National gallery's van Gogh exhibit to draw crowd

WASHINGTON - There is a dentist in France who will paint a van Gogh reproduction on your front teeth if you want. A French cook fashions copies of van Gogh's paintings in sugar, and is gradually making his way through the entire oeuvre. Knitters turn the paintings into sweaters, craftsmen make them into mosaics, profiteers program paint machines to duplicate van Gogh's painstaking brush strokes.

Vincent van Gogh and his art have spawned a vast industry of worship and imitation - reams of books and articles, movies, plays, songs, poems, Web sites, T-shirts, puzzles and even a "Great Artist Series" Barbie doll dressed in a sunflower. Pilgrims travel to weep in the room where he died in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, and leave ashes and mementos at his nearby grave. There is a Pin the Ear on van Gogh game; a mug with a detachable handle shaped like an ear. Van Gogh can arguably also be held responsible for the glut of sunflowers that decorated everything from hair clips to wastebaskets a few seasons ago.

It is partly as a result of van Gogh mania that an exhibit of paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is coming to the National Gallery Oct. 4 to Jan. 3, offering this city a chance to experience its own version of the madness. The National Gallery has already dispensed nearly 215,000 advance passes, and expects heavy demand for the 1,800 to 2,300 additional tickets to be released every morning during the exhibition. Even scalpers have gotten into the act, selling the free tickets for as much as $50 for opening day.

"We don't usually do art exhibits," said Danny Matta, the owner of Great Seats Inc., a ticket brokerage in College Park, Md. "But many of our regular clients wanted them. This is basically a service for people who don't want to wait in line."

"Surveys have shown that van Gogh is the most recognized artist in the world," said Eric Jackson of Anderson Consulting, which is underwriting the exhibition for a sum he would not disclose. That recognition appeals to the Fortune 500 CEOs and CFOs who are his company's main clients, Jackson said of the decision to sponsor the show.

Monique Hageman of the Van Gogh Museum says the artist's appeal is "because of the letters he wrote. So we know a lot more of him than of other painters of his time. Everybody wants to make a romantic life of what we know of him from his letters."

Built to accommodate 60,000 visitors a year, the 25-year-old Van Gogh Museum has been attracting more than 15 times as many. With a single elevator and one staircase, viewers face long lines, especially during the summer season, when tourists come in droves.

"A million people a year, and toilet facilities designed for 60,000," museum spokeswoman Marjelle van Hoorn said.

Because it must close for eight months to complete renovations prompted by this popularity, the museum (which was started by van Gogh's nephew, the son of his beloved brother Theo) agreed to loan 70 of its 200 paintings to the National Gallery.

Van Gogh mania perhaps reached its height in 1990, when "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was sold at auction to a Japanese paper magnate for a record $82.5 million. That sale occurred 100 years after the impecunious artist died, shortly after painting the picture of his homeopathic physician, a man he thought sicker than himself.

Given the vicissitudes of the art market, however, it is best to consider the value of the collection coming here as "priceless." Security will be extremely tight. Van Gogh has the dubious distinction of being among those artists who have been the target of art thieves and insane desecrators.

The National Gallery will have its share of memorabilia for sale - 64 items ranging from 50-cent postcards to a $139 vase, all of which have been approved by the Van Gogh Museum as suitably tasteful. The profits go toward subsidizing the gallery's publications.

In its more-virulent forms, van Gogh mania goes way beyond 50-cent postcards.

"It's a peculiar global community of enthusiasts that all share the same kind of fever," said David Brooks, a Canadian computer expert who maintains the Website www.vangoghgallery.com.

"There is something indescribable that possesses you ... the majority of people, you couldn't show them a Vermeer and they would know what it is. But you show them 'Starry Night' or 'Bedroom' and they know who he is. Why are people so fascinated with Elvis or James Dean? It's the tragic flavor to their story ... It touches people."

"Lust for Life" is just one of more than 85 feature films and documentaries about van Gogh from 19 countries, according to Kees Pinxteren in "The Mythology of Van Gogh." They range from fictionalized dramas to Dadaist parodies to a one-minute humorous exegesis in Dutch called "The Bedroom." Van Gogh has inspired scores of novels, biographies and critiques, as well as sappy poetry. Painters, from the prominent to retirees copying postcards, have imitated or interpreted him for decades.

Perhaps the most dedicated van Gogh worshippers are those who travel to the many places he lived in the Netherlands, England, Belgium and France. It can take two weeks to visit all the sites in Holland alone.

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