The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread about Van Gogh.

View all 900+ letters to and from Vincent Van Gogh:

It's great that you can get those wonderful letters online.

I read the collected letters years ago. by Vincent Willem van Gogh. I still remember some of them, they were so moving. The letters in which Vincent is filled with the excitement of Gauguin's upcoming move to his house are absolutely heartbreaking. He painted that wonderful series of sunflowers especially to welcome him. Then, of course, it didn't work out. Van Gogh had such a pure heart and such a hard life.


Van Gogh - "Vase With Fifteen Sunflowers"


Van Gogh - Vase with Twelve Sunflowers



Gauguin's "Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers"

Yes, they are wonderful and so are those wonderful images.

I've been inspired to read this book about the weeks Van Gogh and Gauguin lived together. So far, it is very interesting.

by Martin Gayford(no author image)

Thank you for the add.

Happy First Day of Spring from Vincent!



"Arles in Spring with Iris Flowers"



"Almond Blossoms"

Lovely...are there some books that might be added about the painter or these wonderful paintings?

Why, yes, now that you mention it, there are!

by Steven Naifeh (no photo)
Biography

by Josephine Cutts (no photo)
Biography with detailed analysis of 120 paintings

by Ingo F. Walther
All the paintings and many of the drawings. I own and love this one.

by Irving Stone
Fictionalized biography and source for the film of the same name, starring Kirk Douglas

There is a new book out that ties Van Gogh, Van Gogh forgeries, etc. to a survey of 20th Century history.

카지노싸이트 blurb:

"In Solar Dance, acclaimed writer and scholar Modris Eksteins uses Vincent van Gogh as his lens for this brilliant survey of Western culture and politics in the last century.

The long-awaited follow-up to Modris Eksteins' internationally acclaimed Rites of Spring and Walking Since Daybreak. Now he has produced another thrilling, iconoclastic work of cultural history that is a trailblazing biography of an era--from the eve of the First World War and the rise of Hitler to the fall of the Berlin Wall--that illuminates our current world, with its cults of celebrity and the crisis of the authentic. Solar Dance is a penetrating examination of legitimacy and truth, fakery and pretence--highly relevant to all of us today."

This looks interesting with potential for being brilliant or bogus. I haven't read any of Eksteins' work.


by Modris Eksteins

Conversations with Van Gogh

by Vincent van Gogh and Simon Parke (no photo)

Synopsis:

Conversations with Van Gogh' is an imagined conversation with this remarkable figure. But while the conversation is imagined, Van Gogh's words are not; they are all authentically his. ' Vincent van Gogh is best known for two things - his sunflowers and his ear-cutting. But there are many other ways of knowing this remarkable son of a Dutch pastor, who left his chill homeland for the sunshine of Arles in the South of France; and left us over a thousand frank letters of struggle and joy, to help us glimpse his inner world. Vincent came late to painting after spending time in London trying to be a Christian missionary. And though he is now amongst the most famous artists on earth, in his day, no one saw him coming - apart from one French art critic called Aurier. It is possible he never sold one of his paintings in his life time. When he discovered the sun in Arles, he also discovered energy. Yellow for him was the colour of hope, and in his last two years he painted almost a canvass a day.

But hope ran out on July 27th, 1890 when he shot himself, aged 37. He was at this time six months out of a mental institution, where perhaps he experienced his greatest calm. Vincent compared himself to a stunted plant; damaged by the emotional frost of his childhood. 'Speaking with Vincent - which he insists on being called - was a privilege, ' says Simon Parke. 'He's endlessly fascinating, contradictory, moving, funny, insightful and tragic. There's a fury in him; but also a great kindness. He found harmony in human relationships elusive; his love life was a painful shambles. But with colour, he was a harmonic genius, and he has much to say about this. And here's the thing: for a man who killed himself - he died in the arms of his brother on July 29th - spending time with him was never anything but life-affirming.


Starry night over Rhone, 1888, Oil on canvas; Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Thank you Samanta

So...who here holds a special affection for Van Gogh? I must admit that I'm still getting to know his work but what I've seen so far is very special. I think that the chaos of his thoughts can be seen in his work but I would have loved to have been able to actually listen to him. The above posted book is an excellent idea. Just wish not only the answers were real but the questions too. :) Thoughts...anyone?

