Latest news with #TreeRoots
New York Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Corrections: April 23, 2025
An article on April 16 about the French village where Vincent Van Gogh spent his final days and painted his final work misstated that the day that Van Gogh painted 'Tree Roots,' his final painting. It was made on the day he shot himself, not the day he died. (He died about 30 hours after he shot himself.) An article on Tuesday about possible contenders to succeed Pope Francis misstated where Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi is from. He is a native of Rome, not Bologna. An article on Tuesday about the rituals and procedures of selecting a new pope misstated the age of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. He is 91, not 87. An article on Monday about comments made by billionaires working in the Trump administration misstated the timing of President Trump's social media post in which he said it was 'a great time to buy.' Mr. Trump's post appeared on April 9, not last week. An article on Tuesday about the case before the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of a provision of the Affordable Care Act that can require insurance companies to offer some types of preventive care for free overstated what is known about the cost a new injectable medication that would prevent transmission of H.I.V. The drug's manufacturer has not yet said how much it would cost if approved by the F.D.A. as a preventive medication, not that it will cost $42,000 a year. An article on April 16 about the actor, musician and writer Whitney White misstated the title of a play directed by White. It is 'Our Dear Dead Drug Lord,' not 'Our Dear Drug Lord.' An article on Tuesday about the health benefits of asparagus misstated the title of Vanessa da Silva and her affiliation with the University of Arizona. She is a dietitian and extension specialist at the University of Arizona, but is not a diabetes educator affiliated with the Sarver Heart Center. An Overlooked No More obituary on Monday about the British suspense novelist Ethel Lina White referred incorrectly to the 1938 movie 'The Lady Vanishes.' It was the second-to-last film Alfred Hitchcock made in England, not the last. The last was 'Jamaica Inn' in 1939. Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.
Telegraph
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Court battle over who owns famous van Gogh roots is tearing French village apart
A tangled clump of tree roots that inspired Vincent van Gogh's final painting are at the centre of a heated legal battle between French villagers and their mayor. Five years ago, art experts concluded that a system of exposed, gnarly roots along the side of a road in Auvers-sur-Oise on the outskirts of Paris, were those depicted in Tree Roots, the artist's last work. It is believed that he painted the piece just hours before he died in 1890, after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. News of the location shook the art world. The small village, located about an hour north of Paris where van Gogh spent the last two months of his life, attracted international media in the summer of 2020 and a steady stream of eager pilgrims. But the discovery has since become the subject of a pitched war between the town over whether the roots belong to the municipality or property owners Jean-François Serlinger and his wife Hélène, who is also an artist who moved to the village to live where van Gogh had worked. Last month, French courts sided with the Serlingers and ruled that the roots painted by van Gogh are on their property, marking the second legal victory for the couple. 'The embankment containing the tree roots painted by Vincent van Gogh does not constitute an accessory to the public highway,' the Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal wrote in their decision. But for Isabelle Mézières, the mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise, the fight is far from over. 'The roots belong to the people of Auvers!' she wrote this month, adding that she plans to file another appeal. 'There's no way we're going to surrender the public interest of the people of Auvers in the face of private interests. The question of ownership has not been settled.' The couple moved to the village in the mid-1990s and purchased an extra parcel of land in 2013, not knowing that they had also bought an important part of art history. Since the discovery, the Serlingers have launched guided tours called 'The Mystery of van Gogh's Roots' in collaboration with the van Gogh Europe Foundation. Auvers will not 'abandon its roots' Tickets are €8 (£7), and visitors are led on a 30-minute tour that traces the artist's life and work throughout the town, including the tree roots on their property. The tours offer an 'immersive experience' of the area that is 'deeply linked' to the artist's final painting and last stretch of his life, according to the site. Despite the municipality losing their case twice in a row, the town has vowed to try a third time. 'We are considering a possible appeal,' Michel Gentilhomme, the town's lawyer, told Le Parisien. 'There is a desire for private individuals to appropriate this property, in the interest of the municipality's residents. This issue must be resolved so that the municipality is not criticised for having abandoned its roots.' For their part, the Serlingers said they wanted to 'turn the page' and put the legal battle behind them, while pursuing other ways to develop the site. 'There's no doubt about it, we own the land right down to the street,' the couple told Le Parisien. 'We've won a second time. We're within our rights.' The initial connection between the local roots and the painting was made in 2020, when Wouter van der Veen, a local van Gogh expert, stumbled on an old black and white postcard in his collection that showed a man walking his bike along the village's Rue Daubigny. The familiar ancient roots growing out of the road caught his eye and, in a eureka moment, he made the connection between the photo and the painting. The new tourist season officially started on Saturday, which came with an air of tension in the village amid the ongoing row. 'It created a deep sense of insecurity around a site that calls for calm and serenity,' Mr. Serlinger told The New York Times. 'We have a feeling of insecurity with a mayor who is still in a war.'
