On Sunday, July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh did not return in time for dinner to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers sur Oise. He had been staying at the inn since he arrived in the small village two months earlier. It was part of his daily routine to have his evening meal at the inn after spending the mornings and late afternoons painting in the surrounding countryside. But on this day, he failed to show up for the evening meal.
Vincent Van Gogh
Virtually Van Gogh
“I acknowledge that a man cannot perceive an object that does not exist; nor can he remember an object that does not exist; but there appears to me to be no contradiction in his conceiving an object that neither does nor ever did exist” (Thomas Reid, Essay 4 in Essays on the intellectual Powers of Man, 1785).
Lithuanian photographer and artist, Tadao Cern, created an interesting substitute for those who would like to see an actual, historical photograph of Vincent Van Gogh. Based on one of Van Gogh’s last self-portraits, Cern produced an intriguing digital simulation of a photograph of Van Gogh, a kind of digital Ersatz photograph, if you like.