I happen to like Van Gogh but I think he was a bit misunderstood

Vincent Van Gogh May Have Hidden 'The Last Supper' Within One Of His Most Famous Paintings

By Todd Van Luling



Remainder of the article:


Source: Huffington Post

An intriguing idea! Not sure if I see it, but then again it's all about interpretation so I could be wrong. As it is written in the article:

"You know when you're interpreting art, you've got to leave open the possibility that you're not correct ... there can never be 100 percent certain," Baxter told The Huffington post. "I think there's enough information and enough evidence to at least make a pretty good case."

"I think if you put 12 art historians in a room," he continued, "you'd get 13 definitions of what symbolist art is."

Now I would really love, more than anything, to have a sneak peak into his mind.

As for him being misunderstod, I agree. Every eccentric is.

We see what we want to see in art.....but that is the beauty of it. The artist leaves much to the viewer's interpretation so that art reaches out to all with its own meaning. I'm not sure I see The Last Supper in the painting but these are only my impressions and it may look very clear to another.

Exactly, especially if you are intent on finding something specific. For instance, this man Jared Baxter from the article, likely knew about Van Goghs interests in life (through his letters) and tried to find them in his work.

I am not sure that I see the last supper either - but just saw this on the Huffington Post and thought of Samanta and the Van Gogh thread.

The funny thing is we will never really know so we might as well see it and enjoy it in any way we want.

A book mentioned in the article posted above that might be interesting since it deals with symbolism in Van Gogh's work.

Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Search for Sacred Art

by Debora Silverman (no photo)

Synopsis:

A leading scholar offers fresh insight into one of the key moments in modern art history.

During the fall of 1888, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin lived and worked together in Provence. There in a yellow house at Arles, they changed the course of modern art. The relationship between the two painters came at a critical point in each of their careers, and began as a plan for a new community of artist-brothers, who would flourish in a harmonious condition of mutual support. While the two painters never achieved the goal of brotherly harmony, they nonetheless found their creativity spurred by association.

Until now, the Arles period has been interpreted in the light of the temperamental differences between the artists, culminating in the famous incident in which Van Gogh cut off part of his left ear lobe to spite Gauguin. In the shadow of the drama, their larger intellectual and theoretical debates at Arles have been neglected. Debora Silverman demonstrates here for the first time the great significance of their religious backgrounds and conflicts, with important new research on Van Gogh and Gauguin's respective Protestant and Catholic origins and formations, and fresh readings of the major pictures of the period. Both artists emerge in startling new ways, as the paintings they produced at Arles are reevaluated in the light of their divergent attempts to create a new sacred art.

Thank you Samanta

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Step into Van Gogh's world. Discover the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh at the Van Gogh Museum, featuring masterpieces such as Almond Blossom and The Bedroom.

Be sure to check out in the museum and the

Museum opening hours:
Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday - Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Address: Paulus Potterstraat 7, Amsterdam

For more info:


Peasant Woman Digging 1885; chalk on paper 55.7 cm x 41.0 cm; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

I'd love to see that museum! bucketlist...

last year Denver had a small exhibit on Van Gogh, I bought the Naifeh biography on him, which I read last year, was quite good!

by Steven Naifeh(no photo)

There will be some very interesting exhibitions in the near future. I will put the information later on.

Exhibition 'Munch : Van Gogh' in Oslo and Amsterdam


Portrait of an Old Man 1885; oil on canvas, 44.4 cm x 33.7 cm; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

'Munch : Van Gogh' on view in the Van Gogh Museum from 24 September 2015, is a unique exhibition about two kindred artists.

Munch Museum, Oslo, 9 May 2015 - 6 September 2015

Van Gogh Museum, 24 September 2015 - 17 January 2016

The work and artistic ambitions of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) show interesting parallels. They are known for their emotionally imbued paintings and drawings, their personal and innovative style and their tormented lives. Both strived to modernise art and developed expressive imagery to portray the universal emotions of human life.

Iconic masterpieces
In Munch : Van Gogh, these similarities are focused on for the first time. The exhibition studies the essence of their art, their artistic ambitions, the development in their style and technique and the influences to which they were subjected. This shows why these artists are so often mentioned in one breath. With over one hundred art works – including various iconic masterpieces and special artworks which are rarely loaned out – the two artists are brought together on a large scale for the first time.


Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893; Oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard, 36 in × 28.9 in, 91 cm × 73.5 cm; National Gallery, Oslo, Norway

Together with the Munch Museum
Munch : Van Gogh is the result of a long-term collaborative project between the Van Gogh Museum and the Munch Museum in Oslo. We manage, research and present the most important and largest collections of works by Van Gogh and Munch in the world.

