A famous self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh is on display outside of his home country for the first time since its restoration.
In 2020, a yellow varnish was removed from the painting that had muted its original colours.
Now the painting, along with 49 others by the Dutch painter, can be seen for a limited time in Rome in Palazzo Bonaparte, a 17th-century mansion once home to Napoleon’s mother.
“We are trying… to tell Van Gogh’s story in its entirety, starting from the first works that he made in 1881. That’s when he decided that he wanted to be a painter, realised that that was his path and started working,” said Francesca Villanti, the curator of the exhibition.
Alongside his celebrated self-portrait, the exhibition will include ‘The Sower’ (June 1888), ‘The Hospital Garden in Saint-Rémy’ (1889), ‘The Ravine’ (1889) and ‘Sorrowing Old Man’ (1890) — painted two months before Van Gogh’s suicide.
The artworks are on loan from the prestigious Kröller Müller Museum in Otterlo, which has the world’s second-largest collection of Van Gogh paintings,
The museum was responsible for the restoration of the self-portrait.
Van Gogh was born in 1853 and only painted for a short period between 1881 and 1890.
The exhibit comes only months after the 170th anniversary of his birth on 30 March. It will run until 26 March.
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