"Sunset at Montmajour"
on July 4, 1888. It was painted while the artist was at Arels, France and depicts a landscape of garrigue
with the ruins of Montmajour Abbey in the background. The paintings was on dislay from 24 September 2013
until 12 Jamuary 2014 as part of the exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Sunset at Montmajour is a work from the most important period of Van Gogh's life, when he created his substantial
masterpieces, like the Sunflowers, The Yellow House, and the Bedroom. Th painting depicts dusk in the hilly, forested
landscape of Montmajour, in Provence, with wheat fields and the ruins of Benedictine abbey in the distance. The area
around Montmajour was a subject that van Gogh often during his time in Arles.
In the 1990s, the painting was shown to staff at the Van Gogh Museum, but it was dismissed as not the work of Van Gogh
because it was not signed. With the development of improved investigate techniques, however, in 2011 a two year investigation
was launched by the Van Gogh Museum to examine the possible authencity of the painting. The painting was subjected to a detailed
investigation of style and materials. It was discovered to have been painted in the same range of paints that appear in works by
van Gogh at that period, which led to further research. Among the evidence that confirmed the paintings's authencity was a letter
written the Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo on 5 July 1888, describing a landscape that he had painted the previous day.
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