Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum was taken off guard last week by a horde of people competing for collectibles only tangentially related to the artist himself. The crowd descended upon the opening of an exhibition of a new Pokémon-themed exhibition as the entire line of merchandise fusing the Dutch artist’s artwork with characters from the Pokémon universe sold out, online and off, in mere hours. 

Havoc at the Van Gogh Museum (capture from PokeBeachNews footage posted to YouTube)

A special-edition Pokémon trading card of the character Pikachu wearing the Dutch artist’s hat is currently valued at hundreds of dollars on eBay. The art news site Hyperallergic dryly commented: “In a chain of events not completely unlike that of the global blue-chip art world, the line of exclusive merchandise is already listed online at significantly marked-up prices.”

The Pokémon Company issued an apology to fans, saying, “We understand this is disappointing to many who were looking to our official email and social media channels for guidance on how and when to purchase. We are actively working on ways to provide more ‘Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat’ promo cards for fans shopping at Pokémon Center in the future.”

Van Gogh is among the most popular and well-regarded artists ever to have lived. The demand for images of his art, however, has never approached the fever pitch provoked by the fusion of his work with such adorable animated Japanese characters.

A painting of Munchlax and Snorlax inspired by van Gogh’s “The Bedroom.” Image: The Pokémon Company

Van Gogh painted his famous Bedroom while staying at Arles in October, 1888. Only recently have researchers shown that the painting’s bright, strongly contrasting colors were not those van Gogh chose. Rather, they are the result of discoloration that’s progressed as the pigments he used have aged.

Vincent van Gogh, The Bedroom, oil on canvas, 72.4 cm x 91.3 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) as it looks now.

Originally, research shows, the walls and doors were purple, not blue. The apparently odd angle of the rear wall on the right is not an invention on Gogh’s part – the corner really was skewed like that.

The artists did, however, deliberately violate the rules of perspective throughout the painting. As  he told his brother Theo in a letter, he chose to flatten the interior and leave out the shadows so that his picture would resemble a Japanese print. 

Van Gogh was very pleased with this painting: ‘When I saw my canvases again after my illness, what seemed to me the best was the bedroom,’ he said. However, that painting no longer exists; van Gogh had intended the original colors to express absolute ‘repose’ or ‘sleep’, something the current palette definitely doesn’t do.

The museum has a wonderful graphic on its website with a slider that lets you sweep across the painting to compare how it looks now to how it looked when van Gogh painted it. Check it out here.

 

PleinAir Salon Names October Judge

Meyer Gallery owner and director John Manzari

The PleinAir Salon $50,000 art competition has named Meyer Gallery owner and director John Manzari as this month’s special guest judge. 

Manzari was born in 1966 in Elmira NY. He attended Binghamton University where he received his BA in Liberal Arts. After graduating from college he moved to Santa Fe, NM where he met Dirk Meyer, who introduced him to the vibrant Santa Fe art scene. Dirk recognized John’s appreciation of the arts, and when the position of Associate Gallery Director became available, he offered John the position. In 2008 Manzari became the influential gallery’s director, and in 2019 her succeeded the late Dirk Meyer as owner.

The PleinAir Salon is open to all artists (not just plein air painters) with categories for Figure & Portrait, Still Life, Floral, and many more. There’s an Early Bird Discount on, too — all entries are 25% off now through October 15th. To learn more, go to the PleinAir Salon website.