Last call for â€˜Van Goghâ€™s Cypressesâ€™Â

The first show to focus on his relationship with this towering, funerary symbol ”“ ends its exclusive run at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan Aug. 27. The show, one of the hottest tickets in town, can only be accessed there by a QR code, which we failed to access, despite several tries, on a visit July 29 ”“ his 133rd death anniversary. We suggest that you arrive at 9:30 a.m. when the museum opens on a weekday to ensure that you”™ll see it.

“Van Gogh: Cypresses,” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan through Aug. 27, contains two iconic 1889 oils on canvas that are the yin and yang of Vincent”™s work on the protean, funeral cypress tree ”“ “The Starry Night,” on loan from The Museum of Modern Art, and The Met”™s own “Wheat Field With Cypresses.”

Can”™t get there or missed it while you were there? Here”™s a link to the virtual tour.

And, of course, there”™s always the accompanying catalog. Though there”™s nothing quite like standing in front of a Vincent painting, with its swirling impasto ”“ and this show contains some of his most iconic works, including The Met”™s “Wheat Field With Cypresses,” which can never be loaned, as well as The Museum of Modern Art”™s “The Starry Night” ”“ the beautifully reproduced catalog contains a wealth of information not in the show. Also on the Van Gogh catalog front, Thames and Hudson will publish “Van Gogh in Auvers-Sur-Oise: His Final Months” (September, $60, 252 pages). Surveying the 74 paintings and more than 30 drawings produced by Van Gogh in the last 70 days of his life, this vibrant book is the catalog for an exhibit now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam that travels to the MusÃ©e d”™Orsay in Paris in October.

“Goddess of abundance, Sri Lakshmi” (second century, C.E., limestone, Jamalpur, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Kushana, National Museum, New Delhi), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art”™s “Tree & Serpent: ”¯Early Buddhist Art in India, 400 B.C.E.-200 C.E.” (through Nov. 13), a voluptuous show about the way Buddhism co-opted early nature symbols and deities in India. Photograph by Georgette Gouveia.

While you”™re at The Met, check out two exhibits that are, each in its own way, about cultural appropriation. British-born New Yorker Cecily Brown reinterprets the art historical canon in “Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid” (through Dec. 3), using an abstract style that demonstrates a felicity for color and composition. Meanwhile, Buddhism”™s ability to reclaim the nature deities of ancient India is plumbed in “Tree & Serpent: ”¯Early Buddhist Art in India, 400 B.C.E.-200 C.E.” (through Nov. 13). This is serenely sensual show of lush vegetation ”“ and even lusher gods and goddesses.