PARIS.- The Van Gogh / Artaud, the Man Suicided by Society exhibition focusing on Antonin Artaud's analysis of Van Gogh's work consists of around forty paintings, a selection of Van Gogh's drawings and letters, as well as drawings by Artaud and photographs of him at the time he wrote Van Gogh / Artaud, Le suicidé de la société [Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society].
A few days before the opening of a van Gogh exhibition in Paris in 1947, gallery owner Pierre Loeb suggested that Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) write about the painter. Challenging the thesis of alienation, Artaud was determined to show how van Gogh’s exceptional lucidity made lesser minds uncomfortable.
Wishing to prevent him from uttering certain "intolerable truths", those who were disturbed by his painting drove him to suicide.
Based on the categories and the unusual designations put forward by Artaud in Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society, , the exhibition comprises some thirty paintings, a selection of van Gogh's drawings and letters, together with graphic works by the poet-illustrator.
