Van Gogh's 'L'Arlesiana' on loan at Palazzo Citterio in Milan

Vincent van Gogh's 1890 painting 'L'Arlesiana' has been temporarily installed at Palazzo Citterio in Milan as the inaugural work of the new exhibition series 'L'Ospite', organized by the Pinacoteca di Brera under director Angelo Crespi. The painting, on loan from the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM) in Rome, depicts Madame Ginoux, wife of the owner of the Café de la Gare in Arles, seated with two books on a table: 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe and tales by Charles Dickens. Van Gogh painted the work from memory during his stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy, based on studies by Paul Gauguin. The books symbolize the artist's deep passion for literature, which he considered essential to his life and art. The series 'L'Ospite' aims to bring exceptional loans to Milan, fostering collaborations with institutions like GNAM. The exhibition follows a major Van Gogh show at MUDEC in Milan a year and a half earlier.