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Van Gogh’s works are sometimes found in unexpected places. But among the more likely settings are the London Medical Museum, the Wellcome Collection. In 1927 Henry Wellcome paid £5 for the engraving Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet.
London’s Wellcome collection is in the news this week for its extensive range medicine man The display has been turned off suddenly, the museum states was “racist, sexist and ableist”. Opened in 2007, it includes Van Gogh prints along with a surprisingly eclectic group of objects related to the history of medicine in different cultures around the world. It was a thought-provoking cabinet of curiosities.
Van Gogh made only one etching in the month before his suicide. It depicts Paul Gachet (1828-1909), a doctor living in Auvers-sur-Oise, just outside Paris where Van Gogh lived. Besides being a notable medical practitioner, Dr. Gachet was a friend of many Impressionists and an amateur artist himself. A week before making the etching, Van Gogh painted a powerful portrait of the doctor.
Van Gogh Portrait of Dr Gachet (June 1890) Image courtesy of Stadel Museum, Frankfurt
Gachet’s son (1873–1962), also named Paul, later recalled how the carving took place: “After an outdoor lunch in the courtyard, once while the men’s pipes were burning, Vincent was given an engraving needle and varnished copper; He enthusiastically took his new friend as a subject.”
Although Van Gogh had never carved before, in less than half an hour under the doctor’s guidance he completed the pipe-smoking portrait of his host. The two men then rushed upstairs to Gachet’s studio, where they went through the process of getting acid on copper plates and then printed a few copies. Van Gogh was thrilled with the result. More copies were printed several years later by Gachet Jr.
Photograph of Henry Wellcome (1890) Wellcome Collection, London
Henry Wellcome (1853–1936) was an American-born and London-based pharmaceutical entrepreneur with a keen interest in the history of medicine. Thanks to his wealth, he was able to assemble a collection of medical-related materials that eventually numbered 125,000 items. After his death many went into the Wellcome Collection, with some on loan to the Science Museum in London.
In 1927 Wellcome’s curator, Peter Johnston-Saint, approached Paul Gachet Jr. to purchase items relating to his late father’s medical practice. Eclectic classification includes human bones used by Dr. Gachet performed artistic anatomy lessons, early electro-medical equipment, and guillotined a group of death heads of criminals (perhaps collected for phrenological purposes).
A plaster death head of the guillotined murderer Arsene-Raymond Lescure (1855), owned by Dr. Gachet is Wellcome Collection, London (on long-term loan to the Science Museum, London)
Most importantly, Wellcome bought a Van Gogh etching for 700 francs (then just over £5). Good examples now sell for over £100,000.
The Welcome example features Gachet Jr.’s personal stamp at the bottom of the print, depicting a cat’s head in red. The Gachet family loved cats, and at one point they apparently owned 17.
There was to be an interesting sequel to the story of the etching acquisition. In 1931 Gachet Jr. approached Johnston-St. and asked if Dr. Wellcome “in the field of art” Will publish an illustrated essay on Gachet’s interests. The translated article and ten images will be provided free of charge.
Presumably this essay includes links between the Gachets (father and son) and Van Gogh – with his memories of the artist’s last days and sudden suicide.
Unfortunately, Johnston-Saint declined the offer, replying that there was no certainty of publishing it in the near future. This was probably because the engraving was acquired because it depicted a notable doctor, and Wellcome and his curator had little interest in the artist, Van Gogh.
Wellcome therefore missed the opportunity to publish a first-hand account of the important events surrounding Van Gogh’s final weeks. It would not be until the 1950s that Gachet Jr. began to broadcast detailed accounts of his memories.
As for the Van Gogh etching of Wellcome, it was presented as a highlight medicine man In 2016 it was removed from display for conservation reasons, and replaced by a reproduction, to reduce exposure to light.
We asked the Wellcome Collection if the Van Gogh etching would return in subsequent exhibitions medicine man. The spokesman’s response was hardly encouraging: “We are embarking on a major project to transform how the collection is presented over the coming years, informed by the museum’s program and research. This process will amplify the voices of people previously erased or marginalized from museums and bring their stories of health and humanity to the heart of the Wellcome Collection.”
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