''Irises'' is one of several paintings of irises by the Dutch artist

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, and one of a series of paintings he made at the

Saint Paul-de-Mausole Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole (french: monastère Saint-Paul-de-Mausole) is a former monastery in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, France. Several rooms of the building have been converted into a museum to Vincent van Gogh, who stayed the ...

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. L ...

, France, in the last year before his death in 1890. Van Gogh started painting ''Irises'' within a month of entering the asylum, in May 1889, working from nature in the hospital garden. There is a lack of the high tension which is seen in his later works. He called painting "the lightning conductor for my illness" because he felt that he could keep himself from going insane by continuing to paint. The painting was probably influenced by Japanese ''

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is crea ...

like many of his works and those by other artists of the time. The similarities occur with strong outlines, unusual angles, including close-up views, and also flattish local color (not modeled according to the fall of light). The painting is full of softness and lightness. Irises is full of life without tragedy. He considered this painting a study which is probably why there are no known drawings for it, although

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, Van Gogh's brother, thought better of it and quickly submitted it to the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in September 1889, together with '' Starry Night Over the Rhone''. He wrote to Vincent of the exhibition: " tstrikes the eye from afar. The Irises are a beautiful study full of air and life." The painting is one of his most renowned works.

Provenance

The first owner was Julien "Père" Tanguy, a paint grinder and art dealer whose portrait van Gogh painted three times. In 1892 Tanguy sold ''Irises'' to art critic and anarchist

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

who was also one of Van Gogh's first supporters. Mirbeau paid 300 francs for it. In 1987, it became the most expensive painting ever sold, setting a record which stood for two and a half years. Then it was sold for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

53.9 million to Alan Bond, but Bond did not have enough money to pay for it. ''Irises'' was later re-sold in 1990 to the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

in Los Angeles.Kimmelman, Michael
Getty buys van Gogh "Irises," but won't tell price.
''New York Times'', March 22, 1990. Retrieved March 20, 2011. ''Irises'' is currently (as of 2022) thirty-first on the inflation-adjusted

list of most expensive paintings This is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. The current record price is approximately United States dollar, US$450.3 million (which includes Commission (remuneration), commission), paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi (L ...

ever sold and in 102nd place if the effects of inflation are ignored.

References

External links

''Van Gogh, paintings and drawings: a special loan exhibition''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on this painting (see index)
''Irises'' (Van Gogh)
- Check123 - Video Encyclopedia (video) {{ACArt Paintings by Vincent van Gogh Paintings of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence by Vincent van Gogh 1889 paintings Paintings in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum Flower paintings ku:Pizîlaq