On July 27, 1890, in a field at Auvers France, Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later.
I have several art books about Van Gogh, I will show them both. I have other books that have a few paintings, or a chapter on Van Gogh. I have seen his work at the Chicago Art Institute multiple times.
My first book is the first volume of “The Great Artists, A Library of Their Lives, Times, and paintings” “Volume 1-Van Gogh” 1978. I subscribed back then and had a new volume of another artist sent every month or so. There are twenty five books, and a slipcase to hold them all. This was a wonderful way to start my collection of art books. These are large books 10 by 14. Several of the painting reproductions are twice that size, folded inside.
Van Gogh started his career as an art dealer, working with his uncle. He did not like it and then became a minister. That also did not work out. At 27, he decided he wanted to focus on painting. He brother would end up supporting this desire. Most of van Gogh’s paintings would be sent back to his brother. He only sold one painting in his lifetime. Van Gogh also wrote long letters to his brother, almost every day.
My second book is “Van Gogh, an Appreciation of his Art” by Gerhard Gruitrooy, 1994. It is another oversized art book that has great commentary, along with a lot of his paintings. This is a good ‘if I could only have one book on van Gogh’ choice. All of the paintings I have presented here, came from the book.
Van Gogh had mental struggles, yet whatever demons he had, he continued to paint. It seems like you can see his pain and struggle when you look at some of his self portraits. For almost ten years he painted-from 27 to 37. In that time, he created almost 900 canvasses.
After reading a bunch about Van Gogh, I am a little torn. Don’t know if his mental illness pushed his creativity and he rushed through each painting with a mad desire, or if he painted calmly, and that the motions of putting ideas from his head to canvas with paint, is what kept the demons away for a short time. Did he create because he was sick, or in spite of being sick.
Either way, I like his work because I like it, not because of any illness, so perhaps it doesn’t matter. There is however feeling (I believe) reaching out from his eyes when I see his self portraits, of which he made almost 50. Here are a few of those self portraits.
Self-portrait 1887. Stedelijk Museum.
Self-portrait with Straw Hat 1887. Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh.
Self portrait 1889. Paris, Musée d’Orsay.
We should judge Van Gogh on how his paintings make us feel, not because how sick he was or wasn’t. I enjoyed this two pictures of the same walled-in field behind the asylum of Saint-Rémy. When van Gogh was institutionalized there, he could see this field through the window. After a few weeks in from his year-long stay, he was allowed to paint from the cell next to his.
The Reaper, 1889. Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh.
Rain, 1889. Philidelphia Museum of Art.
He also painted this picture Branches with Almond Blossoms during his stay there, 1890. RijksMuseum Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh had a collection of Japanese woodcuts, and enjoyed the style. This painting was a present to his brother and his wife after the birth of their child, who was named Vincent.
As well as reviewing some writings and paintings of Van Gogh, I also saw a very interesting movie about him called “Loving Vincent” 2017. That movie tells a wonderful story-historic (with a chance of embellishment). The visuals are crazy good. The movie was painted over-each and each frame, using over 100 artists for two years. Some are in black and white, and other parts are in color paints, as if the movie was painted by Van Gogh.
All of the characters in the movie were actually painted at one time by van Gogh in his lifetime, along with the locations. Their looks are what van Gogh actually put on canvas.(Don’t forget to watch the credits after the movie.) It is like watching a moving painting of Van Gogh. Everyone should see this movie. I would thumb through a book of van Gogh paintings either right before or right after the movie. You will not be disappointed. I watched it twice before I wrote this. The movie, and van Gogh’s art works are worth a second look.
Thanks for reading.
“A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke”― Vincent Van Gogh
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