An Ode to Printmaking

The print album L’Estampe originale (1893–1895) is a highlight from the flourishing of printmaking at the fin de siècle. This small-scale exhibition presents approximately 35 prints, demonstrating how diverse, unconventional, and innovative the artists were who contributed to the album. The Van Gogh Museum is one of only six places worldwide to hold a complete edition of this print album. Due to their fragility, the prints are rarely on display.

In March 1893, publisher André Marty released the first volume of L’Estampe originale, an album of modern prints by avant-garde artists. The artists created the prints according to the principles of the ‘estampe originale’: original printmaking. Under these guidelines, artists were personally involved in every stage of the production process, from design to printing. The album includes original prints by both emerging talents and established names, such as Pierre Bonnard, Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Gauguin.

Cover image: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Lithograph, cover for L’Estampe originale (album I) (La lithographie, couverture pour la première année de L’Estampe originale), 1893, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation