Matthew Wong - Vincent van Gogh

The self-taught Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong (1984-2019) employed bold and expressive colour, using thick and dynamic application to instil a directness and intense personality into his paintings that is equalled virtually nowhere except in the work of Vincent van Gogh. The parallels between the lives of Wong and Van Gogh are striking: both artists searched intently for their vocation in life before eventually finding it in painting; and both struggled with their mental health. Above all, they both created a legacy of highly individual and emotionally charged masterpieces. The artistic and personal connection between them is explored in this catalogue, which also contains a survey of Matthew Wong’s impressive body of work on the occasion of his first retrospective in Europe.