Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort

The retrospective exhibition Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resortshows the artist’s unique work, well-known and highly regarded throughout the world , in the context of his artistic and personal connection with Van Gogh, whom he saw as one of his most significant sources of inspiration.

Matthew Wong, Unknown Pleasures, 2019, Museum of Modern Art, New York © 2023 Matthew Wong Foundation / Pictoright Amsterdam, 2023. Digital image courtesy of MoMA

The style of the Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong (1984-2019) can best be described as dynamic, colourful and expressive. His lush landscapes exude melancholy. After studying photography, Wong quickly taught himself to paint and was inspired by both European-American and Chinese painting and drawing. Owing to his rapid development, Wong changed painting styles with striking frequency. During short periods, he looked to the works of various artists, including Klimt and Matisse.

It was, however, Vincent van Gogh who played a major role throughout Wong’s entire eight-year career as an artist. In a 2018 interview, Wong named Van Gogh as one of his most important sources of inspiration. Van Gogh’s influence is unmistakable, in terms of use of colour, the thickly applied brushwork and the personal themes in Wong’s work.

Loneliness, isolation and melancholy marked Wong’s life, and are subjects that were channelled through his work. The artist Jonas Wood, another significant example for Wong and a close friend of the artist, even called Wong ‘the modern day Van Gogh’.

Throughout his life, Wong identified not only with Van Gogh’s art, but also his life story. ‘I see myself in him. The impossibility of belonging in this world’, said Wong in 2018. Both artists had a lengthy search to find their calling in life, which they ultimately found in painting. Wong saw it as his ‘last resort’.

Both Wong and Van Gogh struggled with mental health problems, which resulted in both artists ‘tragic, untimely deaths. Unlike Van Gogh, Wong’s talent was more widely recognised during his short and tempestuous career. Barely five years after he made his first work, a renowned museum acquired a painting by Wong, and many notable collectors followed suit. In 2019, The New York Times lauded him as ‘one of the most talented painters of his generation’.

Matthew Wong, The Kingdom, 2017, Collection of Liz Lange and David Shapiron. © Matthew Wong Foundation c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2023

The exhibition shows the highly personal and emotionally charged oeuvre of Matthew Wong, and illuminates his connection to Van Gogh.

Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort is the first retrospective of Wong’s work in Europe, and is on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 1 March to 1 September 2024. Tickets for the museum can be booked in advance on the Van Gogh Museum website.