Adventures with Van Gogh

Adventures with Van Gogh is a weekly blog by Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on the artist. Published every Friday, his stories will range from newsy items about this most intriguing artist to scholarly pieces based on his own meticulous investigations and discoveries.

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70 paintings in 70 days: Van Gogh’s astonishing achievement at the end of his life

A dramatic sunset over a château was one of Vincent's last landscapes—and one of his largest

a blog by Martin Bailey

Where was Van Gogh originally buried? We still don’t know

In an extraordinary scene, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Vincent’s skull was held aloft and moved in 1905

Where was Van Gogh originally buried? We still don’t know

In an extraordinary scene, reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Vincent’s skull was held aloft and moved in 1905

Van Gogh’s mysterious Wheatfield with Crows—what does it really mean?

Long assumed to be Vincent’s final painting, this foreboding scene is also full of life

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh’s mysterious Wheatfield with Crows—what does it really mean?

Long assumed to be Vincent’s final painting, this foreboding scene is also full of life

a blog by Martin Bailey

Caught: the drug baron who claims to have bought €20m stolen Van Gogh paintings for 'their artistic value'

Arrested in Dubai, the story of Mafia suspect Raffaele Imperiale confirms long-suspected links between the drugs trade and art theft

a blog by Martin Bailey

Caught: the drug baron who claims to have bought €20m stolen Van Gogh paintings for 'their artistic value'

Arrested in Dubai, the story of Mafia suspect Raffaele Imperiale confirms long-suspected links between the drugs trade and art theft

a blog by Martin Bailey

Secrets of the two unknown Van Gogh Sunflowers

One has been always been hidden away in private collections and will fetch a fortune when it emerges; the other was destroyed by an American bomb

a blog by Martin Bailey

Secrets of the two unknown Van Gogh Sunflowers

One has been always been hidden away in private collections and will fetch a fortune when it emerges; the other was destroyed by an American bomb

a blog by Martin Bailey

Ten surprising facts about Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, his greatest masterpiece

From a brothel garden to Nazi leader Hermann Göring’s fake—all part of the sunflower story

a blog by Martin Bailey

Ten surprising facts about Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, his greatest masterpiece

From a brothel garden to Nazi leader Hermann Göring’s fake—all part of the sunflower story

a blog by Martin Bailey

Exuberant Van Gogh landscape—featuring his beloved olive and cypress trees—could well make $40m at Christie's New York

Always hidden away in private collections, the painting will probably sell to a someone in the Far East

a blog by Martin Bailey

Discovered: a very early photograph of the trees in Van Gogh’s final picture, painted just hours before he fired the fatal shot

On the anniversary of Vincent’s death, his picture can be seen as “a suicide note in colour”

a blog by Martin Bailey

Irises: anniversary of Van Gogh’s finest garden picture, painted on his first morning in the asylum

Monet asked how the artist who made this exuberant masterpiece could possibly be unhappy—and a century later it became the most expensive work at auction

Van Gogh's $30m riverscape with an absinthe-coloured sky comes up for sale at Christie’s

The story of Le Pont de Trinquetaille—with the young female mudlark and the ruffians from the red-light district

a blog by Martin Bailey

Only joint letter from Van Gogh and Gauguin—recording their brothel visits—comes up for sale

Vincent describes his artist friend as having the “instincts of a wild beast”

a blog by Martin Bailey

Kirk Douglas played Van Gogh in 1950s film Lust for Life: a look at the biopic and the myths it made

The Hollywood star, who died last week aged 103, became famous for his portrayal of the "tortured artist"

a blog by Martin Bailey

Ten myths about Vincent van Gogh

Why stories—from the mutilated ear to the eventual suicide—can distort our view of the art

a blog by Martin Bailey

For sale: two Van Gogh paintings come up at Sotheby’s New York next week

One of the works was looted by the Nazis from Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker, but is now being sold by his heir after restitution

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh's suicide: Ten reasons why the murder story is a myth

All the evidence suggests it was the artist who fired the fatal shot

Virtually unseen Van Gogh painting comes up for sale in New York next week

Christie’s values the Japanese-influenced picture of the asylum garden at $25m

a blog by Martin Bailey

Two stolen Van Goghs go back on display after 14-year ordeal at the hands of Italian gangsters

Conservation at the Amsterdam museum has revealed a fake Vincent signature on the genuine seascape

a blog by Martin Bailey

Who painted the mystery nude in the Van Gogh brothers' collection?

Museum specialist believes he has uncovered the identity of the artist—and his voluptuous muse

a blog by Martin Bailey

Van Gogh: it was suicide, not murder

Julian Schnabel’s new film on Van Gogh is based on questionable assumptions

a blog by Martin Bailey

The revealing story of the painting that inspired Julian Schnabel’s new Van Gogh film

Vincent painted At Eternity’s Gate, the title of the film premiering in Venice, when he was at the asylum

a blog by Martin Bailey