Two scarecrow-like figures walk rapidly, arm-in-arm through a field of sunflowers in Sophie von Hellermann’s huge, 7 foot high painting at Greene Naftali Gallery, their idyll undermined only by a frowning sunflower. The title, ‘Paul and Vincent,’ immediately locates the scene to the south of France in fall 1888, when Paul Gauguin’s visit to Vincent Van Gogh ended in the latter’s famously cutting his ear. Von Hellermann’s signature washy painting style – achieved with pigments, acrylic emulsion and water and no prep drawings – conjures the hope and promise of the harmonious relationship that Van Gogh fancifully envisioned when he invited Gauguin to stay. (On view in Chelsea through June 20th).
