Art Historian Cornelia Homburg explains the myth of van Gogh as “mad genius”

Videos from the Phillips

A Closer Look: Van Gogh the Artist

Art Historian Cornelia Homburg discusses the artists’ friendship and rivalry

A Closer Look: Van Gogh and Gauguin

Intersections artist John F. Simon Jr. discusses his installation at the Phillips, Points, Lines, and Colors in Succession, on view October 17, 2013 through February 9, 2014. Inspired by the progression of movement in the natural world, Simon's four-part installation in the Phillips house stairwell incorporates drawing, software, and computer-generated fabrication. The works, evoking meandering lines, steep curves, and improvisation, engage with Wassily Kandinsky's Succession (1935) in the Phillips's permanent collection.

Points, Lines, and Colors in Succession by John F. Simon Jr. / Intersections Art Projects

Exhibition curator Eliza Rathbone gives an introduction to Van Gogh Repetitions. In the first Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) exhibition in DC in 15 years, the Phillips brings together 35 of his celebrated portraits and landscapes from some of the world’s most renowned collections. It features results of more than half a decade of research into the artist’s process, revealing a fascinating picture of his personal life and art. While recognized for the intensity and speed with which he painted, van Gogh also worked with careful deliberation, creating multiple versions of some of his most famous subjects.

Van Gogh Repetitions / Exhibition Videos

In April 2013, the Phillips partnered with the US Department of State to conduct a series of workshops in Pakistan focusing on art and social change. Using Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series (1940–41) as a catalyst for conversation about the power of storytelling through art, emerging artists, middle and high school students, art educators, and museum professionals worked together to create visual narratives about identity, personal struggle, and Pakistani history. The exhibition, presenting 29 works by emerging Pakisani artists and 20 works by students, continues the Phillips’s history of being a leader in international cultural diplomacy.

Pakistani Voices: In Conversation with The Migration Series / Exhibition Videos

Most examinations began with a careful inspection in good overall lighting to get a general sense of the painting. Other techniques exploit different types of electromagnetic radiation, such as ultraviolet, infrared, and x-rays. This collection of videos focuses on the study of four paintings by Braque in The Phillips Collection. Associate Conservator Patricia Favero narrates her findings.

A Closer Look: Introduction

In this video, the painting The Round Table (1929) is examined in visible, raking, and ultraviolet light.

A Closer Look: The Round Table (1929)

In this video, the painting Lemons and Napkin Ring (1929) is examined in transmitted light and with infrared imaging.

A Closer Look: Lemons and Napkin Ring (1929)

In this video, the painting The Washstand (1944) is examined in specular light, a form of raking light viewed from an angle.

A Closer Look: The Washstand (1944)

In this video, the paint surface of Pewter Pot and Plate of Fruit (1944) is examined with the stereomicroscope.

A Closer Look: Pewter Pot and Plate of Fruit (1944)

In this video, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, or XRF, a recent advance in x-ray technology, is discussed.

A Closer Look: New Examination Techniques XRF

Intersections artist Bernhard Hildebrandt installs and discusses his work, A Conjugation of Verb, on view June 27 through September 22, 2013. Using images of El Greco’s The Repentant St. Peter(c. 1600–1605 or later) from the collection, Baltimore-based artist Hildebrandt explores baroque themes of high drama, spectacle, and spatial movement. By converting a series of images into a video sequence, the artist connects painting, photography, and film.

A Conjugation of Verb by Bernhard Hildebrandt / Intersections Art Projects

Exhibition curator Renée Maurer discusses Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928–1945. The exhibition is the first in-depth look at the years leading up to and through World War II, a period of experimentation and transition in Braque’s career, when he used the motif of still life to synthesize cubist discoveries and hone his individual style. Forty-four sumptuous canvases, along with related objects, trace the artist’s journey from painting still lifes in intimate interiors in the late 1920s, to vibrant, large-scale spaces in the 1930s, to more personal interpretations of daily life in the 1940s

Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928–1945 / Exhibition Videos

German artist Wolfgang Laib (b. 1950) installs a wax room at The Phillips Collection, the first permanently installed artwork at the Phillips since the Rothko Room in 1960 and the first wax room that Laib has created for a specific museum.

Installing Laib Wax Room / Permanent Collection

Exhibition co-curator Klaus Ottmann discusses the exhibition Angels, Demons, and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet, on view February 9 through May 12, 2013.

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Videos from the Phillips

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