“Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.” —Vincent van Gogh

The MFAH is the only venue for Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art, opening March 10. In anticipation of the spring exhibition, Armchair Travel—a film series featuring documentaries about hit exhibitions from around the world—shares a look at Van Gogh’s fascinating and deeply troubled world.

Van Gogh’s Life
Like the exhibition, the documentary Vincent van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing, screening on February 1 & 2, surveys Van Gogh’s story from his earliest work up to his final days in France, using letters to family and friends—especially to his beloved brother Theo—as windows into the artist’s thoughts and process.

Van Gogh’s Art
Through footage and staff interviews, the film also provides access to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, one of the major collaborators with the MFAH on His Life in Art. Both the Van Gogh Museum display presented in the film and the MFAH exhibition highlight Van Gogh’s drive to become an artist long before his death, which is often the focus of stories about him.

Van Gogh’s World
As Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum, says in the documentary, “Van Gogh was not an isolated genius who just fell from heaven and just was. . . . He was an artist who developed, who took lots of cues in the artistic world around him.”

Another film series exploring aspects of Van Gogh’s life and work continues after the exhibition opens—stay tuned for details! See the Armchair Travel presentation on February 1 & 2. The exhibition “Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art” is on view March 10–June 27.