Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
BY INGRID SCHAFFNER
the
Wonderland
PRESS
Harry N. Abrams,
Inc., Publishers
the
Wonderland
PRESS
Press
NYC
No
New York
book may
Hong Kong
oil
on canvas
Contents
Van Gogh, the
irresistible
11
12
From
The
16
21
letter writer
From
To
times
of the poor
38
To Aries,
in search
Inventing the
of Japanese light
modern
Sunflowers and
Irises:
in
Auvers, the
success
final stop
Death
Which
at
Saint-Remy
73
87
95
Gauguin
asylum
52
62
portrait
22
98
99
103
came
last?
108
Vincent van
and
it
in
may
find
it
pictures as
the
art,
life,
the legend
illustrations that
and
will help
accompany
on
a handle
you look
all
at a
you
or to see his
a sensationally
of the above
body of art
that
it.
is
Life,
Don McLean
the
These
are
called
You
of Irises wall-
Vincent van
Gogh
is
first-rate
modern
period. Granted,
Van Gogh's
all,
he was:
OPPOSITE
Field with
Poppies.
1888
cm
34 x 65
Sound
Byte:
Iforgive him,
at the
loco.
time of her
death in 1997 at age 122 in Aries, France, was the oldest living
seen
Van Gogh
in
life
to
art
his
it
committed
a child
his
lifetime
and
suicide
last part
of his short
life
in an
A HERO,
What
glorified
by the high
and drawings
which
to
makes the
his art?
why would we
do with
It's
as
Without
essentials
of his
art
his paintings
a back-to-basics
key
understand
fetches
Gogh
now
look
at
Vincent van
background
"Which
own
ear
as easy to
late- 19th-
ABOVE
Van Gogh at age 18
LEFT
Van Gogh at age 13
BACKTRACK:
IMPRESSIONISM
Peak period:
1870s
Key
How
FYI:
to say "Van
Gogh?" Americans
say "go";
(not "V")
in
His
most references.
players:
Why do
Nothing
the
(1841-1919)
impact of looking
Subjects:
The pleasures
life:
at his art.
making no
it,
of bourgeois
luncheons, boating
gardens,
life
attempt to create a
However
realistic
image of
his
subjects.
are
all
based on his
Characteristics of painting:
Attempt to
"scientifically"
and movement,
objectively
No
pletely
engaged in the
Dappled
brushwork dissolves
into
atmospheric compositions
of clear, vibrant colors
of his
day.
He worked
hard,
and without
interpretation.
issues
lens
of his
around him
tion,
own
in
its fullest
all
synthe-
art.
Van
Gogh
To
really get
the emotional
to stand in front
of his
art
and observe:
OVERLEAF
power of space
TOP LEFT
the symbolic
meaning
A Pair of Shoes
of color
1886. 15 x 18 Vs"
(37.5 x 45.5
medium
cm)
TOP RIGHT
the sheer
beauty and
Landscape at
Montmajour
a reproduction
on
with Train
a cocktail napkin!
(no date)
BOTTOM
Breton Peasants
FYI:
Who
in
Monet
Modern
critic
blur
Life."
rubrics of
their
impression of
Impressionism
common
"The
In
New
who, reviewing
an
in
was
is
reality rather
historical
than
jargon coined
and Clive
we
call
it
to
reality itself.
many
Bell
a scornful art
be
a bit of a
The term
Post-
and probably as
them?").
1888.Watercolor
"
18 7/8x24 3/8
(47.5 x 62 cm)
An
BACKTRACK:
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
As
name
the
says,
Unlike the
were
artists
who
originated Impressionism,
based in Paris,
all
who
shared a
common
who
subject
Peak period:
1880s
Key
players:
(1839-1906), based
Aix-en-Provence, France;
Paul
distinct.
in
Gauguin (1848-1903),
based
in
and then
Brittany (France)
Tahiti
a
is
Post-Impressionism
critics,
but never by
within
it
Characteristics of painting:
What
reality
by extracting from
from Impressionism?
representational painting
whiff of
how
radically different
painting can be
from
reality.
Because however
artificial.
like brushstrokes,
Still, it's
They painted
brushstrokes to look
a representation
real thing.
Post-Impressionists into?
of the
artist
from slave-of-nature
to
constructor-of- reality
(to
legacies of Post-Impressionism.
as
right
art:
own
metaphorical
Post-Impressionist
name only
few
artist,
would become
as a pre-Expressionist painter.)
By
as
people had
known
that
it.
Here
rebound in
are
some of the
his paintings:
it
to
12
the
fast, noisy,
Museum
of Art
of:
(a)
department
(b)
stores
and
probable answer:
leisure
OPPOSITE
Sunflowers
time
1887.17x24"
(43.2 x 61
cities,
they gain a
new visual
life
of
perspective:
From
from
NOW
a seat
on the
To have
of modern
life,
train, the
a fairly
impact.
even
Van Gogh's
the conflicted,
different
with everybody
art
when
is
leaving
the old-timers
today.
work and
started
conflicts their
Anyone who
still call
those
own.
*5
cm)
"
Sound
"It
Byte:
and have an
Albert
This
is
one reason
J.
who have
too,
illness,
and body-
art
museums around
like Vincent, to
culture,
the world:
To
ad-lib our
of
So....
Gogh,
Gogh was
Born on March
Anna
Theodorus van
Cornelia Carbentus.
North
not the
would
first
also
Vincent van
name
his
Gogh
last: his
brother
Theo
GRANDFATHER VINCENT:
and
brilliant scholar
UNCLE VINCENT: an
Goupil and
16
art dealer
Company
baby VINCENT:
one year
exactly
(Attention psychologists:
earlier.
BACKTRACK:
THE BARBIZON
SCHOOL
Charles-Francois
Daubigny (1817-1878)
Virtually everything in
Van Gogh's
life
He
life
and
spends the
art
first
can be
twenty-
as a
and Jean-Francois
(1814-1875),
their
to church,
that
where
He
under a stone
is
lost twin,
life
feeling as
though he
(2)
first
artist,
always
he
ever-softening
Elvis feel as if he
depict peasant
life
and
on objects. Though
(Parallel uni-
dead twin
Presley.)
