Starry Starry Night

When Don McLean wrote his famous 1971 song Vincent, he opened with the line “Starry Starry Night”. This was of course a direct reference to the 1889 Van Gogh painting “The Starry Night”. Among the best loved paintings of Van Gogh, “The Starry Night” is today the most searched of his works on the internet and by many considered his greatest accomplishment.

Van Gogh was himself not initially thrilled with the painting. As he wrote to his brother Theo in a letter:
“The first four canvases are studies without the effect of a whole that the others have . . . The olives with white clouds and background of mountains, also the moonrise and the night effect, these are exaggerations from the point of view of arrangement, their lines are warped as that of old wood.”

However, despite his own initial reservations to the painting, the roaring sky swirling over the quiet village provided plenty of inspiration for others. From Anne Sexton’s poem “The Starry Night” to Giancarlo Scalia’s piano composition “The Starry Night”, the inspiration provided by the painting has been universal and massive.

The original “The Starry Night” can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It should inspire a few visits and visitors as well.

Van Gogh in Paris

When discussing the works of Van Gogh, his mastery and very prolific use of colors are often mentioned. Indeed, in works like The Painter on his Way to Work, Sunflowers and Wheat Field with Crows are all examples of Van Gogh paintings using colors to great effect

However, when we look at his earlier works, they are very much dominated by dark earthen hues. Indeed, in works like The Potato Eaters, it is hard to find the characteristic color and feel that made his works famous.

The change in coloring came after Van Gogh went to Paris in early 1886. Upon experiencing the works of the likes of Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli and Paul Cezanne, Van Gogh immediately started to experiment with a much lighter palette. In Paris, Van Gogh also met Monet, Sisley, Degas and Pissarro and got further inspiration in his use of brush and color. Another influence for Van Gogh in Paris was Paul Signac and in style of pointillism. Van Gogh himself experimented with the style and incorporated elements from it into his own trademark painting style. One last important meeting for Van Gogh in Paris was with Paul Gauguin whom he met and befriended

It was through these many inspiring artists and their work that Van Gogh himself opened up his art and style and let himself develop as an artist. Without Paris, Van Gogh might never have found his own light palette, and we might never have experienced the full works of Van Gogh that this development brought with it

From Paris, Van Gogh brought his new-found inspiration and moved to Arles, Saint Remy and finally Auvers-sur-Oise. Most of Van Gogh’s most masterful creations were painted at this time, with his art influenced by Paris and the artists he met there. Without Paris, there could be no Café Terrace at Night, no Starry Night, no The Sower.  Van Gogh indeed found his bright palette in the City of Lights. 

The Red Vineyard

As is well known, Van Gogh did not sell a lot of paintings during his own lifetime. However, at an exhibition in Brussels in 1890, the painting “The Red Vineyard” was sold to collector and impressionist Anna Boch. As such, it must be considered among the most successful paintings for Van Gogh during his own lifetime.

Van Gogh painted “The Red Vineyard” in November of 1888 while he was staying in Arles. The painting featured a heavy use of red and yellow colors to portray the red wines and the power of the sun. The yellow rays of the sun indeed fill up the whole sky and are reflected in the waters of the small pond in the right of the painting as well. The yellow field in the background complements this yellow impression. The brush strokes of the painting are typical Van Gogh, with deep strokes contrasting with each other. We also see that Van Gogh has set an aura around the sun, as we also see in later works like “The Starry Night” around the stars and moon.

“The Red Vineyard” was later sold to Russian collector Sergei Shchukin who also bought “The Night Café” Both were later nationalized and passed on to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.  

The early works of Van Gogh

The works of Van Gogh are among other justly famous for the vivid use of color by the artist. Indeed, from his famous Sunflowers to “The Night Café” and Wheatfield with Crows”, the use of strong colors throughout is defining for his work. Yet, if one looks at the early works of Van Gogh were not dominated by such strong colors. Rather, in the period 1883 – 1886 when Van Gogh was just beginning to paint using oil colors, his work was more dominated by dark and somber earthy tones. His main subject in this period was the peasants of the Dutch countryside and the hard life they led. Van Gogh wanted to portray this life and contrast it with the life emerging in the cities. 