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Court battle over who owns famous van Gogh roots is tearing French village apart
A tangled clump of tree roots that inspired Vincent van Gogh's final painting are at the centre of a heated legal battle between French villagers and their mayor. Five years ago, art experts concluded that a system of exposed, gnarly roots along the side of a road in Auvers-sur-Oise on the outskirts of Paris, were those depicted in Tree Roots, the artist's last work. It is believed that he painted the piece just hours before he died in 1890, after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. News of the location shook the art world. The small village, located about an hour north of Paris where van Gogh spent the last two months of his life, attracted international media in the summer of 2020 and a steady stream of eager pilgrims. But the discovery has since become the subject of a pitched war between the town over whether the roots belong to the municipality or property owners Jean-François Serlinger and his wife Hélène, who is also an artist who moved to the village to live where van Gogh had worked. Last month, French courts sided with the Serlingers and ruled that the roots painted by van Gogh are on their property, marking the second legal victory for the couple. 'The embankment containing the tree roots painted by Vincent van Gogh does not constitute an accessory to the public highway,' the Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal wrote in their decision. But for Isabelle Mézières, the mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise, the fight is far from over. 'The roots belong to the people of Auvers!' she wrote this month, adding that she plans to file another appeal. 'There's no way we're going to surrender the public interest of the people of Auvers in the face of private interests. The question of ownership has not been settled.' The couple moved to the village in the mid-1990s and purchased an extra parcel of land in 2013, not knowing that they had also bought an important part of art history. Since the discovery, the Serlingers have launched guided tours called 'The Mystery of van Gogh's Roots' in collaboration with the van Gogh Europe Foundation. Tickets are €8 (£7), and visitors are led on a 30-minute tour that traces the artist's life and work throughout the town, including the tree roots on their property. The tours offer an 'immersive experience' of the area that is 'deeply linked' to the artist's final painting and last stretch of his life, according to the site. Despite the municipality losing their case twice in a row, the town has vowed to try a third time. 'We are considering a possible appeal,' Michel Gentilhomme, the town's lawyer, told Le Parisien. 'There is a desire for private individuals to appropriate this property, in the interest of the municipality's residents. This issue must be resolved so that the municipality is not criticised for having abandoned its roots.' For their part, the Serlingers said they wanted to 'turn the page' and put the legal battle behind them, while pursuing other ways to develop the site. 'There's no doubt about it, we own the land right down to the street,' the couple told Le Parisien. 'We've won a second time. We're within our rights.' The initial connection between the local roots and the painting was made in 2020, when Wouter van der Veen, a local van Gogh expert, stumbled on an old black and white postcard in his collection that showed a man walking his bike along the village's Rue Daubigny. The familiar ancient roots growing out of the road caught his eye and, in a eureka moment, he made the connection between the photo and the painting. The new tourist season officially started on Saturday, which came with an air of tension in the village amid the ongoing row. 'It created a deep sense of insecurity around a site that calls for calm and serenity,' Mr. Serlinger told The New York Times. 'We have a feeling of insecurity with a mayor who is still in a war.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Observer
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Van Gogh's last painting poses a problem for an idyllic French village
