Only 3 more weeks left for Van Gogh's 'Irises' at Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ends Oct. 4: Of the many colorful paintings Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) turned out in his short, tempestuous life, "Irises, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence" is one of the most popular and beloved. Completed in May 1890 just weeks before he shot himself in a field near Auvers, "Irises" is an exuberant still life of blue-violet flowers with spiky green leaves in a gold vase beside a sunny yellow wall. Familiar from mugs and dorm-room posters, the painting is now on loan from the artist's namesake museum in Amsterdam to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in honor of its centennial. There it joins Van Gogh's 1889 "Olive Trees," which the Minnesota museum has owned for decades. Both paintings are on view, free, but "Irises" will be here only three more weeks. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Wed. and Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Av. S. 612-871-3000, artsmia.org.)

Mary Abbe