{"id":34190,"date":"2026-02-25T09:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/wystawy\/vincent-van-gogh-wiejskie-chaty-posrod-drzew\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T08:49:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:49:32","slug":"vincent-van-gogh-wiejskie-chaty-posrod-drzew","status":"publish","type":"wystawy","link":"https:\/\/mnk.pl\/en\/wystawy\/vincent-van-gogh-wiejskie-chaty-posrod-drzew\/","title":{"rendered":"Vincent van Gogh: \u2018Country Cottages Among the Trees\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the European Art Gallery of the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w, we are exhibiting the only painting by Vincent van Gogh in Polish public collections, entitled Country Cottages Among the Trees<\/em>, from the John Paul II Collection belonging to the Archdiocese of Warsaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work was created in September 1883 and represents the artist\u2019s early Dutch period. It is an intimate landscape depicting modest rural buildings set amidst a dense mass of trees. The simplicity of the composition, the economy of formal means, and the dark, subdued colour palette place the work within the aesthetic of realism and stand in stark contrast to the artist\u2019s later French period, marked by intense colours and the influence of Impressionism. The painting reveals strong links to the Hague School, as well as indirect references to the tradition of 17th-century Dutch landscape painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turbulent history of this landscape illustrates the shifting reception of Van Gogh\u2019s work. After the artist left Nuenen, the painting was among other works of his that were packed into crates by his mother and forgotten for many years. Stored in the attic of the carpenter Adrianus Schrauwen, they were considered worthless. It was not until 1902 that Johannes Cornelis Couvreur bought the contents of the attic for a nominal sum, attempting to sell the canvases from a pedlar\u2019s cart and giving some away in exchange for beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gradual recognition of the paintings\u2019 value by Cornelis Mouwen and Willem van Bakel initiated a process of conservation and sale of the works, as a result of which the paintings found their way to the Oldenzeel Gallery in Rotterdam. In the following decades, the work found its way into many private collections, including the prestigious Swiss collection of the Meyer-Fierz family. In 1987, the painting was purchased at a Christie\u2019s auction in London by Zbigniew Karol Porczy\u0144ski (Charles Zbigniew Carroll-Porczy\u0144ski) and transported to Warsaw, where it became part of the John Paul II Collection, currently owned by the Archdiocese of Warsaw (on deposit at Mt 5,14 | Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszy\u0144ski).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition curatorial team:<\/strong> Mi\u0142osz Kargol, Dr Katarzyna P\u0142onka-Ba\u0142us, Dr Adam Spodaryk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the exhibition catalogue: \u201cVan Gogh. Stories of a Single Painting\u201d (2024), ed. Stefania Ambroziak, Anna Biskupska, published by Mt 5,14 | Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszy\u0144ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Object:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vincent van Gogh (1853\u20131890), Country Cottages Among the Trees<\/em>, Netherlands, near The Hague, September 1883.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the collection of John Paul II \u2013 property of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, on deposit at Mt 5,14 | Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszy\u0144ski in Warsaw<\/p>\n\n\n

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Partners<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the \u2018Inspiring Culture\u2019 programme<\/h5>\n\n\n\n