Vincent van Gogh strongly preferred simple wooden frames over ornate gilded ones for his paintings, a preference that was largely ignored by dealers and collectors who acquired his works after his death. This fascinating aspect of art history was highlighted during London's "Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers" exhibition at the National Gallery, which featured nearly 50 museum and private collection loans displayed mostly in elaborate gold frames that the artist would have disliked.

Van Gogh's framing philosophy was rooted in simplicity and functionality. As he explained to his sister Wil, "If the painting looks good in a simple frame, why put gilding around it?" The artist favored wooden frames without carved ornament, featuring plain designs that were occasionally painted. His own vision of proper framing can be seen in "The Bedroom" (September 1889) from Chicago, where he depicted an imaginary landscape scene above his bed, framed simply in natural wood and hanging crudely from a string or wire on a nail.

The shift toward ornate framing began in the early 1900s when Van Gogh's paintings started selling commercially. Dealers began framing his works to match buyers' expectations, giving him the status of an established master. This practice angered Paul Gachet Jr., son of the doctor who cared for Van Gogh at the end of his life in 1890. In 1905, Gachet Jr. complained that "it is an act of moral barbarism to put gold frames around Vincent's canvases, that simple, humble man."

Despite the prevalence of gilded frames in the National Gallery exhibition, several notable exceptions demonstrated more thoughtful approaches to framing Van Gogh's works. The most distinctive examples came from six paintings loaned by the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, including the fine landscape "Tree Trunks in the Grass" (April 1890). These featured wooden frames with slightly raised square corners, which are replicas of early frames commissioned by Helene Kröller-Müller around 1910.

The Kröller-Müller Museum's framing journey illustrates the ongoing challenge of presenting Van Gogh's works appropriately. Designed by Dutch interior decorator Jacob van den Bosch in an early Art Deco style, virtually all the original Van den Bosch frames were discarded in the 1950s and replaced with inexpensive linen-edged frames from art shops. In the 1980s, some Van Goghs were reframed again using designs by architect Wim Quist, but neither the 1950s nor 1980s replacements proved satisfactory.

Finally, between 2003 and 2005, the museum decided to return to the Van den Bosch design, using surviving frames on two or three paintings, including a 1920s forgery "Seascape at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer," as templates. Replica frames were created from these examples, and the museum's Van Gogh collection is now presented in this historically appropriate manner.

Tokyo's National Museum of Western Art took a similar historically informed approach for their loan to the London exhibition. They decided to reframe their "Roses" (April 1889) specifically for the show, basing the new frame on an example that was once in Dr. Paul Gachet's collection. A few years ago, some empty frames once owned by the doctor were discovered abandoned with a neighbor, with one bearing an inscription recording that it had once held another Van Gogh landscape.

The Guggenheim Museum's "Mountains at Saint-Rémy" (July 1889) demonstrates the ongoing challenges of framing Van Gogh's works appropriately. When donated to the museum in 1965 by dealer Justin Thannhauser, it came in an ornate 17th or 18th-century gilded frame. This was changed soon after arrival and again in 2007, but neither replacement proved successful. In 2016, curators chose a 17th-century black Italian frame with subtle gold marks, whose decorative patterning softly echoes the curvature of Van Gogh's brushstrokes.

Some of Van Gogh's works include his own framing solutions. In "Still Life with Coffee Pot" (May 1888), he painted a trompe-l'oeil frame directly onto the canvas, creating a thin red border around the edge of his composition with a wider white border surrounding it. Van Gogh would presumably have hung this still life on the whitewashed walls of his house in Arles, possibly without any physical frame so the white canvas edges would visually blend with the room.

The London exhibition's greatest framing success involved recreating one of Van Gogh's intended triptychs by displaying two versions of "Sunflowers" on either side of "La Berceuse (The Lullaby)" (January 1889). The National Gallery's "Sunflowers" with yellow background (August 1888) appears in a fairly simple 17th-century Italian frame that shows its age through old woodworm holes from long-dead insects.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's "Sunflowers" on blue background had long been displayed in an ornate gilded frame, probably added by previous owner Carroll Tyson and his wife, who donated the masterpiece in 1963. For the exhibition, Philadelphia reframed their painting in a frame similar to London's version, creating visual harmony for the triptych display. While not an exact replica, the new frame appeared consistent from a distance, and Philadelphia curators decided to retain this simpler framing after the painting's return.

In related Van Gogh news, Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum issued a statement on August 27 warning of potential closure unless the Dutch Ministry of Culture provides increased funding for building maintenance. Director Emilie Gordenker stated that without proper funding, the museum cannot guarantee the safety of its collection, visitors, and staff. The museum argues that the Dutch government is breaking a 1962 agreement with the Van Gogh family and has initiated legal action, with the case scheduled for court on February 19, 2026.