On Thursday, 26 October, at the Conference Hall of FUJIFILM Head Office, we held a lecture by Professor Louis van Tilborgh of the University of Amsterdam and curator of The Van Gogh Museum, entitled "Van Gogh and Japan" with 39 audiences. Professor is a specialist on Van Gogh.
At the end of the 19th century, Van Gogh acquired about 660 Japanese woodblock prints during his stay in Paris. Brought up in hard primitivism in Holland, Van Gogh was inspired by soft primitivism, living in the South of France. Idealizing to live like a monk, he expressed brightly and colorfully, a promise of the land of Japan. Using decorative elements in the nature, from a helicopter view, flat as a green water face, with layers of color, he realized original paintings “as if they were Japanese woodblock prints”. In this change of style, there lies influence of woodblock prints, which helped to shape him as an artist. With the evident contrast shown by visual images of woodblock prints and works of Van Gogh, it became a very precious occasion to deepen our knowledge on Van Gogh who dreamed of Japan.
After the lecture, a reception was held and the participants enjoyed conversation with Professor and strengthened friendship between members.