At
and
light,
made
settled
directly
The
in
religious reverence
verse:
little
is:
the
where they
starting
in
(i)
name from
Millet
who took
who completed
works indoors,
based on voluminous
sketches.
opposite
Fritillaries in
a Lopper Vase
28 Va x 23
TV'
Van Gogh
becomes an employee
of the Paris-based Goupil
fo
r J
^ and Co.
its
located
in a gallery
at
partner,
Van Gogh
where he
is
promoted
reads, visits
London. In
May
Seven months
1875 he
later,
he
As
art.
London
from October
stint in Paris
to their
is
to
promising junior
May
fired. It
is
during
returns to
this
period that
his
counterparts of the
who
spurns
what
will
obsession
starts
him
Hague School
(such as
own
tastes
summer of
met with
by depression
rejection followed
Goupil firm
am
in
1873
so glad that
We
18
a lifetime career
of art dealing.
women:
and makes
their
in the
who
and
Anton Mauve)
(1857-1891),
Paris.
Van Gogh:
Dutch
1873,
is
office in
in their
we
shall
must be
Theo
stays
M'
IS
-*-*VJ4* ***-V*'V4t-**^t
**
\X
<? Cc4/^V^
II*
i*
Pi
L.JL
!-*>
-Av*^l
to
*t \JLS*
< !*-**
Letters to
letters
Theo,
sister
Wil and
Gogh
was
sive publication
of the
arranged by the
artist's sister-in-law,
first
attempt
at
letters
in
1914 with
The
first
exten-
three-volume edition
nephew and namesake, Vincent Willem van Gogh. These were published in
A scholarly
BELOW LEFT
AND OPPOSITE
Letters to Theo
\h* co\s>i0~yL
o- u.*j c
ABOVE
Theo van Gogh
cX<4-cU-'
>
~!
8f
21
Sound
Byte:
I be of use
to repent,
in the
My only anxiety
despairs.
Theo, 1880
He
detailed
what he
saw,
what he
art to
an
Many
who
he met, what he
paint,
what he intend-
read,
attempt,
some
say,
to
and
life,
ed his
to
Van Gogh
did,
how can
Vincent
Why
is,
things,
with
show
The
his
letters
art.
Van Gogh's
letters to
Theo
all
spiritual matters,
22
art??).
are routinely
Van Gogh
In his
vocally disap-
move
an
Goupil
in
January 1876
art dealer,
at the
and he
is
fired
from
BACKTRACK:
age of 23.
Determined
to
England
to
do some good
in the world,
he returns
passion, however,
is
His
real
younger
brother, hence-
forth referred to as
was
dealer based
to enter the
and
failures,
made
owing
brilliance
When
he goes
especially
of his
home
a period
of struggles
clerical father
for Christmas,
and grandfather.
Theo,
contemporary
art
in Paris.
He
dent, a source of
com-
remain in Holland.
He
spends the
first
few months
port
both
financial
and
Theo
and prepares
Seminary.
It's
a disaster.
is
lives
exam
with
to the
by
Bonger
Theology
Gogh
Finally,
God's word, he soon drops out of school without getting his certification
to preach
sick.
"other
relatives
distracted
his
half."
In January 1879,
in
1889their
RIGHT
The Sower
Charcoal drawin
(no date)
throughout
major topic
in
was paying
(Money and
Vincent's letters.)
Vincent's
way by
The
Theo, an
lost
on Vincent.
into
In
art,
much
Wasmes, but he
is
him
soon
July,
From
him
He
in
Theo ended up
and archives
sick,
in
the world.
money and
possessions and
Failed Evangelist to
a mentor,
own
and, in
to please leave.)
from
art dealer,
1884, Vincent
say,
they asked
art
are a
moved
of which
Theo
it
collection of the
brother
his
Gung-Ho
Artist:
Summer 1880
to
studio and
Van Gogh shows him some sketches he made of the miners while
in
25
BACKTRACK:
JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET
French painter of the
Barbizon School (1840s)
who saw
peasants
in
of Belgium,
duties,
Van Gogh
go back
to
to helping
this
official
the
fuzzy
fast FORWARD:
colleagues
ers,
He
continues to
work among
the min-
is
man,
talented drafts-
Millet
(1814-1875)
rendered figures as
to be
an
artist, not
(courtesy of Theo,
isn't
anatomy
exactly rolling
same time
as he
in
dough
himself).
transformed sowers,
and farming
reapers,
in
essential work,
The Angelas
in
the
"Peasant-Romance"
primitivism, a major
beyond the
phenomenon
direct impact of
is
an aspect of
of modernism. Cultures
(1859), the
FYI: Primitivism
soil,
in
toil-
while the
technology (what we
considered to be
in
like
to think of as "civilization")
were
was believed
that,
their childhoods.
all
It
indigenous peoples,
is
among
the most
reproduced paintings of
the 19th century.
peasants...)
would grow up to be
Europeans. But
until
just like
urbanized
be
is
that
its
in
formative or
is its
own
culture.)
LEFT
19 Vs x 12 Vr
(10x31 cm)
BELOW
Old Man in Sorrow
1890
32 x 25 V"
(81 x 65 cm)
Collection Kroller-Muller
Otterlo,
The Netherlands
Mu
ABOVE
Sien Seated
1882. Pencil
black chalk, wash
22 7/8xl8Vs"
(58 x 45.5 cm)
RIGHT
Sorrow. 1882
Lithograph
15
Ysxll
(38.5 x
Ys"
29 cm)
BACKTRACK:
THE HAGUE SCHOOL
Reality Check:
it's
1880
Van Gogh
he has only
27
just
picked up a pencil!
he
is
But
self.
failure.
With
own), he
is
art.
Art will be
his salvation,
its
charms. As exemplified by
a leading
exponent (and
Unbeknown
to
how
to
live.
added
a characteristically
Northern interest
in light
landscape painters.
some
no formal
art
artistic training
art lessons
training
in art.
