Montblanc & Van Gogh Museum have launched Masters of Homage to Vincent Van Gogh Collection
The new Montblanc Masters of Art Collection honours the immortal contribution of great artists in their quest for perfection in art, a quest Montblanc both celebrates and participates in as a Maison rooted in culture, creativity and self-expression.
The Montblanc Masters of Art collection’s first edition pays tribute to Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, one of the most popular painters of the late 19th century with visionary ideas now seen as precursors to modernism. Van Gogh is introduced into the Masters of Art Collection through five limited edition writing instruments that pay homage to the various personal and artistic periods in the painter’s life, taking design inspiration from some of his most well-known works and idiosyncratic art style.
Montblanc collaborated with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to ensure that the Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Editions aligned with the museum’s insight into his work and life. As the leading centre of expertise on Vincent van Gogh , the Van Gogh Museum acts as guardian of Vincent van Gogh’s heritage. The museum houses the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh’s art with over 200 paintings, close to 500 drawings and more than 700 letters. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023, the Van Gogh Museum continues to inspire countless devotees with the life and work of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries.
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Editions
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Edition 4810
This limited edition writing instrument, coming in a fountain pen and a rollerball version, celebrates Vincent van Gogh’s time in Arles with design details evoking the Provençal wheatfields and one of his most famous paintings, Sunflowers. In 1888, Vincent van Gogh left Paris and found new inspiration, new light conditions and tranquillity in Arles in southern France, where he fell in love with the sun-drenched landscapes and settled down to capture the sun-infused mood and the beautiful colours of nature. The writing instrument’s barrel, decorated in shades of yellow and orange, is reminiscent of the sun-drenched landscapes of southern France as captured in Van Gogh’s works. This period of brightness is also reflected in the orange lacquer used to fill the signature ‘Vincent’, engraved on the platinum-coated barrel ring of the edition. Next to it, an engraving of ‘1888’ commemorates the year he moved to Arles.
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Edition 888
The design of this edition evokes the artist’s time in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Auvers-sur-Oise with details reflecting the Provençal skies and one of his most famous paintings, Wheatfield with Crows. In 1889, after spending a highly productive year in Arles, he made Saint-Rémy and later Auvers-sur-Oise his home, reigniting his creativity in the peaceful surroundings he found there. The engraving of ‘Saint-Rémy’ on the cap top of the writing instrument reveals the setting for the next stage of the painter’s personal journey. An engraving of ‘1889’ on the barrel ring commemorates the year of his move to Saint-Rémy, next to one of his signature filled with blue lacquer.
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Edition 161
This edition with a limitation of 161 captures the artist’s final years in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Auvers-sur-Oise with design details reflecting his last work, Tree Roots, among others. After Van Gogh left Arles, he made his home in Saint-Rémy where he reached his artistic maturity. It was in 1890 that the painter moved on to Auvers-sur-Oise, which became his final home. The solid Au 750 signature gold barrel ring is engraved with Van Gogh’s signature and ‘1890’, commemorating the year he drew his last painting, Tree Roots. The Ag 925 sterling silver barrel is decorated with lacquer inlays with design and colours from Tree Roots, which depicts a group of trees with their roots exposed by erosion on the side of a hill.
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Edition 8
The design of this edition evokes the artist’s time in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Auvers-sur-Oise with details reflecting the Provençal skies and one of his most famous paintings, Wheatfield with Crows. In 1889, after spending a highly productive year in Arles, he made Saint-Rémy and later Auvers-sur-Oise his home, reigniting his creativity in the peaceful surroundings he found there. The engraving of ‘Saint-Rémy’ on the cap top of the writing instrument reveals the setting for the next stage of the painter’s personal journey. An engraving of ‘1889’ on the barrel ring commemorates the year of his move to Saint-Rémy, next to one of his signature filled with blue lacquer.
Montblanc Masters of Art Homage to Vincent van Gogh Limited Edition 90
The design of this edition limited to 90 pieces celebrates Van Gogh’s time Arles, reflecting his Provençal landscapes seen in his work The Harvest and paying homage to his impasto technique. In Arles, Van Gogh was able to breathe a magical quality into his paintings using buoyant colours and an emotional, impasto style – applying thick paint in rough strokes to create a topography of coloured layers. Van Gogh’s impasto was intense, the colour potent and the strokes of the palette knife vigorous. On the Limited Edition 90, this technique is interpreted by hand in the artwork adorning the cap and barrel. Inspired by masterpieces such as The Harvest, the hand-crafted artwork is composed of colours used by Van Gogh for his visions of Provence: warm yellows, resonant oranges and soothing greens. Each writing instrument is unique in the way strokes of colour fuse together, giving this edition the quality of a painted canvas.
This collection comes as the successor of the Montblanc Patron of Art collection, concluding after 30 years as Montblanc moves the focus from the patrons of art to the masters themselves. Montblanc is dedicating this series of limited editions to a variety of visual artists, whose work encompasses a broad range of disciplines, from painting and sculpture to design and architecture, covering different epochs like the Renaissance, the Baroque era, or Impressionism period and beyond. The proportions of every writing instrument in the collection are inspired by the golden ratio, a timeless aesthetic principle connecting many of the world’s most admired artworks.
