Anna and Vincent
Director Francoise Levie
Countries Belgium
Duration 61 min
Synopsis
ANNA AND VINCENT Anna Boch, painter and patron, buys at the Annual Salon des XX in Brussels in 1890, the only painting that Vincent Van Gogh sold during his lifetime. He dies the same year. Six months later, Anna buys a second work. By doing so, she is the first to acknowledge the importance of Van Gogh, when nobody else did. Both paintings hang in her studio. For years, she paints in their shadow struggling with the presence of Van Gogh's genius. Finally, defeated by their strength and their audacity, she sold both works. Such was their power, they had prevented her from continuing her own development as a painter. Anna's brother, Eugène Boch, was also a painter. On a visit to Arles, Eugène befriended Van Gogh who immortalised him in his famous painting, The Poet. It is through her brother that Anna learned about Van Gogh. Anna and Eugène are the protagonists who carry the film. It evokes the historical period through a vivid correspondence between Eugène in the Sunny South of France and Anna in the Boch castle in grey, industrial La Louvière in Belgium. Through these three characters, the film explores the intriguing relationship between a relatively minor painter historically, and one who is now universally recognized as a genius.
ANNA AND VINCENT Anna Boch, painter and patron, buys at the Annual Salon des XX in Brussels in 1890, the only painting that Vincent Van Gogh sold during his lifetime. He dies the same year. Six months later, Anna buys a second work. By doing so, she is the first to acknowledge the importance of Van Gogh, when nobody else did. Both paintings hang in her studio. For years, she paints in their shadow struggling with the presence of Van Gogh's genius. Finally, defeated by their strength and their audacity, she sold both works. Such was their power, they had prevented her from continuing her own development as a painter. Anna's brother, Eugène Boch, was also a painter. On a visit to Arles, Eugène befriended Van Gogh who immortalised him in his famous painting, The Poet. It is through her brother that Anna learned about Van Gogh. Anna and Eugène are the protagonists who carry the film. It evokes the historical period through a vivid correspondence between Eugène in the Sunny South of France and Anna in the Boch castle in grey, industrial La Louvière in Belgium. Through these three characters, the film explores the intriguing relationship between a relatively minor painter historically, and one who is now universally recognized as a genius.