He taught
himself
how
to
make
group of references
As you
art,
Van
will
see,
in art, literature,
when
Gogh was
it
comes
and trashy
tabloids.
consummate
sampler.
an
artist
studying peasant
life
in his
native Holland. His depictions are willfully crude (crude lines for
TOP LEFT
The Weaver
1884
crude
lives) as befit
artists
of the
Watercolor
simple, noble salts-of-the-earth
TOP RIGHT
Thatched Roofs
in tune
1884. Gouache
on paper
Weaver Facing
Front. 1884
Oil on canvas
on panel
18
Ax
(48 x 61
24"
cm)
and therefore
BOTTOM
The French
painter
God
and nature
and
to
Van Gogh's
what
art
of this period
Symbolic abstraction or
laboring for
Sound
"I
is
God, or
social realism:
Were
Byte:
draw, not
to
to
amuse them, or
to
make them
see things
"
What
he especially wants to
is
ma
life,
beyond prayer
"figures,"
A recurrent
He
melodra-
Etten (1881)
After a family council ("What do
sent
home
to
Holland
to live
we do about
Vincent?"),
Van Gogh
is
He hones his
artist
The Hague
for
Anton Mauve
(Van Gogh's
first
cousin,
overtures.
to apprentice
(1838-1888),
who
him
for the
He,
introduces
him
as
Kate),
him
clogs.)
who
after Millet.
He
Back
Christmas Day,
32
also
owed
He
two weeks
in Etten,
his
wid-
church sendee on
house.
PEASANT CEMETERY
24Vjx31Vs"
(1885)
(63 x 79 cm)
the
here (remember,
artist
failed
Dad was
minister
a minister,
had
rejected
and
his
seem
in
to sprout
father's church):
Van Gogh's
little
back
blind apertures
viewer,
intent:
"I
some
earth
dug up
a small
me how
moldered away."
are... nothing
wooden
cross.
but
And
Begins to paint
OPPOSITE
Peasant Woman
Near
the Fireplace
1885
11 7.x 15 7/'
(29.5 x
40 cm)
With
in
woman named
woman,"
From
meantime, Van
his
is
The Hague
the
model
with
Gogh
December
a falling-out
simply, "the
whom
he determines to
woman
of Sorrow, 1882.)
syphilis,
in
two have
a pregnant prostitute
marry. (Sien
settles in
a first
commission
to
make Twelve Views of The Hague. Instead of depicting the city's picturesque quaintness, Van Gogh sets his sites on the edges of town, the
pressure points of industrialization
lines
and railroad
what Uncle
Theo
but
sell
is
it is
CM.
Needless to
bargained
for.
my work?) and
September 1883, he
end the
affair.
his
Life
scruffy,
with Vincent
surly
proved good
modern
34
was no
brother.
On
complained about
painters,
In
it;
He
cultivated a following
among
increasingly represent.
the
ABOVE
Skull with
Burning Cigarette
1885/1886
12 Vs x 9 Vs"
(32 x 24.5 cm)
RIGHT
Candlestick,
and
Novel. 1885
25
7s x
30 Y/'
cm)
(65 x 78
Gogh Museum
(Vincent van
Gogh
Foundation)
Home
Back
with
Ma &
Pa
them
at
he says he
Nuenen
feels like
Van Gogh
weavers, shown as
somewhat, though:
creates
if
in
in
a political
of pictures
a series
backdrop of labor
strikes
(i)
and
factory
and
loom
(2)
at
family.
On
his
own home
Begemann, who,
in late
front,
for
Margo
for a change, likes him, but (hard luck) her parents object;
suicide.
This
is
after the
Is it a coinci-
his first
two major works of art, The Potato Eaters and Peasant Cemetery?
Stop to
Pit
Before leaving
Paris:
Nuenen
Bible, Candlestick,
for
Antwerp
Antwerp, Van
Gogh
paints a
still life,
symbols to note in
of
life
Open
conflict in
37
"
% x 44 7s
32
Preparation: Van
books are
ies of
in
Gogh's
own
Made
Nuenen
sketch-
filled
peasants; he drew
their
light.
"
them from
life,
often
over
in
all
dish
of
potatoes."
after
is
chores
and
consists of tea
made
of
if
dirt.
It's
still
potatoes
like
full
of
is
like
an animal
child,
whose
in
steam and
Van Gogh's
intent: To
make
If
If
in
their
is
light.
well, that's
and
that's quite
'
Kv
M/V
jg&\
^v^,'
NY
the sins
La
Joie de vivre,
naturalistic observer of
modern
whose
life
fiction
During the
brief
months he spends
Gogh
in
studies
Antwerp (November
anatomy
at
the
local
The
The
Up
Paris Years:
to this point,
is
leaving now!
Life in
on rechanneling
40
social responsibility
meeting other
artists
making
more about
his art
and sense of
art
on:
Impressionist Punk
WOMAN
AT A TABLE IN THE
CAFE DU TAMBORIN (1887)
22x18 'A"
and
his friends,
What:
This
image:
is
prints.
a quintessential^ Impressionistic
an individual seated
in
a cafe, alone
goes something
like this: in
people take
their
private
they
have
leisure
spaces;
by himself
art
Japanese
bition of
and
table
62 Boulevard de
The subtext
modern
lives
times, city
into
public
How: The
atively
painting
natural
is
Impressionistic
subject,
rendered
in its relin
short
dots
(Pointillism),
Gogh
Foundatii
(a
hint of Expressionism).
that
And
hat!
She
is
truly a
bizarre get-
punk Parisienne.
It's
Japonisme.
Portrait ofPere
Tanguy. 1887
36
% x 29
72
"
(65x51 cm)
Musee Rodin,
Paris.
Erich
Lessing/Art Resource,
NY
Julien "Pere"
Tanguy was a
pigment grinder
whose shop was
Clauzel near
Rue
Rue
Not
only
located on
Lepic.
did he
sell artists'
materials
paint,
canvas, brushes
by the
He moves
with
in
Cormon
dio of Fernand
save
some
Theo
in
conventional enough,
and
Contemporary
class.
pu-pu
platter
artists
and finds
of
artistic possibilities in
painters. Stimulated
new
ideas
You can
is
lots
of
community of
actually see
FYI: Haussmannization
Paris
who
spitting out
The
a bat).
as
he rushes
at
Paris,
named
for
its
city,
make way
for
one
city
new apartment
old
city.
who
easily barricaded
was turned
III
make way
for
buildings.
