The following related events all explore aspects of the life and work of an extraordinary creative artist who left us over 2000 works of art all produced within a ten-year period, and a collection of hundreds of revealing letters. Vall Gogh created and destroyed two  paintings of Jesus in Gethsemane, and artists in all media are invited to respond to the Gethsemane scene or the creation/ destruction of Gethsemane. All are invited to attend the events described below. For more information, please e-mail cedwards @vcu.edu.

March 2, 2012 First Friday opening of an exhibit at the Art6 Gallery at 6 East Broad Street Artis in all media are encouraged  to present  works seeking to r c.onstruct Van Gogh's destroyed  painting of "Jesus with  an Angel ·n Gethsemane," or respond to the artist's creation and destruction of that work. Particulars regarding submitting works are listed below. For farther information, e-mail cedwards@vcu.edu or contact  Art6.

March 4, 2012  The Pinkney Near Memoriallectures in Art History, Art6 Gallery lecture, Sunday, 4 p.m. Prof. Cliff Edwards.

March  6, 2012, Tuesday afternoon, in SpecialCollections Rooms,4m floor of Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University, 2 -4 p.m. Van Gogh etching on display  from 2 to 4, talk on that etching of Dr. Paul Gachet to be given af 3 p.m. The etching is shown courtesy ofVCU's Anderson Gallery.

March 7, Weds.Eve, 7 p.m.the 2012 Powell-Edwards Lecture in the VCU Commons. Prof.Cliff Edwards will speak and show images related to a book in progress, Van Gogh's Ghost Paintings. A reception will follow.

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"I've scraped off one of the large painted studies. A Garden of Olives-with a blue and orange Christ figure, a yellow angel - a piece of red earth, green and blue hills. Olive trees with purple and crimson trunks, with grey green and blue foliage. Sky lemon Yellow. I scraped it off because I tell myself it's wrong to do figures of that importance without a model."

(Letter 637 in the Van Gogh Museum  Six-Volume edition of the letters;see their  web-site, vangoghletters.org, for the facsimile; compare letters  685 and 698). Van Gogh's second version of the Gethsemane painting, also destroyed, was under a s arry sky. Biblical text: Luke 14:32-42.

Information on Art6 Gallery entries:

Art6 Gallery entries: Delivery of entries on Sunday,Feb. 26, 2012 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Gallery, 6 East Broad Street, Richmond,VA. 232)9 (pbone:804 343-1406. Fees to cover insurance,hanging, and preparation of the Gallery are $20 for the first entry for non-members, $15 for each added piece;for students, $15 for the first piece, $10 for each added piece. Place title,name of artist and price If for sale on the back of the piece. last day of the show is S-aturday,March 31;pick up of pieces after 4 p.m.