"During his short life, Van Gogh did not allow his flame to go out. Fire and embers were his brushes during the few years of his life, whilst he burned out for his art. I have thought, and wished – in the long term, with more money at my disposal than he had – to follow in his footsteps."
Edvard Munch, 23 October 1933

Source:

Some great adds Samanta and Marc and Jill - keep posting.

Van Gogh's Inner Struggle: Life, Work and Mental Illness

by Liesbeth Heenk

Synopsis:

Fascinating Look into the Life of a Tortured Genius Using Van Gogh's own letters as a primary source, the author discusses the artist's life, his approach to his work and his mental illness. The letters vividly show the artist's life was no bed of roses. Whereas Van Gogh perfectly knew what was sellable, he continued to produce what he considered as honest, 'truthful' art, regardless of current taste. He did not expect the art-buying public to understand the rough appearance of his work. Van Gogh acknowledged that being an artist simply involved struggle, but he believed that one would benefit from adversity, both personally and professionally. "No victory without a battle, no battle without suffering." In Van Gogh's case it seems to have been a never ending battle against poverty, isolation and adversity. Given his circumstances - being financially dependent upon his brother Theo, not selling any work, and getting minimal recognition - his achievements are utterly amazing. This is not a book about Van Gogh's art, but about his life as an artist and human being. By reading it, you will appreciate and understand his work even better. "Van Gogh's Inner Struggle" belongs to the series 'Secrets of Van Gogh'.

Zundert, Netherlands, the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh

Zundert (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈzʏndərt]) is a municipality and town in the province of Noord Brabant in the south of the Netherlands.


Van Gogh's house

Zundert is the birthplace and childhood home of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh. He was born on 30 March 1853 in a little house on Zundert's main street, "Markt 29". The former house is gone as it was too dilapidated to preserve, but a plaque at this location still commemorates his birth. In May 2007 the renovation of the house at Markt 29, and the neighbouring house, started. After the renovation, the Vincent van Gogh house was opened in August 2008.

People can still visit the Dutch Reformed church built in 1806 in which the father of Vincent, Theodorus van Gogh, started preaching in 1849. In the graveyard is the grave of Vincent's one year older brother, who died soon in infancy - also called Vincent van Gogh. Vincent did not paint when he lived in Zundert, but drew some sketches. In letters to his Brother Theo, Vincent recalls Zundert, and its surroundings a few times when writing about childhood, serenity and learning about life. Because he died in the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, on 29 July 1890, a special relation between these two places exists. This can, for example, be noticed by the existence of a slightly hidden Auvers-sur-Oise Street, ending at the Van Gogh Square.

To keep Vincent's memory alive, the municipality of Zundert started the project of realising a Vincent van Gogh house. Rather than a classical museum, it is an active environment, with a presentation about van Gogh's life, interactive education, a documentation room and also permanent and temporary expositions. Tourist information is also located in the building, as well as a pleasant bar with a garden terrace.

There is a bronze monument made by the French artist Ossip Zadkine of Vincent and his brother Theo on the "Vincent van Gogh Plein" (Vincent van Gogh square), as a tribute to the great artist van Gogh. It was unveiled on 28 May 1964 by the former Dutch queen Juliana. The statue is an intriguing abstracted representation of Vincent's connection with his brother Theo.

There are several activities relating to Vincent van Gogh. You can go to tourist information Zundert about participating in these activities, which is in the Vincent van Gogh house, opposite the town hall.


Sculpture of Theo and Vincent van Gogh by Ossip Zadkine

Source: Wikipedia

Very nice Samanta

Thank you! :)

Theo van Gogh, van Gogh's beloved brother

Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh (1 May 1857 – 25 January 1891) was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting. Theo died at the age of 33, six months after his brother died at the age of 37.


Theo van Gogh

Theo admired his elder brother Vincent for his whole life. But communicating with him proved to be difficult, even before Vincent opted to follow his artistic vocation. The communication between both brothers suffered from diverging definitions of standards, and it was evidently Theo who kept on writing letters. Therefore, mostly Vincent's answers survived and few of Theo's. Theo was often concerned about Vincent's mental condition and he was amongst the few who understood his brother. It is known that Theo helped Vincent to maintain his artist lifestyle by giving him money. He also helped Vincent pursue his life as an artist through his unwavering emotional support and love. The majority of Theo’s letters and communications with Vincent are filled with praise and encouragement. Vincent would send Theo sketches and ideas for paintings along with any other triviality from his day, all to the delight and eager attention of Theo.


