NEWS RELEASE August 31, 2010

FRED JONES JR. MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA - NORMAN CONTACT MICHAEL BENDURE, Director of Communication, 405-325-3178, mbendure@ou.edu FAX: 405-325-7696 www.ou.edu/fjjma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WITH PHOTO OU Art Museum Exhibits Second Van Gogh Painting NORMAN, OKLA. – Visitors to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art may be well familiar with the iconic painting by Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Alexander Reid. For a limited time, visitors will get a rare opportunity to see two works by Van Gogh in the same museum in Oklahoma. The FJJMA has announced the arrival of a second van Gogh painting through Nov. 29. On loan for a limited time, Peasant Woman; Portrait of Gordina de Groot depicts one of Van Gogh’s favorite models during the last years of his life. The painting has never been exhibited in the United States until now. “The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is well-known for its amazing Weitzenhoffer Collection of French Impressionism,” said Ghislain d’Humières, director of the FJJMA. “Displaying this second Van Gogh painting in a beautiful gallery surrounded by other Impressionist works provides an appropriate framework for this important painting. This is a great opportunity for visitors to see two beautiful works by one of the world’s best-known painters, both in one place, here in Oklahoma.” In 1883, at the age of 30, Van Gogh moved to the village of Neunen, Netherlands, to live with his parents. The local life became his subjects for paintings and, between 1884 and the end of April 1885, he painted nearly 40 busts of peasant men and women. This series of paintings began as an academic exercise, but later grew in significance to the artist.

Portrait of Gordina de Groot is significant, not only because the subject is the central figure in one of Van Gogh’s most famous and celebrated works, The Potato Eaters, but also because it is one of only two paintings from the series of 40 busts that the artist chose to sign. Van Gogh’s signature indicates that he considered it a fully realized and finished work, rather than simply a study. The portrait also reveals the beginning of Van Gogh’s characteristically rich application of paint and heavily worked painting surface, a method that would eventually become his signature painting style. The 1885 painting of Gordina de Groot was exhibited as a long-term loan in Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 1917 to 1964, but it has never been exhibited in the United States before. The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus. Admission to the museum is free to all OU students with a current student ID and all museum association members, $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3 for children 6 to 17 years of age, $2 for OU faculty/staff, and free for children 5 and under. The museum is closed on Mondays and admission is free on Tuesdays. The museum’s Web site is www.ou.edu/fjjma. Information and accommodations on the basis of disability are available by calling (405) 325-4938. Construction on a new wing is under way, but the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is open and fully functional with exhibitions and programming throughout the entire construction process.

### PHOTO CUTLINE Well-known for its impressive permanent collection of French Impressionism, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art announces the loan of a painting by Vincent van Gogh, the second work by the famous painter to hang in the museum. On loan from a private collector, Peasant Woman; Portrait of Gordina de Groot depicts the bust of one of Van Gogh’s favorite models in the 1880s. Credit line: Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands, 1853-1890)

Peasant Woman; Portrait of Gordina de Groot, 1885 Oil on canvas, 41 x 34.5 cm. On loan from a private collector