The main work of this period is also a good example of Van Gogh paintings during this period. Thus, “The Potato Eaters” from 1885 shows a group of peasants sitting together in the evening having some food. The colors are dark, the people unattractive and the realism of the scene uncanny. The earthy tones of this period of work certainly dominate the painting. The subject focus is on the peasant life and its hardships, as was indeed general for the period.

Van Gogh also produced some other works of note during this period. This includes works life “Still Life with Straw Hat and Pipe” as well as “Skull of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette”, both of which we have previously discussed on this blog. They all exemplify the early mastery of Van Gogh, yet as we know now, there was so much more to come.

The Church Auvers

One of the more haunting images created by Vincent Van Gogh is The Church Auvers. Painted by Van Gogh during his time in Auvers Sur Oise, it was painted from memory and is part of his “Memories from the North” series.

In the painting, we see the sun shine generously on the area n the front of the painting. Here a road runs and lush green plant life surrounds it. However, as we move closer to the church, the sun disappears. The church and the area around it seem to be in a shade of its own making, as no light is reflected or is able to enter this area. Additionally, the church building itself seems warped, with roof and beams all seemingly non-strait. Behind the church, the sky looks menacing. This is re-enforced by the thick brush strokes of Van Gogh which helps create a sense of movement in the sky above. The road in front of the church also splits into two. This motive of diverging paths was also seen in Wheatfield with Crows, and can probably be said to reflect the choices Van Gogh himself saw himself as facing as his sanity battled for control of his soul.

The depiction of The Church in Auvers also bear vitness to the importance of Van Gogh to the coming expressionist and modern art movements. The church is painted from memory but it is clearly not warped like this on reality. However, Van Gogh chooses to give it a warped appearance with forbidding sky in the background in order to give the viewer a gloomy impression of the place. This direct influencing on of the view, at the cost of authenticity in the depiction, inspired the expressionist movement, just like the choice of color over line further led to modern art.

The Church in Auvers can today be found at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France.

Van Gogh and Self Portraits

As an artist, Van Gogh had a number of subjects that he continuously returned to. This includes flowering orchards, flowers, wheat fields, cypresses and self portraits. Of these motives, self portraits stands out as while the other subjects can help us understand the mental state of Van Gogh, the self portraits also help us see Van Gogh’s view of himself. As such, they add another level of enlightenment to our understanding of Van Gogh reproductions.
Van Gogh was very active in the practice of self portraits. In the period between 1886 and 1889, he painted 37 self portraits. Amounting to almost 1 per month in the period, this thus gives us a unique almost biographical insight into the artist’s view of himself in these years.

It is also worth noting that in 1890, when Van Gogh had moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, he did no longer produce any self portraits of himself. This despite the fact that this was his most productive period, with almost a new painting completed every day, he did not produce any self portraits at this point.

Previous Van Gogh self portraits can be divided according to where they were painted. A large part were made in Paris, and especially the early one of these were done in the slightly darker colors the artist featured then. From Arles, we have normal portraits as well as some where the left ear of the artist is covered by a bandage. These are from January 1889, shortly after he cut off part of his ear. The following self portraits from Saint Remy only show the artist facing with the left side of his face visible. He never did a self portrait in Saint Remy that showed his right side, with his damaged ear.

The self portraits of Van Gogh are in themselves very famous. Among them we find Self Portrait Without Beard from 1889, which was sold for USD 71.5 million on auction at Christies in 1998. Self Portrait with Straw Hat and Self Portrait, both from 1887, are also among the most loved self portraits by Van Gogh.

Van Gogh Owns the Sunflower

The Sunflower (Helianthus) has been the subject of many great paintings by famous artists over the decades and with good reason due their magnificent flowering head. Yet Vincent Van Gogh and sunflowers have always been synonymous with each other thought over the years with one of Van Gogh most famous series of paintings devoted to this flower. read the full article of Van Gogh Owns the Sunflower