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Exhibition 2026

Identical Twins goes to New Bedford — Alice Neel’s muse borrows the painting she inspired (2026)

Museum loan — Sesow's "Identical Twins" (2016, American Visionary Art Museum permanent collection, gift of the artist) goes on view at the New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA, in a survey of self-taught art built on loans from AVAM (opens November 5, 2026). The painting answers Alice Neel's 1975 portrait "The De Vegh Twins" (sold at Christie's in 2023 for $2.5 million) — and the museum's executive director, Suzanne de Vegh, is one of Neel's twins. She found it in AVAM's catalogue in July 2026 ("got chills") and visited Matt and Dana Ellyn at the studio on October 10, 2026. The full story: both paintings, the letters, the documents →

From November 5, 2026, Matt Sesow’s Identical Twins (2016) hangs at the New Bedford Art Museum in Massachusetts, in a survey of self-taught art built on loans from the American Visionary Art Museum. Sesow painted it after Alice Neel’s 1975 portrait The De Vegh Twins — and the museum’s executive director, Suzanne de Vegh, is one of the two girls Neel painted. She found his version in AVAM’s catalogue in July 2026 and “got chills.” In his reply he told her the twin on the right is him.

The full story → both paintings side by side, the letters, the October 10 studio visit, the $2.5 million Neel sale, and the 2016 and 2017 documents with their full text.

Pictures · click to enlarge

Identical Twins goes to New Bedford — Alice Neel’s muse borrows the painting she inspired (2026), 2026: photograph 1 (Matt Sesow, Identical Twins, 2016, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 × 24 in — American Visionary Art Museum, gift of the artist)
Matt Sesow, Identical Twins, 2016, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 × 24 in — American Visionary Art Museum, gift of the artist · © Matt Sesow
Identical Twins goes to New Bedford — Alice Neel’s muse borrows the painting she inspired (2026), 2026: photograph 2 (Suzanne de Vegh and Matt Sesow in the studio, Washington, DC, October 10, 2026)
Suzanne de Vegh and Matt Sesow in the studio, Washington, DC, October 10, 2026 · Matt Sesow
Identical Twins goes to New Bedford — Alice Neel’s muse borrows the painting she inspired (2026), 2026: photograph 3 (AVAM, October 13, 2024: the label for Identical Twins, “Gift of the artist,” with a card of the Neel beside it)
AVAM, October 13, 2024: the label for Identical Twins, “Gift of the artist,” with a card of the Neel beside it · Photograph, October 13, 2024

In their words

I personalized my version by depicting twins that had a different physical (emotional/trauma) path… I portrayed mine/me as the twin on the right.

Matt Sesow, to Suzanne de Vegh, July 2026 (quoted in part)

Saved web pages and links

Where this record comes from

Cite as: Sesow, Matt. “Identical Twins goes to New Bedford — Alice Neel’s muse borrows the painting she inspired (2026).” Matt Sesow Career Chronicle, 2026. history.sesow.com/e/2026-loan-request-new-bedford-art.html. Accessed [date].

Were you there? Do you have a photo, a clipping or a memory of this? Please write to sesow@sesow.com or use Ask Matt a question, and it will be added here.

Also in 2026

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