Haussmann was
1848 by
designed
for the
movement
of troops
and munitions.
43
Van Gogh's
Intermission:
Paris
Menu
MAIN ENTREE:
Impressionism: Though the
movement had
whom
must come
of
to terms.
their
nimble blending
he was disappointed in
Van Gogh
"It all
seems slapdash,
named
its
exhibited in
first
main
objective
was
to blend optical
Japonisme:
Europe
like a
taste
for
things Japanese
all
over again.
The Japanese
44
modern
Western
prints
trip
new treaties
artist
Ando
such as
Van Gogh
perspective.
One
in their
The
chief
La
Guinguette
a Montmartre
1886
19
Ax
25 Vs"
(49 x 64 cm)
Musee
Lessing/Art Resource,
characteristics
of Japonisme
unmodulated planes;
are:
(i)
(2) radically
colors
and patterns
cropped compositions
(3)
for
on
(figures cut
textiles, etc.).
fields
of jewel-like
way
was
for subjective
Cloisonnists' impact
flat,
objective
in
laid
its
main
to clear the
was
critical to
NY
Top
Collection Kroller-Muller
Museum,
Ottcrlo.
The Netherlands
NY
A Dutchman
in
bohemian
In the midst of
lonely
Paris
Paris,
Van Gogh
Dutchman:
OPPOSITE
TOP
La
Butte
Montmartre
1886
14 Vs x 24"
(36 x 61 cm)
BOTTOM LEFT
He's soaking up
new
but very
possibilities in art,
much on
his
own
Suburb of
Paris near
known
Drop
as
an
artists' quarter):
The
Dutchman
them
as defiant
holdouts of peasant
in Paris
and what
Montmartre
1887
colors are
life.
The brushwork
is
Watercolor
heightened
with white
15
72x21"
(39.5 x 53.5
cm)
BOTTOM RIGHT
Restaurant
de la Siren e
Paris
for a
The
mock
yet. (Well,
maybe
lamp-
Banlieue." In
who
called themselves
"La Societe de
banlieue, perspective
is
47
at Asnieres
22 V2 x 26
(57 x 68 cm)
BACKTRACK:
FRANZ MESMER
Mesmer
mum
maxi-
anxiety.
(1734-1815),
theories of hypnotism
ASNIERES:
As
town of
suburb
He believed
thing
in
that every-
connected by magnetic
energy. Since Van
Gogh
there
cafes,
and gardens.
it
it's
some
of his self-portraits
possible to see
as a fresh
colors
as graphic representations of
Mesmerism.
Man
of a Thousand Faces
Well, 47 to be exact.
24 were painted
this
of the works of
rations,
from Impressionism
to
Mesmerism. They
also
OPPOSITE
Here
are
two things
to observe:
Self-Portrait
and an attempt
to find (or,
more
accurately, construct)
*W
rm.
;>V
4
:.<**.
.
>\>'^
**.
5tf
A-'/
am
NY
make appear
OPPOSITE
thatched right onto his scalp) for the country bumpkin; and
when
he's
TOP LEFT
humbly
Self-Portrait
with Straw
art,
self-portraits
Hat. 1887
16
7s
x 13"
(41 x 33
cm)
turning
him and
his
background into
(!)
a picture
BOTTOM LEFT
Self-Portrait
of Mesmerism.
1889
25 78x21 7/'
(65 x 54 cm)
Flower Power
RIGHT
In Paris,
Van Gogh
Self-Portrait
1887
category of their own.
They
Each flower
is
like a
still lifes
are practically
features. In lieu
of
blazing
halos of petals.
at
18
Vi
x 13 V/'
(47 x 35 cm)
shrill pitch.
the
life.
the two
complement of yellow
5i
THE BRUSHWORK:
It's as
compulsive
as Pointillism,
woven
paint intricately
little
lines
and
of
slabs
with energy
THE MEANING:
No
They connote
the South
contact with
late
all
Gogh
of which Van
when he
apparently longed to
make
summer of 1887.
come
South of France?
What he
skulls), is it
quits Paris
any
and heads
as a surprise....
As absurd
as
it
sounds,
to the
South of France
to
He
perceptions to be clearer
Van Gogh's
artists'
better.
new sense of
professional identity.
52
working
"graduate" of Paris
artist
It's
make
his
mark
not just Japan that he's hoping to find in Aries, but also career
is
him
notice
from
dealers,
who
Van Gogh
art in a
Japanese
FYI: Aries
critics,
whose
In search of brighter
there.
of the South by
interest will
work and
Located
When
in
he gets there,
Provence,
(yes!) sell
light.
draw
in
it is
is
imminent.
snowing.
Julius Caesar.
It
writers
George Sand,
(Perhaps this
Victor
is
Dutch touch
embankments,
visited Aries.
all
is
is
is
is
a local sport.
offering excellent
53
Loaded with
Van Gogh
or
is
all
he was Right
months
in Paris,
1888-May
1889), he
his
art are:
is
topographical
in
complements
for
optimum
dazzle: blue with yellow, pink with lime, red with green
lines,
OPPOSITE
CONSTRUCTED COMPOSITIONS:
self-consciously framed
Sunflowers. 1888
and
35
cropped images
Byte:
x 28"
(91 x 71 cm)
Sound
me
of
Vincent
to
Theo, 1888
55
NY
Aries
Arriving
in
Van Gogh
arrives in Aries
wreck.
he's a
search
for
Physically,
restoration
s-*-^.
heavy snowstorm.
"' -A~'-V/.S.-
look
Souvenir de
Mauve. 1888
He
disappointment with
as
rents a
room above
The
and records
his
a restaurant
itself
warms up and
is
lackluster
so does the
28 /4 x 23 Vs"
(73 x 59.5 cm)
Orchards
in
Bloom
Between March and April 1888, Van Gogh makes fourteen paintings
of
fruit trees in
bloom.
He
He
FYI:
While Van
death of
his teacher,
Souvenir de Mauve, as
his
56
now
own
in
explosive potential.
the
and
a painting to him,
cultivate
to
Sound
Byte:
At
moment, I am absorbed
the
brush,
all.
bloomingfruit
in the
My brush-
trees
are.
color.