Vicent and Theo as young boys

The two brothers maintained an intensive correspondence, with Theo often encouraging his depressed brother. Theo was one of the few people that Vincent could talk to and confide in. These letters are one of the main and only sources of information about Vincent's life, providing many detailed accounts of not only the occurrences but also the thoughts and feelings in Vincent's life. Over three-fourths of the more than 800 letters Vincent wrote during his life were to Theo including his first and his last letters. It is largely thanks to Theo and his wife that these letters are available today. Hardly any of Theo's letters remain because Vincent failed to keep them. The letters have been collected and published in book form as The Letters of Vincent van Gogh.

The relationship between the two brothers was the subject of the movie Vincent & Theo (1990), directed by Robert Altman. It also formed an important part of the 1956 film Lust for Life, where Theo was played by the British actor James Donald and Vincent by the Hollywood star Kirk Douglas.

Source: Wikipedia

by Vincent van Gogh

Thank you for the adds Samanta on all of your threads

Love doing them. :)

Vincent Van Gogh Found in a Photo from 1887

Published on June 19, 2015 by Michael Zhang


Group photo from 1887, aledgedly featuring Van Gogh

This group photo from 1887 is reportedly the first photo ever found of Vincent Van Gogh after he became an artist. If experts are correct, then the man third from the left (and smoking a pipe) is the legendary artist himself.

Over at the magazine L’Oeil de la Photographie (“The Eye of Photography”), French photo expert Serge Plantureux writes that the photo first came to his attention after it was brought to him by two individuals who had purchased it at an estate sale.

The owners had long been interested in 19th century artists, and they believed that they recognized faces in the photo, and “it was possible that one of the figures around the table was someone whose true face had never been seen,” they told Plantureux.


Van Gogh is supposed to be the third man from the left

Plantureux and several of his photo expert friends began investigating the photo, which was mounted on a piece of black cardboard. Things they looked into included the photograph’s creation process, the identity of every man seen in the shot, the time and place of the photo, and the photographer behind the shot.

Although he hasn’t released many details of the specific findings and pieces of evidence, Plantureux says he and other experts are now convinced that they’ve identified both Van Gogh and his companions.

The picture was estimated to fetch between €120,000 and €150,000 (~$136,000 to $170,000). The final sale price has not yet been made public.

Read the whole article here:
Source:PetaPixel

7 Things You May Not Know About Vincent Van Gogh

Published on July 8, 2015 by Elizabeth Nix


Van Gogh's self-portrait from 1887

1. He failed at multiple jobs before becoming an artist

The son of a minister, van Gogh started working at age 16, when his uncle got him a job as a trainee with an art dealership in The Hague. He went on to do stints in the firm’s London and Paris offices before he was fired in 1876. Afterward, he worked briefly as a schoolteacher in England then at a bookstore back in the Netherlands. In 1878, he went to the Borinage, a mining district in Belgium, and worked among the poor as a lay preacher. He gave away his belongings and slept on floors, but after less than a year on the job the religious organization sponsoring van Gogh decided he wasn’t cut out to be a pastor and dismissed him. His next career choice, artist, would of course make him internationally famous, although not until after his death.

2. Van Gogh’s art career was relatively brief

When his attempt to become a preacher didn’t work out, van Gogh, who’d sketched local miners and peasants while living in Belgium, decided in 1880 to focus on art. In 1881, the Dutchman, who was primarily a self-taught artist, returned home to the Netherlands, where he devoted himself to drawing and painting. His younger brother Theo, an art dealer, helped support him financially and emotionally. In 1886, van Gogh went to live with Theo in Paris, and his two years in the French capital proved pivotal. He was exposed to the work of Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist artists and started using a lighter, brighter palette and experimenting with brushstroke techniques. He spent his last two years in the south of France, where he produced a number of his best-known paintings. By the time of his death in 1890, van Gogh had started to garner critical acclaim. However, during his decade-long career he sold just a handful of the more than 850 paintings and nearly 1,300 works on paper he’d created.In 1990, a century after he painted it, Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” sold at auction for a record-breaking $82.5 million. The price, when adjusted for inflation, remains one of the highest ever paid for a painting.

