Marcus Agius says:
Given my passion for plants, choosing a painting of irises is perhaps not surprising. Flowers notwithstanding, I have a particular sentimental attachment to this glorious painting. Having just acted for the new purchaser of Sotheby’s, I was fortunate to be present in New York in 1987 at the auction where the painting achieved its then world-record price of $53.9 million [£29.5m]. The reaction of the members of the selling family was a sight to behold! In addition, van Gogh painted Irises when he was living in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where my family and I happily spend our summer holidays.
Marcus Agius, former group chairman of Barclays, is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
John McEwen comments on Irises:
On May 8, 1889, van Gogh voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul de Mausole asylum at Saint-Rémy, following episodes of self-mutilation (including of his ear, by then healed) that had put him into hospital. In the first week, he began this painting of a clump of irises. As he wrote to Theo, his ever-supportive younger brother: ‘I have only seen the garden and what I can look at through my window.’
That he painted the clump as a slice of life, rather than the picked arrangement or single botanical specimen of detached Western convention, shows the influence of Japanese art, which became all the rage when that country once again opened its borders to the outside world after more than two centuries of isolation.
One of his reasons for painting in Provence was ‘wishing to see a different light, thinking that to look at nature under a brighter sky might give us a better idea of the Japanese way of feeling and drawing’.
Theo, a high-flyer at the Paris headquarters of the international art dealers Goupil & Cie, successfully submitted 10 of Vincent’s paintings for the forthcoming Salon des Indépendants. He wrote on March 19, 1890: ‘Your paintings are well placed… Many people came up to ask me to give you their compliments.’ Of Irises he wrote: ‘It strikes the eye from afar… a beautiful study full of air and life.’
Vincent killed himself in July. He was on the verge of success in the world’s art capital, having started from scratch at home in Holland only nine years before.
The incredible tale of the foxglove, from curing to disease to inspiring Van Gogh’s most striking paintings
A tale of skulduggery, poisoning, witches and even marketing men runs through the history of the foxglove, as Ian Morton
My favourite painting: James Fox
James Fox chooses his favourite painting for Country Life.
My Favourite Painting: Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries chooses his favourite painting for Country Life.
-
From California to Cornwall: How surfing became a cornerstone of Cornish cultureA new exhibition at Cornwall's National Maritime Museum celebrates a century of surf culture and reveals how the country became a global leader in surf innovation and conservation.
-
18 magnificent homes for sale from £550k to £20 million, as seen in Country LifeFrom a charming thatched cottage to a 300-acre estate with its own vineyard, here's our pick of places to come to the market via Country Life of late.
-
'As a child I wanted to snuggle up with the dogs and be part of it': Alexia Robinson chooses her favourite paintingAlexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, chooses an Edwin Landseer classic.
-
The Pre-Raphaelite painter who swapped 'willowy, nubile women' for stained glass — and created some of the best examples in BritainThe painter Edward Burne-Jones turned from paint to glass for much of his career. James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, chooses a glass masterpiece by Burne-Jones as his favourite 'painting'.
-
'I can’t look away. I’m captivated': The painter who takes years over each portrait, with the only guarantee being that it won't look like the subjectFor Country Life's My Favourite Painting slot, the writer Emily Howes chooses a work by a daring and challenging artist: Frank Auerbach.
-
My Favourite Painting: Rob HouchenThe actor Rob Houchen chooses a bold and challenging Egon Schiele work.
-
My Favourite Painting: Jeremy Clarkson'That's why this is my favourite painting. Because it invites you to imagine'
-
The chair of the National Gallery names his favourite from among the 2,300 masterpieces — and it will come as a bit of a shockAs the National Gallery turns 200, the chair of its board of trustees, John Booth, chooses his favourite painting.
-
'A wonderful reminder of what the countryside could and should be': The 200-year-old watercolour of a world fast disappearingChristopher Price of the Rare Breed Survival Trust on the bucolic beauty of The Magic Apple Tree by Samuel Palmer, which he nominates as his favourite painting.
-
My favourite painting: Andrew Graham-Dixon'Lesson Number One: it’s the pictures that baffle and tantalise you that stay in the mind forever .'
