Olive Grove, 1889, oil on canvas, 73x93cm, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden© [Gothenburg Museum of Art / Hossein Sehatlou]

VINCENT Van Gogh wrote to his brother in the early months of his stay in Arles: “The painter of the future is a colourist such as there hasn’t been before.”

Over two years from February 1888 Van Gogh would spend time there and in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and create an extraordinary body of work, including groups and series.

In the National’s show Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers we see a host of loans from many major institutions, as well as from personal collections, some 60 works in all.

It’s been described as “chief among the events” for the gallery’s bicentenary and marks 100 years since its purchase of his Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s Chair paintings.

One highlight is the opportunity to view the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s own Sunflowers alongside the National’s for the first time since early 1889 when they were in the artist’s studio.

And there is more to admire here.

One aspect stressed is that which goes beyond explanations of his time in the south of France in terms of Yellow House, Paul Gauguin, mental breakdown, and severed ear.

After admitting himself to the Saint-Rémy hospital in May 1889, he continued to work at “a very high level” in its grounds and the countryside and to send work to his brother Theo.

Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles, 1888, oil on canvas, 72.4×90.8cm, The Phillips Collection, Washington DC [Acquired 1930 © The Phillips Collection]

In addition to loans of oils from across Europe and the United States, a room is dedicated to drawings which centre on the Montmajour Abbey north of Arles, originally set up by Benedictines in the 10th century; these include views from Oslo, Tournai, Amsterdam, Richmond Virginia, and the British Museum.

In the paintings and works on paper Van Gogh explores “…wide-ranging emotional and poetic possibilities, often with a literary or artistic source in mind”, the curators note.

That is, experimenting with colours and styles rather than attempting to record.

Most of the results are spectacular, notably in series of innovative oils of olive trees and olive groves, mountains and landscapes, as well as of the Saint-Rémy asylum grounds and of the public park in front of the Yellow House in Arles.

The importance to the artist of portraits also shows through with Van Gogh (1853-1890) assigning his models “symbolic meaning”, such as in The Poet (Portrait of Eugène Boch) and The Lover (Portrait of Lieutenant Milliet).

Additionally there’s a self-portrait from the Washington DC national gallery, and contrasting versions of his portraits of model Marie Ginoux – The Arlésienne who ran the local café – one from a private collection.

• Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, is at The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN until January 19. Further details: nationalgallery.org.uk