3. Scholars have questioned whether he cut off his own ear

In February 1888, after spending two years in Paris, van Gogh moved to the town of Arles in the south of France, where he hoped to form a community of artists. He invited the painter Paul Gauguin, whom he’d met in Paris, to come live with him. After Theo van Gogh essentially bribed Gauguin to become his brother’s housemate, the French-born artist (whose work, like Vincent’s, had yet to receive widespread acclaim) arrived in Arles in the fall of 1888. Van Gogh and Gauguin initially got along but eventually their relationship soured. On the night of December 23, 1888, the two men argued and Gauguin left their house. Van Gogh, armed with a razor, followed his fellow artist out onto the street; however, rather than attacking him, the Dutchman returned home, cut off part of his left ear, wrapped it in newspaper then gave it to a prostitute. This is the commonly held version of what happened; however, in 2009 two German academics published a book in which they made the case that Gauguin, a talented fencer, sliced off a portion of van Gogh’s ear with a saber during a dispute. According to this theory, van Gogh, who didn’t want to lose the friendship, agreed to cover up the truth about the incident in order to prevent Gauguin from going to jail.

4. He produced some of his most famous paintings while in a mental asylum

In May 1889, van Gogh, who’d experienced episodes of poor mental health in the previous months, checked himself into Saint Paul de Mausole, a mental hospital located in a former monastery in the town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence in southern France. Although at the time the painter was diagnosed with epilepsy, researchers have since suggested a host of alternative diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, alcoholism and acute intermittent porphyria, a metabolic disorder. Whatever the cause of his medical troubles, van Gogh’s treatment at Saint Paul consisted primarily of long baths. He stayed at the hospital for a year, during which time he painted scenes of its gardens as well as the surrounding countryside. The more than 100 paintings he produced during this period include some of his most celebrated works, such as “The Starry Night,” which was acquired by New York City’s Museum of Modern Art in 1941, and “Irises,” which was purchased by an Australian industrialist in 1987 for a then-record sum of $53.9 million. Since 1990, the painting has been owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum, which bought it for an undisclosed amount.



5. He never married or had children

Van Gogh was unlucky in love. In the early 1880s, when he was starting out as an artist and living with his parents in the Netherlands, he fell in love with his widowed cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker. Although she rejected him, he didn’t give up easily, which led to tensions with his parents, who also weren’t thrilled with his new choice of career. Next, he became involved with a woman named Sien Hoornik, a former prostitute who served as his model and also had young children. Van Gogh’s family disapproved of Hoornik and the relationship eventually ended. Later, while still residing in the Netherlands, he had a relationship with an older neighbor, Margot Begemann, who attempted to kill herself because her family opposed the match. In Paris, van Gogh got involved with an artist’s model and café owner named Agostina Segatori, but that romance fell apart as well.

6. There’s been speculation his death wasn’t a suicide

The long-held theory about van Gogh’s death is that on July 27, 1890, he shot himself in the abdomen while painting in a wheat field in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, then walked about a mile back to the inn where he was staying and passed away there two days later. However, in a 2011 biography of van Gogh, its respected co-authors offered an alternative theory: He was accidentally shot by a teenage boy who was known to have mocked van Gogh, but the lonely painter said his wound was self-inflicted because he felt the teen (who was possibly accompanied by a sibling) was helping him out by pulling the trigger, thereby putting an end to van Gogh’s unhappiness and ensuring he was no longer a financial burden to Theo. The authors claimed their theory was supported by a variety of evidence, including the fact that the gun, along with the painting supplies van Gogh supposedly took with him to the wheat field, were never found. Additionally, if van Gogh had shot himself it would’ve been tough for someone in his condition to make it all the way from the wheat field back to the inn, according to the authors; they noted that a man reported hearing the gunshot coming not from the wheat field but from a location in Auvers, about half a mile from van Gogh’s inn, a distance which would’ve been easier for the injured artist to navigate.

As with the conflicting theories about how van Gogh lost part of his ear, though, no one can prove definitively how he died.