"
repetitions, savageries.
meaningful
artistic
are characterized
by
their:
japonisme he makes
sense OF containment he
around looking
were
erratic
and these
his studio,
BRUSHWORK there
dentally, the
day he
left Paris,
Hiroshige
is
after
Most of these
visits
every day as
are
moments of
Van Gogh
Pointillism (coinci-
visited Seurat)
which
mixed with
reveal
Van
artist,
prepares
him
work
for his
drives
his
early
own impasto
development
style
in
Aries
and
of painting.
57
CONFLICT an orchard
man-made;
is
back to bloom
intensity.
OPPOSITE
Cafe Terrace at
Night (Place du
Forum
in Aries)
1888
Japanese Suites
31 78x26"
(81 x 65.5
cm)
Museum,
Otterlo,
Kroller-Muller
The
Netherlands. Erich
Drawing
he intends to make
lots
Van Gogh
in Aries.
He
tells
Theo
NY
suites,
which he compares
to Japanese prints.
Gogh
drawing)
In
Aries,
as
it's
It's
if
(or,
what to look
for
in
Van
talking to his
in
the paintings
all
come from
drawing:
Stippling,
graphic techniques
detailed, elaborate,
Van Gogh's
vision as
being highly
and describe
color
is
L
58
for yourself:
it
exists
is
-S>Jb.,
^rv. -
'
NY
significant: It
an archaic
is
traditional:
tool.
exotic: It's a
basically a
like a
jabs, scratches)
These works
a reed
OPPOSITE
The Sower. 1888
25 74x3178"
(64 x 80.5 cm)
pen
brush (stroked
lines)
and
are characterized
some
And
by thorough rendering.
the sky
is full
as if he's
hand
like a
It's
also
Japanese tool
No
its
it's
is
Surf
touching every bit of the landscape with his pen and his
&
Turf
Gogh
He
the
Aries,
on the Mediterranean.
It's
a productive trip:
the sea and light confirm his fantasies of the South, even the
Japanese ones
this holiday
faster,
6i
He
Van Gogh
writes,
is
thrilled
when he draws
in a painting
sky.
art.
Any
hour.
and
a yellow
of paintings of the
a related studio
work
From
Inventing the
(81 x 65
streets
a series
The Seated
Zouave. 1888
31 Vsx25 7s"
an
formation of his
own
a boat in
local wheatfields
(see
new
quickly, very
Gogh
shrill,
combination of thick,
confident colors.
in full voice.
is
Modern
Portrait
its
His
series
He
to
the soul."
cm)
paint ordinarv
to
have
life
("Hey, look
to
For Van Gogh, the modern portrait would not be an attribute of power
and
62
status,
but a svmbol of
human
He
achieved
by making portraiture
this goal
form of exchange, an
of friend-
act
ship between himself and the model, and an expression of his larger
sense of humanity.
Gogh
The
cast
how
in Aries
is
large.
Note
role as
"a
Van Gogh
71).
Gogh
describes his
Zouave
a tiger."
North Africa
as a
"boy
The motif
then known
as
"The Orient."
the peasant, Patience
Escalier, appears
Theo
that he
much like
was
first
attracted to
This
the
first
peasant portrait since those dirty faces of The Potato Eaters, but
it is
major breakthrough:
"What
their father.
learned in Paris
is
is
63
am
returning
knew
to
the
the Impressionists."
ideas
He
allies
Eugene Delacroix
states that
country before
the
in
he
now opposed
is
to
more
had
have before
my
eyes,
use color
myself forcibly."
The
as a portrait
of an evolving friendship.
is
akimbo
hands en garde;
(i.e.,
hands on
hips), his
startled
and wary;
his
amidst chaos.
The
is
his
beard
1889
arms
are
is
parted
(as
shown
monument of calm
Sound
Byte:
and a
tenderness for
me
"
trustful.
64
OPPOSITE
Portrait ofJoseph
Roulin. 1889
Vincent
to
Theo
25 V. x 21 7/'
(64.6x55.2 cm)
Gogh
leaves Aries
to
check himself
and
a trusting friend
who
OPPOSITE
standing.
UArle'sienne:
Madame
Joseph-Michel
Ginoux. 1888
36 x 29"
is
also significant:
him
(91.4x73.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951.
(51.112.3) Photograph by Malcolm
Varon. Photograph
1979
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
to his brother
Van Gogh
and
Southern
aquiline
Belle),
and
The
fact that
La
Berceuse,
local
female
stereotype
(a
its
is
But unlike
He
conflicted:
She becomes
and modern
is
its
embodied by
pretty
Mme
of modern
expression of the
66
(a sign
Provencal
at last...."
and
friends.
famous
(see
and
life),
Woman
at a table
life.
THE BONZE"
Photograph
of the
Yellow House
(i.e.,
Buddhist monk)
is
self-portrait of
bonze with
Gogh
collar,
depicts htmself as a
His vulnerability
worshiping the eternal Buddha.
painte m sohd pale
of the background,
the brilliant vastness
look
sister, he says, I
the portrait to his
chite. In describing
a Japanese."
68
has
The
On
Painter's Yellow
September
18, 1888,
House
to
create
the
next
major
February
7,
1889), he furnishes
it
his
a place
style
less
where
of painting after
than
five
whom
artists will
months here
on the
it
work together
pictures of sun-
Theo
Gauguin
is
to
Gauguin's dealer;
Theo
More than
FYI: The French painter Eugene Delacroix was hailed as the leader of
the Romantic
literary
swashbuckling
style,
in
the
roman-
in
embodied an
anti-Impressionist position
and
Delacroix's art
and brushwork.
69
Sound
Byte:
new
"I believe
that a
and more
that those in the North rely on their ability with the brush,
I see more
called 'picturesque' rather than on the desire to express something by color itself."
