In short
Matthew Wong © 2023 Matthew Wong Foundation
The imaginary landscapes of Matthew Wong are both vividly colourful and accessible, yet at the same time hauntingly alienating and melancholic.
Among the numerous sources of inspiration that Wong found in art history, Vincent van Gogh was one of the most significant. Moreover, he identified a kindred spirit in Van Gogh.
Matthew Wong, A Walk Through Primordial Garden, 2018, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 76.2 cm © Matthew Wong Foundation c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2023
Van Gogh and Wong both had a lengthy search to find their calling in life, which ultimately proved to be painting. Wong even saw it as his ‘last resort’.
Both Wong and Van Gogh used colour and thick & expressive brushstrokes as a means of conveying a particular feeling or emotional charge.
'I think my main strengths are colour and brushwork'
Matthew Wong, 2017
Matthew Wong, The Space Between Trees, 2019, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm, Private Collection © Matthew Wong Foundation c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2023
Wong drew inspiration not only from Van Gogh’s artworks, but also identified with his life story. Both artists struggled with mental health, finding hope and strength in the act of creating art.
Top: Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with a Reaper, 1889, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation). Bottom: Matthew Wong, Coming of Age Landscape, 2018, private collection, with thanks to HomeArt, 2023 Matthew Wong Foundation / © Matthew Wong Foundation c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2023.
‘I see myself in him [Van Gogh]. The impossibility of belonging in this world’
Matthew Wong, 2018