7. Van Gogh’s sister-in-law played a role in his posthumous fame

In January 1891, six months after van Gogh’s death, his brother Theo, who’d contracted syphilis, died at age 34 in the Netherlands. Theo’s widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, inherited a large collection of Vincent’s paintings, drawings and letters. She made it her mission to help promote van Gogh’s work, in part by loaning it out for various exhibitions. Additionally, in 1914 she published a collection of letters written by van Gogh, in an effort to tell his life story. That same year, she had Theo’s remains moved from the Netherlands and re-interred in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, where Vincent was buried.After Jo passed away, her only child with Theo, Vincent Willem van Gogh, inherited his uncle’s artwork and eventually founded the Van Gogh Museum, which opened in Amsterdam in 1973.



Source: History.com

Great job on the updates to all of your threads Samanta in this folder.

Thank you! :)

Very interesting information, Samanta. I had no idea that Theo died so soon after his brother's death and that his wife was so influential in promoting Vincent's work.

Van Gogh is definitely a fascinating individual. Too bad he died so early and in that kind of state of mind.

Yes, it seems so unfair that he did not receive recognition in his lifetime and later became so renowned.

Many artists from different fields experienced the same fate. I guess it's a genius thing. When someone is ahead of his/her time, no wonder he/she is recognized much later, usually posthumously.

Generally, contented people do not produce great art - too busy enjoying life I suppose.

And, of course, you are right about being ahead of your time. When we see Van Gogh prints plastered everywhere, it's difficult to imagine how different his work was to his contemporaries.

Vincent Van Gogh: A Biography

by Julius Meier-Graefe (no photo)

Synopsis:

Utterly engrossing account of legendary artist’s entire life from birth to his suicide.

Van Gogh (1948) - short film



Van Gogh is a 1948 short French film directed by Alain Resnais. It won an Academy Award in 1949 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). It's a biography of Dutch artist Van Gogh, illustrated only with images of his paintings and drawings, or details of those, and according dramatic musical score. The film is narrated by Claude Dauphin.

Video: Van Gogh (1948)
Directed by: Alain Resnais
Produced by Pierre Braunberger, Gaston Diehl, Robert Hessens
Written by Gaston Diehl, Robert Hessens
Narrated by Claude Dauphin



Sources: Wikipedia, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and

A NY Times journalist travels to places connected with van Gogh.

Touring Europe in the Footsteps of van Gogh
By Nina Siegal, Dec. 23, 2015

Traveling to many of the landmarks and cities important to
van Gogh’s artistic life, including Montmartre in Paris, the
Borinage in Belgium and Auvers-sur-Oise, where he died at 37.



A few months ago, I stood at the corner of a busy roundabout called Place Lamartine, across from the Roman gates leading into Arles in southern France, on a spot that was pivotal in the life of Vincent van Gogh. Behind me was the Rhone River, where he painted sparkling reflections from the quay on one particularly memorable starry night. Before me was a run-down commercial strip leading toward vast fields of the sunflowers he painted time and again.

It was where Vincent van Gogh’s Yellow House once stood, the sun-drenched Provençal home that was the subject of his 1888 oil painting, where he took a period of “enforced rest” as he put it, in a pale violet-walled “Bedroom” he depicted in oil paintings three times that year.

The little house contained legends: It was where one of the world’s most famous artists pushed his painting technique to its peak with works such as “Café Terrace at Night,” “Sunflowers” and “The Sower.” And it was where his personal life turned a dramatic and tragic corner. Here, van Gogh had a tumultuous fight with his friend, Paul Gauguin, and sliced a blade through his own ear, before admitting himself to the local mental hospital.

Read the rest of the article here:

Source: The New York Times

Vincent Van Gogh: Art expert claims to have found the only photo of the artist as an adult
by Michael Day, Wednesday 2 March 2016


Mr De Robertis' belief that the bearded man in the photograph was Van Gogh is based on the similarity between the figure situated slightly to the right and the back of the group (circled) and his self-portraits

The Dutch master is pictured in this 1888 group shot, according to an art expert

Our image of him comes from the self-portraits he produced. There is the Vincent wearing a straw hat, ready to paint the sunflowers of Arles. And the Vincent staring at a mirror, his ear bandaged, consumed by madness.

What has proved elusive to generations of art historians has been the real image of Vincent Van Gogh, the Dutch master who, it had been assumed, was probably too poor or too consumed by his work to have much interest in being photographed.

Now, however, a leading authority on Van Gogh claims to have identified the first adult photograph of the notoriously camera-shy artist.

Italian art historian Antonio De Robertis says that, among a group of 34 men – including French artists Gauguin and Vuillard – posing for the photo in Paris’s Académie Julian close to the end of the 19th century, “there is present one person who is, in all probability, Vincent Van Gogh”.