"colorist"
movement he
Van Gogh
anything,
OPPOSITE
Vincents House
in Aries, the
'Yellow House'
1888
28
Vs x 36"
feels lonely
him
to
The
idea of having
That the
(72x91.5 cm)
is
act
Gauguin come
stay
of setting up household
with him
is
fills
him
demonstrated by two key paintings that bracket his move: The Night
Not
Cozy
Picture
specifically
The Night
Gogh's
Bedroom
intended
Cafe', it's
the furniture
whomever
is
is
7o
all
as
about to
slide right
to
Look
closely:
an alarming degree:
standing in front of it
look at
known
as
(also
is
like
some gaping
maw
empty
chairs,
two
Kl
.C^^VCyS
.,M&iiv\
'^
"
!/./}
empty bed,
pillows, that
that
folks in
The Night
comes to
Paul Gauguin
live
Gauguin
Gogh exchange
Van Gogh
self as a
self-portraits.
Gogh
with Van
arrives in Aries,
he and Van
him-
Gauguin opts
for a
art.
criminal persona, identifying himself with Jean Valjean, the rebel hero
in Victor
trait.
He
hunched
as
after
which he
of
a pretty, floral
invasion
The
finally
is
no
shows up
less radical
sinner has
moved
in
at
no virgin, but
when
23, the
with the
in Brittanv,
saint.
Sound
the por-
Gauguin
titles
embodied
for
him
in his
own
in western
Byte:
more arbitrarily
to express
what
is
before
my
eyes,
I am using
color
myselfforcefully.
Vincent
to
Theo
73
OPPOSITE
The Promenade,
Evening. 1889
19 5/8 x 18 Vs"
(49.5 x 45.5 cm)
Cafe
Check out
Bedroom:
vs.
28
V2
x 36
7,"
Time: Painted
just
Setting: Located
moved
before he
in
into
in
the evenings
place where
homeless
Gogh
member
identified with
of this nocturnal
its
community, Van
same
could commit
Intent:
"I
a crime."
have
ugliest he
And
that
ominous
UFO
of a
pool table!
zombies of modern
hours,
being
deprived of
found
life.
prints
in
cheap reproductions,
he collected.
like
like
those
*88ing
Time: Painted
"It is
Setting:
orated
ings
in
it,
nest to
of his having
35 years old,
beginning to wear
Intent:
bedroom
in
to
and dec-
paint-
\n Resource,
NY
rather,
Light:
light
and
the world, keeping the room cool, dark, and quiet. The
bed
sits
there, waiting to
be slept
in.
document
is
moved
a contrast to...
study of his
Gogh's haven,
(He
he
just after
going to be
(1888)
When
pamper
made
after
all,
his creativity.
his
own
place
It
in
was
the world.
ows,
thin.)
at
is
word, looking
also a
"absolute restfulness."
image
to the
Japanese
He
prints,
which he collected.
is
to
do everything."
in
which
who were
up
OPPOSITE
Starry Night over
1888
28 Va x 36
(72.5 x 92 cm)
the Rhone.
in Aries,
he
is
nation, Martinique
letter
from
of the
sale
although
how
Gauguin
the day
when he shows
is
arrives in Aries, a
waiting to inform
Gogh
is
elated:
him
For months
Their
life
is
here.
They
share the
same model,
use the same kind of burlap canvas, and paint the same landscapes.
Gogh
shops,
relief,
Van
Gauguin brings
life.
INCOMPATIBILITY TEST:
Despite similarities in their approach to
ly different results in their
colorist
is
reliance
upon
it
art,
is
memory and
Compare:
Van Gogh's
brushwork; naturalistic
absorbed from
76
memory
the
Musee
NY
As
Gauguin seems
He
Van
Gogh's friend
Postman Roulin
as
paints his
from Theo
weeks, he
own
increasingly peevish
to
town of Aries
after learning
starts teasing
Van Gogh
as
few
OPPOSITE
Self-Portrait in
Front of the
Easel 1888
"
25 A x 19 7/8
(65.5 x 50.5 cm)
%
so observant.
ination
from
Van Gogh
ite
He
ridicules the
his
memory
conjures
Dutchman
into painting
instead of from
nature.
from
Eager to
at Etten, a strange
imag-
his
please,
compos-
memories of Holland
mental portraits of his mother and
artist's
his sister
in the
mind)
own
face that
this point
artists
women
on and
work
strolling.
But he
moons up from
for the
shrub
at the
passing ladies.
distinctly separately
visit,
From
the two
79
(Vincent van
Gogh
Foundation)
"
"Take
Good Care
of
In mid-December, Van
ily
when Gauguin
in a
it"
Gogh
presents
is
him with
legend has
Gogh
it
and
retorts, "It
of absinthe
at
is
this
is
I,
but
it's I
accosted by a frantic
is
Van Gogh
briefly restored.
Gauguin
momentary
seized with
is
Van
throws a glass
He
gone mad."
Gogh
of sunflowers. As
still life
certainly
shows Van
a portrait that
House, he finds
learns that
when he
morning
ting off a piece of his right ear (not the whole ear),
el
and asked
for a prostitute
Sound
"How
named
The Yellow
to
outside.
He
had gone
to a broth-
ear,
Byte: 9 Vi weeks
long did
we remain
together?
entirelyforgotten.
Gauguin's
80
the time
seemed to me a century.
Van Gogh
in Aries
some
selling
and
of his paintings
at
artists
Gauguin's success
fearful that
in
Aries,
Bonger
engagement
his
whom
upon
Johanna
to
He might
lose the
he depended absolutely.
in
was happening
Rain.
It
was getting
rained
for
like
invited to
none of which
his art
Van Gogh.
mad
in
Gogh knew
that his
become
dream
of a sun-drenched
a reality.
PLEASE LEAVE!
Van Gogh
Gauguin
Van Gogh
is
incident.
horrified
Theo
Joseph Roulin
Gogh
notifies
arrives for
27.
is
released
to
Van
'.
.
s?
m
J~z.11
\
\
\
Tim
he
starts
images of self-healing.
