Photos: Postcard reveals location of Vincent van Gogh’s last painting

While being stuck at home during the Covid-19 lockdown, Dutch researcher Wouter van der Veen made a remarkable discovery by looking through old postcards of the French village where Vincent van Gogh died. One postcard showing gnarled roots and tree trunks along a road in Auvers-sur-Oise close to Paris, bore a remarkable similarity to Van Gogh's last painting, "Tree Roots." After examining the postcard and the painting, researchers agreed that the postcard of rue Daubigny in Auberge Ravoux inn where Van Gogh died likely shows the location of his last painting. The area has now been fenced off for protection and will be made available for public viewing later.

Updated on: Jul 31, 2020 10:52 AM IST

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Researcher Wouter van der Veen, scientific director at the Institut Van Gogh, shows a copy of the postcard (around 1905-1910) which enabled him to identify the location that inspired Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh for his last work ‘Tree Roots’ (1890), painted shortly before his death in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, on July 29. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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A diagram shows Van Gogh’s possible position in relation to the hillside in Auvers-sur-Oise when painting ‘Tree Roots’ in 1890. (Arthenon via REUTERS)

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A chair is seen inside the Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh spent his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise, on July 29. The painting ‘Tree Roots’ in vibrant blue and green is believed to be his last work, created on the day he shot himself--July 27, 1890. He died two days later. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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People stand in front of the grave of Vincent van Gogh during a ceremony marking his 130th death anniversary at the cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 29. Dutch researcher Van der Veen told Reuters that early this year he had received a large collection of early 20th-century postcards from a 94-year-old woman in Auvers village. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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The grave of Vincent van Gogh at the cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 29. “Like everyone else in France, I was in lockdown and used that time to digitise the postcards, when I recognised the outlines of the tree roots on the card. It was in black-and-white, but the shapes were the same,” Van der Veen told Reuters. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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A view of Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh spent his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 29. Van der Veen sent his findings to colleagues at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum, where the painting hangs. They agreed that the postcard of rue Daubigny--150 metres from the Auberge Ravoux where Van Gogh died-- shows the possible location of his last painting. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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The tree roots identified as part of the location that inspired Van Gogh for his last painting in Auvers-sur-Oise on July 29. This area has now been fenced off for protection and will be made available for public viewing later, Reuters reported. (Christian Hartmann / REUTERS)

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Vincent van Gogh’s last painting ‘Tree Roots’ (1890). Van der Veen told Reuters that the painting’s theme of coppiced trees seem to be a message from Van Gogh, a farewell note in colour about death and regeneration. (Vincent van Gogh Foundation via REUTERS)