Cézanne to Van Gogh

A physician and an amateur artist, Paul Gachet appreciated at an early date the genius of a number of painters struggling for recognition, including Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, Guillaumin, and, especially, Van Gogh. They were among the many artists who became his friends and were frequent guests at Gachet's home in Auvers, where they were invited to set up their easels and paint still lifes or to experiment with new etching techniques in his attic studio. The artists gave or sold to their host pictures that then joined his wide-ranging collection. Artists' works were also studiously copied by Gachet, his son, Paul, and other amateurs in Gachet's circle. By the time of Dr. Gachet's death in 1909, the collection that filled his three-story house - containing paintings by now-famous Impressionist and Postimpressionist artists - had become legendary. For the first time, the Gachet donations - which contain not only paintings but also drawings, prints, copies, and such memorabilia as artists' palettes and still-life objects - are being exhibited outside France and, in this volume, published in their entirety.