Observe:
the bandaged ear: seen without pain or self-pity but with fascination
the meditative gaze: the artist appears to be focusing his energy inward
the
post in Marseilles.
fencing mask.
is
letter
Van Gogh
Gogh
new
someone
is
released,
people of Aries
The
police bar
cell all
On
February 25, he
is
visited
by the
Pointillist painter,
is
he
March
On March
30,
Van Gogh
OPPOSITE
Self-Portrait
is
of his neighbors,
art
On April
17,Theo
He
celebrates
is
painting
83
with Bandaged
Ear. 1889
23 Va x 19
(60 x 49 cm)
What:
woman who
word
for lullaby. In
French, a berceuse
In
rocks a cradle.
also the
It is
Gogh
Madame
of the postman)
berceuse"
in
How: Note
is
is
(of
intended to represent
that she
baby
the connection
is
open
Van Gogh
In
lives
writing
about
life
sioned
symbolic rescue
at risk
in
this paint-
by
Van
the woman's
men whose
in
a vase.
The
triptych,
he suggests,
a fishing
sailors with
people. By offering
this
compared
anyone whose
for
his
its
symbolic connection,
image
an
life
a
is
therapeuadrift.
in
He
the
this portrait as
their maternal
inspired
line to
left
were
but by
to bigger ties.
hands as
a cradle,
it
image of
tic
Gogh
"la
offstage,
(wife
Augustine Roulin
where
boat,
An
art for
broken hearts."
invented for
Mme
background
in
traits,
is
the
same
page
64). Incidentally, at
Joseph
Gogh
as the
time Van
Roulin
Roulin
the
these por-
have been
his
created
way
in
of keep-
tW^
'',:l(A>:;:y
B\
mmm
Awfc"^
if
.
M^l
mmm
it
i.m
^n
few days
anymore
later,
Van Gogh
to live alone
From Sunflowers to
Irises:
Saint-Remy
flowers,
is
trees.
new
establish a
palette for
ABOVE
Vase with Irises
1890
36 A x 29
(92 x 73.5 cm)
irises.
OPPOSITE
Roman
by
8,
ruins
lie
train at the
1889 and
painted
will
Irises (see
page
its
year.
Within the
first
May
week, he has
89),
intoxicating beauty:
In
arrives
FYI:
Van Gogh
The composition
is
Gogh was
active as an
artist,
he produced
he worked
one image
a five-day
a day,
week
87
St.
Paul's Hospital
at Saint-Remy
1889
23 x 17
(58 x 45 cm)
and
dirt.
Upon
Independents in
upon swordlike
opposite
188V
28 x 36 Vs
(71 x 93 cm)
lrises.
place
study from
life
Irises
leaves."
(1889)
to
work when he
irises
the only
arrived at Saint-
first
Remy. The lack of open space within the frame might suggest Van
Gogh's
own
restricted freedom.
painting in terms of
to distinguish Irises
its close
from
However, the
proximity
artist
to nature:
He
called
it
a "study"
reality in detail.
Sound
the
in his paint-
Amidst
all the
Byte:
iris
As
lifetime,
but whose
1987) achieved a
"
art historian
!!&lii&ft
^z>
NY
is
now
symptoms
Gogh would be
also read as a
seriously
been
modern
on Prozac.
As Van Gogh
some
settles into
work
at the
distinct characteristics:
a sense
Cypress Trees
1889
28 Va x 36 V/'
(72.5x91.5 cm)
down
like
air,
and
stars
which
to fill the
at Saint-Remy
Gogh
is
extremely produc-
OPPOSITE
Wheatfeld with
his
main
themes include:
91
confinement
Lilacs.
"
THE
garden a
source of
self-portraits painted in
against
subjects
still-life
the asylum
He
where he
paints:
is
also
cypresses, a
turns
them
classical
and
Gogh
self- torment
ripped open
in
Sorrow (old
hands, waiting for death; see page 27), Van Gogh's Bedroom, and LArlesienne
reappear as
92
new paintings. He
also copies
works by other
artists,
whom he
^m
mx
HlHHIHlHhM
Metropolitan
Museum
Photograph
of Art. From the Collection of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg.
Museum
of Art
identity as an artist
Van Gogh
moment
own
is
arrives
when he
nary masterpices in
all
It's
in
as if
But the
is
of European
art:
(see
page 96).
it is.
Van Gogh
it's
is
June and
it,
36 years old
he's
been
world of an asylum
for
thirteen
will be
dead
as
an
artist,
steadfast support
his big
dream of founding
France was a
community of
artists in
the South of
horrific failure
Seeds of Recognition
At Saint-Remy, Van Gogh
by violent attacks
one of which
lasts
95
opposite
Olive Orchard
1889
28 5/8 x 36
(72.7 x 92.1 cm)
THE STARRY
29x36'/^
What: A nocturne
(i.e.,
Nl GHT (1889)
(73. 7
a star-studded
a crescent
moon
with-
x 92.1 cm)
that
in
(This
is
progress,
intent,
his
his
etc.),
Dutch
in
is
vil-
powerful act
deliberately constructed as an
of invention,
abstraction
Why:
lages. Thus,
based on
memory,
Gogh,
it
is
reality,
and
a willful act of
freedom
through
art.
He merely
tells
thus
night,
starry
Theo
that he
is
referring
to
Starry Night
painting a
the
(see
new
"other"
page
77),
in
manifesto of
when of the
colors of darkness were apparent and not by
should be painted at night
daylight
in
tic
memory.)
nature,
Gogh
dio
since
that
view doesn't
Van
exist:
window
at the asylum, so
chaos
order.
is
a picture of
roils
church makes
a small
the
it's
stars,
ground
ward.
cosmic convul-
is
but
in
Some
critics
the fore-
heaven-
Gogh
sees
all
(In
ment
he must have
monition of
his
new
star, in a
kind of pre-
go
straight to a
short
rhythm;
of this
brushstrokes
Pointillism), stippled
cato
star.)
black
painting
is
from
(evolved
a stac-
(holdovers
from
bizarrely
is
the
like
that
Irises)
copy of a publication
to the
In October, he
critic, J. J.
Isaacson,
enthusiastically.
words of praise
Isaacson's
in
critical attention.
as "highly exaggerated."