Auvers-sur-Oise, a village near Paris famed as an artist's paradise, is also where Vincent van Gogh spent his final days and it has long drawn tourists to walk in the tortured painter's last footsteps. But ever since art experts identified his final work before he took his life, there has been strife in the town. Van Gogh's final painting was disputed for decades, because he didn't date his works. But in 2020 experts concluded that gnarled tree roots protruding from a hillside in Auvers are what is depicted in his 'Tree Roots,' made on the day he died. This finding may have settled one dispute, but it immediately stirred another, this one between the municipality and the owners of the property where the roots grow. The main root depicted in the painting — from a black locust tree and dubbed the 'elephant' by enthusiasts — abuts a public road. After the discovery of its historical value, the municipality claimed a section of privately owned land near the road as public domain, saying it was necessary for maintenance. Jean-François and Hélène Serlinger, the property owners, fought the village, and an appeals court recently concluded there was no basis for the municipality's claim. But the mayor of Auvers, Isabelle Mézières, has pledged to keep fighting, and she can still appeal to a higher court. After the decision, she insisted that the site should belong to the public, not private owners. 'The Roots belong to the Auversois!' she wrote on social media, referring to the citizens of the region. The continued fight over van Gogh's tree roots has cast a pall over what is usually a celebratory season in Auvers, population 7,000, where art tourism is a big business that heats up in the spring. That the village has been depicted by other notable painters, including Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissarro, has only added to its attraction. Its popularity is such that French transit authorities run a seasonal line from Paris, dubbed the 'Impressionists' Train,' and people come from afar to see what the local tourist board calls 'the open-air museum that Auvers has become over time.' The property owners say the conflict is endangering the historic site, as the mayor has blocked them and experts from properly protecting the roots since their significance was established. In a phone interview, Jean-François Serlinger accused the municipality of using the administrative case as a pretext for 'an attempted takeover of a culturally significant site' and of simultaneously endangering the roots by 'obstructing the installation of a permanent protective structure.' The municipality and the mayor declined requests for comment. But it is perhaps fitting that these tree roots should be the subject of such a knotty dispute. Van Gogh's famous painting depicting the tangled roots shows 'the struggle of life, and a struggle with death,' Wouter van der Veen, the researcher in France who identified the roots, said in 2020. Still, the painting is bright and lively, made at the end of a productive period in van Gogh's troubled existence — after he famously cut off his ear and spent time in an asylum — and the village celebrates the Dutch painter whose work was rejected in life and embraced after his death. Van Gogh is a major attraction, including for the Serlingers. The couple moved to Auvers in 1996 because Hélène Serlinger, an artist, wanted to live where van Gogh had worked. In 2013, they bought a small additional parcel of land near their house, connected to their yard, extending their territory. Only years later did it turn out that the roots on that new property were an important part of art history. Now, the roots have their own website and nonprofit organization, run by the Serlingers, who say they want to protect the location for the public to enjoy. They have partnered with the Van Gogh Europe Foundation, which brings together key locations and museums linked to the painter under the direction of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Last year, the Serlingers began opening their yard to visitors for tours. Jean-François Serlinger insists the couple did not intend to make their yard into a destination and have not profited from the tours. He noted that the main root is mostly visible to the public from the road, though the municipality has placed a 10-foot sign there highlighting the find that partially obstructs the view and 'disfigures the front of the site.' It was the enthusiasm of art experts and academics visiting them over the years that convinced the couple to open up their land to the public, he said. They now charge about $9 for a 30-minute 'walk through the landscape of van Gogh's final painting,' he added, with funds going to preservation costs. Saturday was the start of the new tourist season. But the dispute has unsettled the property owners and raised concerns about the preservation of the roots. 'It created a deep sense of insecurity around a site that calls for calm and serenity,' Jean-François Serlinger said. 'We have a feeling of insecurity with a mayor who is still in a war.' This article originally appeared in
New York Times
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
For Idyllic Village, Van Gogh's Roots Pose a Knotty Problem