The image, which is currently in the possession of the National Institute of Art History in Paris, appears to show the bearded post-Impressionist painter, standing near another Dutchman, his friend Andries Bonger, the brother-in-law of Van Gogh’s brother Theo.

On rare occasions, other photos have emerged that have been claimed as images of the Dutch genius. But Mr De Robertis, one of the leading experts on the artist, said this one appeared to be the most convincing. “We have found what is the only photo in existence of Van Gogh as an adult,” Mr De Robertis told an Italian art magazine. “Until now, we have only seen photos of him at 13-years-old and then one when he was 19.”

Van Gogh, a prolific painter of self-portraits who was too poor to pay models to pose for him, died penniless and destitute in 1890 after shooting himself. Mr De Robertis said his belief that the bearded man in the photograph was Van Gogh is based on the similarity between the figure situated slightly to the right and the back of the group, and his self-portraits.

Mr De Robertis told Adnkronos news agency the presence of Van Gogh’s friend Andries Bonger supported his thesis. “You notice the tendency of characters to be arranged by nationality... the Australians are all close to each other, as are the Dutch,” he said. Van Gogh’s contemporary Édouard Vuillard can be spotted at the back of the group, and the other leading French painter Pierre Bonnard is close by the Dutchman.

Edmond Bénard, who took the picture, was known to be working in Paris between 1880 and 1890. But Mr De Robertis and his research associate Alan Zamboni have narrowed down the time frame to the first two weeks of February 1888. In this period, Vuillard and Bonnard would have just enrolled in the Académie Julian, and Gauguin and Van Gogh (who did not study there) were known to have been visiting Paris, where the latter, 35 at the time, was thought to have been inspired by the colour and light of Impressionist art.

The mystery remains why the group of 34 men, some unknown to each other and not all of them artists, were posing together in the photo.

Van Gogh’s life ended in July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise in northern France, where he had been painting wheat fields. He died in the arms of his brother, Theo, two days after shooting himself in the abdomen.

Although Van Gogh was largely unknown during his lifetime, his work, with its striking colour, vibrancy and emotiveness, is now considered a seminal influence on 20th-century art.

Source: The Independent

Extremely interesting thread Samanta and I love the Van Gogh photos.

This Vincent van Gogh Animated Biopic Is the First Fully Painted Movie Ever
By Jonathan Luk in Art, March 2016



Break-Thru Films has released a trailer for the upcoming full-length film Loving Vincent, an animated film which brings the work of Vincent van Gogh to life. Launched by director Dorota Kobiela and Oscar-winning producer Hugh Welchman on Kickstarter, Loving Vincent features the work of over 100 trained artists who, as a collective, were responsible for creating more than 56,000 hand-drawn paintings in total and 12 hand-made oil paintings per second in the style of the late Impressionist.

The plot revolves around the artist’s life, with 800 letters written by van Gogh himself comprising much of the storyline. These letters detailed his closest personal connections and serve as an investigation into his death. Additionally, over 120 of van Gogh’s most famous paintings were re-created for the movie.

See the trailer :

For more information visit the of the project.

Source: Highsnobiety.com and Youtube.com

Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910 in Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Open until 19 June 2016


Head of a Prostitute (1885), oil on canvas, 35.2 cm x 24.4 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The depiction of prostitution in French 19th-century art has never been explored in such depth.

During the second half of the 19th century, prostitution was a favourite subject of the visual arts. Artists enthusiastically depicted prostitution as an aspect of modern life in the city of Paris and they painted women soliciting on the boulevards, wealthy courtesans in their salons and the prematurely aged prostitutes in brothels.

Promotional video of the exhibition
Produced by: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam



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Exhibition On the Verge of Insanity: Van Gogh and his illness in Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

15 July - 25 September 2016


Emile Schuffenecker, copy after Vincent van Gogh's 'Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear', 1892-1900

What illness did Vincent van Gogh suffer from? In what way did his illness have an effect on his work? The exhibition 'On the Verge of Insanity. Van Gogh and his Illness' sheds new light on this subject.

Van Gogh’s mental instability is fuel for the imagination. For the first time, an exhibition is being dedicated to this subject in the Van Gogh Museum.

The exhibition sheds new light on Van Gogh’s illness and how it affected his work, based on paintings, drawings, letters and rarely shown documents. The many diagnoses of his illness are also addressed.

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