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Podcast
Finding Van Gogh
In Search of the Legendary “Portrait of Dr Gachet”

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The last great portrait by Vincent van Gogh disappeared from the public eye three decades ago. The podcast series FINDING VAN GOGH traces the painting’s eventful historyto get to the bottom of the question: where is the masterpiece now?

Trailer

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The Podcast

  • Introducing

    Introducing

  • I. The Missing Neurologist

    I. The Missing Neurologist

  • I. The Missing Neurologist

    II. „Degenerate Art“

  • I. The Missing Neurologist

    III. Genius and Madness

  • I. The Missing Neurologist

    IV. Gachet’s Farewell

  • I. The Missing Neurologist

    V. Private Matters

The Story

When the Städel exhibition MAKING VAN GOGH opened its doors in October 2019, it featured some 120 works of art andnotablyan empty picture frame. This was the frame that originally held the “Portrait of Dr Gachet”, Vincent van Gogh’s last major likeness. The painting was once a highlight of the Städel collectionthat is, until the Nazis confiscated it in 1937, declaring it a work of so-called ‘degenerate art’.

The “Portrait of Dr Gachet” shows the neurologist who treated Van Gogh. The expression and pose reveal the physician’s world-weariness and profound sense of melancholy. The artist painted the masterpiece just weeks before taking his own life. Today the painting occupies an iconic place not just in the history of art, but also in the history of the art market.

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Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr Gachet, 1890
Oil on canvas, private collection
Photo: Bridgeman Images

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The empty picture frame of Vincent van Gogh’s „Portrait of Dr Gachet“
in the storage room of the Städel Museum, 2001
Photo: Holde Schneider

In 1990, exactly 100 years after its execution, the “Portrait of Dr Gachet” sold at auction for a record sum of $82.5 million. Its new owner purportedly expressed the wish that it be cremated with his body after his death. This statement turned out to be the stuff of legend: the painting wasn’t destroyed along with its owner’s remains after all. Nevertheless, it has vanished from public view and was last seen at that historic, record-breaking auction in 1990.

FINDING VAN GOGH is a 5-part podcast seriesthe first podcast to be released by the Städel Museum. In it, the journalist Johannes Nichelmann attempts to establish the whereabouts of the “Portrait of Dr Gachet” and traces its remarkable history. He meets with contemporary witnesses, art experts, and Van Gogh enthusiasts in Germany, France, London, New York, and Switzerland. They tell of the painting’s genesis and its history under National Socialism, and provide first-hand insights into the workings of today’s global art market.

Its story holds a mirror up to some of the political and social situations in the places that it was: first in France, in Germany and then in the United States. Then it was in Japan. And now wherever it is. Where it’s hidden. Disappeared.

Cynthia Saltzman in FINDING VAN GOGH

The Protagonists

The Historical Protagonists

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Vincent van Gogh
1853–1890

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Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger
1862–1925

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Georg Swarzenski
1876–1957

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Benno Reifenberg
1892–1970

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Siegfried und Lola Kramarsky
1893–1961 and 1896–1991

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Ryoei Saito
1916–1996

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Theo van Gogh
1857–1891

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Dr. Paul-Ferdinand Gachet
1828–1909

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Alice Ruben Faber
1866–1939

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Alfred Wolters
1884–1973

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Franz Koenigs
1881–1941

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Wolfgang Flöttl
*1955

Worth Knowing

Credits

FINDING VAN GOGH is a podcast series by the Städel Museum in collaboration with Johannes Nichelmann and Jakob Schmidt.

Authors and producers
Johannes Nichelmann and Jakob Schmidt

Idea

Sarah Omar

Project management

Sarah Omar, supervised by Pamela Rohde

Commissioning editors

Sarah Omar with Anna Huber

Scholarly support

Alexander Eiling, Iris Schmeisser and Chantal Eschenfelder

Translation

Anna Borrero and Benjamin Yates

Film trailer

Jakob Schmidt (director and cinematographer)

Media partners

Monopol Magazin für Kunst und Leben, Lage der Nation - der wöchentliche Politik-Podcast aus Berlin

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