![]() ![]() Vincent van Gogh (left) in 1873, when he worked at the Goupil & Cie gallery in The Hague His brother, Theo (pictured right, in 1878), was a life-long supporter and friend. Translator Arnold Pomerans wrote that their publication adds a "fresh dimension to the understanding of Van Gogh's artistic achievement, an understanding granted to us by virtually no other painter". Vincent's letters are eloquent and expressive and have been described as having a "diary-like intimacy", and read in parts like autobiography. A few appeared in 19 the majority were published in 1914. After both had died, Theo's widow Jo Bonger-van Gogh arranged for the publication of some of their letters. Theo kept all of Vincent's letters to him but Vincent kept only a few of the letters he received. Theo van Gogh was an art dealer and provided his brother with financial and emotional support as well as access to influential people on the contemporary art scene. Their lifelong friendship, and most of what is known of Vincent's thoughts and theories of art, are recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged from 1872 until 1890. The most comprehensive primary source on Van Gogh is the correspondence between him and his younger brother, Theo. See also: The Letters of Vincent van Gogh Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings to have ever sold, and his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings. He attained widespread critical and commercial success over the ensuing decades, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. His reputation grew in the early 20th century as elements of his style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists. As he became famous only after his suicide, he came to be seen as a misunderstood genius in the public imagination. Van Gogh was commercially unsuccessful during his lifetime, and he was considered a madman and a failure. His depression persisted, and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself in the chest with a revolver, dying from his injuries two days later. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers. His paintings grew brighter as he developed a style that became fully realised during his stay in Arles in the South of France in 1888. As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his later work. His younger brother Theo supported him financially the two kept a long correspondence by letter. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. ![]() He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in predominantly Roman Catholic southern Belgium. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often traveling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. Not commercially successful in his career, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, which eventually led to his suicide at age thirty-seven.īorn into an upper-middle class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet, and thoughtful. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. Vincent Willem van Gogh ( Dutch: ( listen) 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |