"Becoming Van Gogh" ... becomes an exhibit

Timothy Standring, Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is getting ready for the opening of "Becoming Van Gogh," a one-of-a kind exhibit exploring how the self-taught artist developed his signature style.

We stopped in last week as one painting from a private collection was unpacked from its box ...




... inspected ...




and hung on the wall.



At that point, several paintings had yet to arrive. Brown paper the same size as the frame of each piece was placed on the wall as placeholders for each piece that hadn't arrived yet. A color snapshot of each painting was taped below that brown paper as a reference.

The 12-week exhibit, which opens Oct. 21 for the general public, was curated by Timothy Standring. He has spent about seven years working on the exhibit, which means a lot of traveling for him to secure each piece for the show. (The Denver Art Museum doesn't own any Van Goghs.)