Post-Van Gogh Retrospective:
Post-Van Gogh Series

Dr. T.F. Chen

Vincent Is Coming Home
Acrylic on canvas
44" x 66"
1990

For the occasion of Vincent van Gogh's Centennial Celebration in 1990, Dr. T.F. Chen decided to create one-hundred paintings in homage to the great master who had first inspired him to be an artist.  Chen called this dedication his "Post - Van Gogh Series," and his painting is the first motif that came to him.

In Chen's "Vincent Coming Home," the sublime interior of Matisse’s "Dessert: Harmony of Red" (1980) serves as the setting.  The magnetic red of the wall and the tablecloth with the interweaving blue pattern remains the same, yet the original blue bouquets have been replaced by the images of Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers" (1888).  The lady to the right still prepares the desserts, but she's dressed in Arlesian attire with a local hairstyle as well.  On the left, the originally Victorian brown-colored chair has been supplanted by Van Gogh's sturdy, rustic yellow one, with his pipe upon the seat.  And outside of the window, instead of Matisse’s depiction of a green garden with flowering tress and a red house, we see Vincent’s landscape of "The Painter on the Road to Tarascon" (1888).  Yet the artist is in reverse direction, we see the master himself returning from a long day of painting out in the sun - Vincent coming home!

This new presentation tells another story of Van Gogh quite different from that of art history.

In Arles, Vincent fell in love with and married a beautiful Arlesienne who admired his talent and loved him.  Joyfully, Vincent would wake up early every morning to paint and return home in the afternoon, where his wife would have some dessert prepared for them, and some fruits and drink upon the table.  After putting his paints and accessories down, Vincent would settle into his chair, smoke his pipe contentedly, and converse with his wife.  Since many of the artist's images, such as his "Sunflowers" were licensed fro merchandise such as tablecloth and wall paper, Vincent  and his wife received royalties and enjoyed a relatively comfortable life.

So in this story and in this painting, Vincent has finally attained the family intimacy and artistic recognition he so earnestly craved all of his lonely life.