Auvers-sur-Oise, a village near Paris famed as an artist's paradise, is also where Vincent Van Gogh spent his final days and it has long drawn tourists to walk in the tortured painter's last footsteps. But ever since art experts identified his final work before he took his life, there has been strife in the town. Van Gogh's final painting was disputed for decades, because he didn't date his works. But in 2020 experts concluded that gnarled tree roots protruding from a hillside in Auvers, as depicted in his 'Tree Roots,' was made on the day he died. This finding may have settled one dispute, but it immediately stirred another, this one between the municipality and the owners of the property where the roots grow. The main root depicted in the painting — from a black locust tree and dubbed the 'elephant' by enthusiasts — abuts a public road. After the discovery of its historical value, the municipality claimed a section of privately owned land near the road as public domain, saying it was necessary for maintenance. Jean-François and Hélène Serlinger, the property owners, fought the village, and an appeals court recently concluded there was no basis for the municipality's claim. But the mayor of Auvers, Isabelle Mézières, has pledged to keep fighting, and she can still appeal to a higher court. After the decision, she insisted that the site should belong to the public, not private owners. 'The Roots belong to the Auversois!' she wrote on social media, referring to the citizens of the region. The continued fight over Van Gogh's tree roots has cast a pall over what is usually a celebratory season in Auvers, population 7,000, where art tourism is a big business that heats up in the spring. That the village has been depicted by other notable painters, including Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissaro. has only added to its attraction. Its popularity is such that the French transit authorities run a seasonal line from Paris, dubbed the 'Impressionists' Train,' and people come from afar to see what the local tourist board calls 'the open-air museum that Auvers has become over time.' The property owners say the conflict is endangering the historic site, as the mayor has blocked them and experts from properly protecting the roots since their significance was established. In a phone interview, Mr. Serlinger accused the municipality of using the administrative case as a pretext for 'an attempted takeover of a culturally significant site' and of simultaneously endangering the roots by 'obstructing the installation of a permanent protective structure.' The municipality and the mayor declined requests for comment. But it is perhaps fitting that these tree roots should be the subject of such a knotty dispute. Van Gogh's famous painting depicting the tangled tree shows 'the struggle of life, and a struggle with death,' Wouter van der Veen, the researcher in France who identified the roots, said in 2020. Still, the painting is bright and lively, made at the end of a productive period in Van Gogh's troubled existence — after he famously cut off his ear and spent time in an asylum — and the village celebrates the Dutch painter whose work was rejected in life and embraced after his death. Van Gogh is a major attraction, including for the Serlingers. The couple moved to Auvers in 1996 because Mrs. Serlinger, an artist, wanted to live where Van Gogh had worked. In 2013, they bought a small additional parcel of land near their house, connected to their yard, extending their territory. Only years later did it turn out that the roots on that new property were an important part of art history. Now, the roots have their own website and nonprofit organization, run by the Serlingers, who say they want to protect the location for the public to enjoy. They've partnered with the Van Gogh Europe Foundation, which brings together key locations and museums linked to the painter under the direction of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Last year, the Serlingers began opening their yard to visitors for tours. Mr. Serlinger insists the couple did not intend to make their yard into a destination and has not profited from the tours. He noted that the main root is mostly visible to the public from the road, though the municipality has placed a 10-foot sign there highlighting the find that partially obstructs the view and 'disfigures the front of the site.' It was the enthusiasm of art experts and academics visiting them over the years, that convinced the couple to open up their land to the public, he said. They now charge about $9 for a 30-minute 'walk through the landscape of Van Gogh's final painting,' he added, with funds going to preservation costs. Saturday was the start of the new tourist season. But the dispute has unsettled the property owners and raised concerns about the preservation of the roots. 'It created a deep sense of insecurity around a site that calls for calm and serenity,' Mr. Serlinger said. 'We have a feeling of insecurity with a mayor who is still in a war.'
