CROWDFUNDING: Help us restore a Gauguin!
Help us restore a Gauguin!
DONATE NOW: gingo.community
“The Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge” is one of Paul Gauguin’s masterpieces. He painted this first (and rare) frontal portrait during his first stay in Tahiti (1891). This work went through a lot and was damaged several times by transport, storage and inadequate restorations before being acquired by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1923. Today, after extensive scientific research, the painting is finally ready for restoration: the Museum team needs your help saving this piece of Belgian and world heritage!
“The Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge” is on view at the Fin-de-Siècle Museum.
The goal is to reach € 22,500. Our generous sponsor, the Baillet Latour fund, will double every donated euro. Your donation allows for a complete restoration of the painting (fixing the tearing, eliminating the cracks and different layers of varnish, … in order to rediscover the colours and texture Gauguin intended).
INFO: fine-arts-museum.be @FineArtsBelgium
Artwork: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, 1891, oil on canvas. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 4491.
© 2016, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. All rights reserved
A film by Jose Huedo / josehuedo.com
A masterpiece by Gauguin restored!
11 months of restoration (January to November 2017) in 2 minutes
Restoration of Gauguin’s “Portrait of Suzanne Bambrigde”
achieved thanks to the crowdfunding campaign (nov 2016)
with the support of: Maecenas Circle, Baillet Latour fund, Gingo, Become A Friend
“The Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge” is one of Paul Gauguin’s masterpieces. He painted this first (and rare) frontal portrait during his first stay in Tahiti (1891). This work went through a lot and was damaged several times by transport, storage and inadequate restorations before being acquired by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1923. After extensive scientific research and 11 months of restoration, the painting was bring back to life.
The restoration took place from January to November 2017. New technologies allowed a comprehensive analyse of the painting before and during the restoration. Multispectral, radiography, infrared, UV analyses were supplemented by innovative MA-XRF and FTIR (spectroscopy) techniques.
Restorator: Etienne Van Vyve
Scientific team: Francisca Vandepitte, Frederik Leen, Dominique Marechal (RMFAB); Catherine Defeyt, David Strivay (ULiège)
Artwork: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, 1891, oil on canvas. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 4491. © RMFAB, Brussels / photos: V. Everarts - E. Van Vyve
© 2017, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. All rights reserved
fine-arts-museum.be @FineArtsBelgium
a film by La Cambre (animation & production departments)
Restoration of Paul Gauguin’s Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, step 1
First step following our crowdfunding action to help restore Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece “Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge”: removing the painting from its canvas.
More info about the crowdfunding action:
fine-arts-museum.be @FineArtsBelgium
A special thanks to Gingo, Baillet Latour Funds, the Maecenas Circle, Become A Friend and all the donators of the crowdfunding action.
Artwork: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, 1891, oil on canvas. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 4491.
© 2017, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. All rights reserved
Restoration of Paul Gauguin’s Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, step 2
Second step following our crowdfunding action to help restore Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece “Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge”:
Witness how we made her eyes shine bright again after eliminating superfluous layers of varnish and paint.
More info about the crowdfunding action:
fine-arts-museum.be @FineArtsBelgium
A special thanks to Gingo, Baillet Latour Funds, the Maecenas Circle, Become A Friend and all the donators of the crowdfunding action.
Artwork: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, 1891, oil on canvas. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 4491.
© 2017, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. All rights reserved
Restoration of Paul Gauguin’s Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, step 3
“Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge” [first portrait made by Paul Gauguin in Tahiti] has been completely stripped of previous, ill-conceived restorations. She is now ready for a thorough touch-up with aquarelle. Aquarelle is used to restore oil paintings because of its reversible character. A painting conservator's task is not to recreate the painting with the exact same materials (as a forger would), but to create the illusion of what it used to look like. Therefore, any change made by any other person than the artist himself, has to be reversible. Decades from now, future conservators will still be able to see what's original and what's not. Luckily for us, we won't. We'll just stare and marvel at Suzanne Bambridge's beauty as if she never aged.
More info about the crowdfunding action:
fine-arts-museum.be @FineArtsBelgium
A special thanks to Gingo, Baillet Latour Funds, the Maecenas Circle, Become A Friend and all the donators of the crowdfunding action.
Artwork: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Suzanne Bambridge, 1891, oil on canvas. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 4491.
© 2017, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. All rights reserved