"Peasent Burning weeds" is the title of a Van Gogh work created in 1883 during his residency in the Drenthe region. The two museums proceeded jointly in the acquisition of this rare painting thanks to private and public support.
In the art field we are witnessing the development of different kinds of partnerships between the various actors that lead to this intricate environment. It is a common thing for art fairs, banks, museums, foundations and companies to collaborate together in order to create bigger projects or to raise a wider public awareness.
Related articles: Hendrick Kerstens. Our modern-day Dutch Master-Chiara Parisi recently appointed as a new director of Center Pompidou Metz-Juxtaposing genres, curated and collected together...
However, it is a very rare case for two separate museums to partner together for the acquisition of an artwork. By this symbolic union, the two museums seem to emphasize a specific period of production for the artist. Van Gogh spent a brief period of his life residing in Drents in the autumn of 1883, a place that inspired the artist thanks to its landscapes' dark colours or scenes of rural work.
According to the letters written by the Dutch artist (Zundert, 1853 – Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890), there were at least 18 artworks attributed to his stay in Drents, but most of them have been lost. Today only five paintings are related to that period, and ''Peasant Burning Weeds'' is one of them. From this collection, the Van Gogh Museum already has three works, while the Drents Museum hosts one; therefore, following the joint acquisition this last one, all the paintings from the Drenthe period will be as a part of the Dutch public collections. The acquisition of "Peasant Burning Weeds" was possible thanks to the public and private support. The Van Gogh painting will be exhibited alternately in the two months, and the first to host it will be the Drents Museum.