With regional museums closed and waiting to reopen, we are continuing to remind readers of their important collections by highlighting visual art works you can visit as soon as social distancing practices change and museum doors open.
This week’s pick is Vincent Van Gogh’s 1888 painting, “Tarascon Stagecoach” (La Diligence de Tarascon). It can be found in two manifestations in two important area arts centers.
The first is the original oil painting, part of the Pearlman Collection housed at the Princeton University Art Museum. Drawn to southern France’s clarity of light, vivid colors, and rustic lifestyle and painting in his expressive style of broken brushstrokes, thick layers of paint, and vivid contrasts, Van Gogh wrote that the painting completed during a single afternoon was inspired by a story where the author dreams of such a wagon traveling through North Africa.
The second version is Seward Johnson’s metal and aluminum sculptural version of the painting at Grounds For Sculpture. The noted regionally based sculptor, who died in March, created the work in 2001 as part of his popular and fun “Beyond the Frame” series based on 19th-century paintings. It’s on view in the Belgian Courtyard near Rat’s Restaurant.
For information regarding openings, check online: Princeton University Art Museum at artmuseum.princeton.edu and Grounds For Sculpture at www.groundsforsculpture.org.
