the artists inspired and encouraged one another. 

As the organizer of one of the first retrospectives of van Gogh’s work in Paris and the author of several early,  seminal articles on the artist, Bernard made a significant contribution to van Gogh’s legacy as a groundbreaking artist a

nd an icon in the canon of art history. Bernard had begun trying to establish van Gogh’s  reputation before his friend’s death. Recognizing the significance of his letters and their potential interest to a  wider public, Bernard showed them to important art critics. Within three years of van Gogh’s death, Bernard  published some of the letters and enclosed sketches in the pages of the art and literature periodical Mercure de  France. The letters to Bernard remained a distinct group. They were published by the Paris dealer Ambroise  Vollard in 1911 and translated into English from the original French by Douglas Cooper in 1938. Painted with  Words explores Bernard’s contributions through a
selection of periodicals and publications.  

Of the twenty-two known letters van Gogh wrote to Bernard, all but two are on view at the Morgan. The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue written by Van Gogh Museum curator Leo  Jansen and researchers Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker. The authors  are also working on a new edition of Van Gogh’s entire written  correspondence. The  edition contains parallel translations and annotations in English and presents the latest find  ings relevant to the  letters. This first complete edition of the more than 800 surviving letters written by van Gogh will appear online as well as in print in 2009.