A physician and an amateur artist, Paul Gachet appreciated at an early date the genius of a number of painters struggling for recognition, including Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, Guillaumin, and especially, Van Gogh. They were among the many artists who became his friends and were frequent guests at Gachet's home in Auvers, where they were invited to set up their easels and paint still lifes of to experiment with new etching techniques in his attic studio. The artists gave or sold to their host pictures that then joined his wide-ranging collection. Artists' works were also studiously copied by Gachet, his son, Paul, and other amateurs in Gachet's circle.

By the time of Dr. Gachet's death in 1909, the collection that filled his three-story house- containing paintings by now-famous Impressioinst and Postimpressionist artists- had become legendary. But it remained mysterious and inaccessible until 1949, when his children began a series of important donations to the French state (whorks now in the Musee d'Orsay) that included such undisputed materpieces as Van Gogh's Chuch at Auvers and A Modern Olympia. Other donated works, among them Van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Paul Gachet, have sparked considerable and sometimes notorious debate.

For the first time, the Gachet donations- which contain not only paintings but also drawings, prints, copies and such memorabilia as artists' palettes and still-life objects- are being exhibited outside France and, in this volume, published in their entirety. the fully illustrated catalogue to this exhibition is accompanied by an essay describing Dr. Gachet and his activities, his cultural milieu, and his relationships with artists. An equally illuminating second section presents a wealth of new information about the little-known collection (much larger than the donations to France) amassed by Gachet and explains the controversies that have arisen over issues of authenticity. The book also contains documents important for an understanding of this collection, including letters in which Van Gogh described his friendship with Gachet and the paintings that he saw, and created, in the doctor's house.

Additionally enriched by new technical studies, valuable research on provenances, a survey of the scholarly literature, and a comprehensive study of the copies, this volume and a major contribution to the study of art in late-nineteenth-century France.

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Cezanne to Van Gogh: The Collection of Doctor Gachet" held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 25 - August 15, 1999.