9781422271827

MASTERS OF ART

PLATE 4 Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather (1882) Oil on canvas, 13 1 ⁄ 5 x 20 inches (34.5 x 51 cm) This painting shows the beach at Scheveningen, on the North Sea coast, a few miles from The Hague. It was painted in August 1882 on a stormy day. The work was crafted quickly, en plein air . It is understood that the wind almost blew Van Gogh off his feet while he was painting it. There is some residue of wind-blown sand still attached to the painting.

In the course of studying his life, nevertheless, we shall have to consider why Van Gogh is now so highly valued, why he was not during his lifetime, and whether he is as reliable a long-term investment as at present he appears to be. This last point is considerably important, and many self-interests are involved. There have been intense debates concerning Van Gogh’s works that have sold for very large sums of money but later have been attacked as forgeries. If not Van Goghs, they will be worth only a little, as curiosities, and someone will lose a great deal of money. But of course, though their provenances are in doubt, the paintings remain unchanged and presumably still give the same amount of pleasure to viewers. But since they have lost value, in some respects that is evidently not so—or perhaps the forgers were as good as Van Gogh, and the works do in fact have the qualities they were perceived as having when considered to be by Van Gogh.

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