Painter on the Road to Tarascon
Painter on the Road to Tarascon
In art history, few stories are as gripping and mysterious as the fate of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon” (1888). This masterpiece, a symbol of Van Gogh’s intense exploration of himself and the landscape, disappeared during the Second World War. The disappearance has obsessed art historians, collectors and enthusiasts and has become a symbol of cultural loss and the ongoing quest for recovery.
Van Gogh painted “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon” during his productive period in Arles, France. The painting shows the artist himself, laden with painting supplies, on his way to Tarascon. The work is both a self-portrait and a narrative of an artistic pilgrimage, reflecting Van Gogh’s ceaseless search for light, color and expression.
During World War II, the painting, believed to be stored in Magdeburg, Germany, was destroyed by fire. However, the lack of definitive evidence of the destruction has led to speculation and hope among art historians that the painting may still exist somewhere. Many artists have been inspired by Van Gogh’s artistic pilgrimage, such as Francis Bacon and Willem Boronski. The latter, inspired by this story, created the stop-motion video “On the Road to Tarascon” and several other works of art that reflect on Van Gogh’s journey and the man who embraces his fate (amor fati).