Christmas, never a good time for Van Gogh, brings on another attack
that lasts until
New Years
in
him
to concentrate
the
XX
(i.e.,
who
is
is
Belgian Post-
Gogh
Mme
Ginoux, the
ailing
included
art
on draw-
his
own.
an essay devoted to
his
work by
Van Gogh
for
showing contempo-
rary artists a
Aurier
perhaps the
is
also
Van Gogh
is
"a fanatic,
first
98
a Symbolist poet,
pouring
its
lava into
all
the
More good
up household together
consider setting
Van Gogh
event of his
first sale
400
in
francs
is
his
adopted
March
Theo and
Red Vineyard
Paris,
where he spends
everyone's
relief,
display of his
own
art,
prospect:
its
be in f
Vincent
He beams
sells in
and suntanned.
artist,
the painting
like to
from
16,
he would
is
As
On May
if
In February,
Brussels for
Gogh
in
arrives
at the
in the
abundant
to
move
to
nearbv Auvers-sur-Oise.
99
Musee
NY
Ending His
Auvers
Life in
Auvers-sur-Oise
lies
a distance
and quaint
this cultured
little
town.
OPPOSITE
La Meridienne
(The
Siesta),
after Millet
Charles-Francois Daubigny had lived there until his death in 1878 and
1889-90
28 /4 x 35
3
(73 x 91
When Van Gogh arrives in Auvers on May 20, he is met (through previous arrangement with Theo) by Dr. Paul- Ferdinand Gachet, a friend
and patron of
Gachet
an
is
with
filled
tric,
artists,
artist
himself
Postman Roulin,
art
is
a socialist.
The
strikes
doctor,
whose house
Van Gogh
as
months. Van
ing
Gogh
and
He
is
reveres
letters,
Van Gogh
paintings,
talent
an eccen-
Van Gogh's
is
attic
of a
local inn,
is
storing for
him
in Paris.
Many people cared for the artist during his times of illness and Van
Gogh pays tribute to them in a series of portraits. Dr. Gachet is one of
them
(see
is
IOI
7s"
cm)
modern
this
he
portrait, as
is
it:
We
feel
we know and
like
kind of personal uniform, consisting of the same hat and trench coat
worn on even
The
He
practices
homeopathic medicine:
In Auvers, Van
Gogh
Nuenen
(see
its
gar-
body
these
art,
from within:
visit in
of that afternoon does not carry over to Vincent's next trip to Paris in
July.
makes undertaker
of his
art,
is
Back
in Auvers, tension
Van Gogh
chest.
He manages
is
"With
When Theo
against a haystack,
to drag himself
As
bullet).
wound was
brother's side
Vincent van
and hears
Gogh
the
coffin, laid
final paintings,
Theo remains by
dies
equipment
his painting
body
would
like to
was such
full
go
loss,
Theo
like this'
who
dies six
months
later
Van
and
dahlias),
stool).
His
is
surrounded by his
later
as often
happens, everybody
Theo, whose
'I
and
is
his
and by
is
not,
unremoved
Gogh's
tid-
back to
arrives,
it
so
frail
my
is
own, own
health collapses
He
is
buried next
103
felt
what
was
it
to be
artist
modern
artistically, socially,
and
intellectually
LEFT
The Church at
calculated
down
are absolutely
Auvers-sur- Oise
1890
"
37 x 29 3/8
(94 x 74.5 cm)
RIGHT
Portrait of Dr.
Paul Gachet
1890
26 Y/' x 22
(68 x 57 cm)
he created an imagery that changed the way people see the world
is
letters
to
Theo
read
as
Expressionist. Expressionism
that
had begun
and adhere
and exaggeration
power
ended
in the Renaissance
objectively reflect
of
primers
are all
in
a tradition in
namely,
art.
Indeed,
how-to-think-like-an-
that art
Western Europe
was supposed
to
and the
artist's
subjective vision
byway
The
104
Musee
themselves "Painters of
urban scene
Gogh advanced
intellect,
Life,"
moment,
saw
it.
As
were
still
who
basically
a ballerina, a haystack,
a Post-Impressionist,
an
Van
Through
his
work,
art
was seen
as
an expression
Modern
Impressionists,
of
exactly as they
Even the
Gogh's Post-Impressionist
Expressionism
is
that he,
more than
105
NY
Gogh
is
is
about the
human
that his
work evolved
The
rea-
bona
fide
condition.
and not
considered a forerunner
in terms of Impressionism: It
never fully breaks from nature, or from the observation of nature, into
the realm of pure abstraction. Expressionism per
when German
critics
se
comes
in
1911
Impressionism. Expressionism
is
adamantly opposed to
artists
modern
a recurrent aspect of
art,
to
Futurism
1912-1956)
and, in a class of his own, the
Munch
all
The
106
art
of Vincent van
Gogh
anticipates
and informs
all
of the above.
really
in
2.
and feelings
life,
a desire to create
vs.
contemporary
art, to
to intan-
and nature
establish a
community
4.
desire for
community,
own
family,
and
vs.
and reform
a sense
of permanence
vs.
marginal
life
personality
5.
a tradition
of
the
garde, with
new
vs.
observation
107
20
Vs
x 39 Y/'
(50.5 x 100.5
For years,
art historians
last?
The sensational
Which
painting
cm)
in a hail
NY
ends.
conflict, the
sophisticated choice
work
first
attracted
to
108
is
But
last letter,
for
an image
artists
for
whose
Van Gogh,
he wrote of
this
its
during World
came
when
to light:
War
II, a
Russia
Germany
last
painting
Daubignys
Garden. 1890
21 x 40 Va"
(53.2 x 103.5
Here's
why people
As Theo
instantly
it
upon the
line
Vincent van
artist's
Hiroshima
and recognition
for
ignited almost
first
major survey
Museum
cm)
of Art
'/,*
28 7/ (59 x
What:
Like
nocturne
a
The
the suburban
modern, pretty
version.
It
the
in
celestial
light.
Three
women
is still.
Nature,
den shrubbery,
is
tamed and
artificial.
72.5 cm)
Museum
let nitage
shows
for
typical
villa,
is
Petersburg
St.
it's
of puzzling
full
is
haloed
star,
women
the three
Van Gogh's
at
home
art,
out walking.
In
terms of
in
of rural
unnatural
Gogh hopes
it
will
be
doctor loves
artists,
seem
like
Cezanne,
like
made
his
1872-74
stay
women
in
the
might even
spirits.
They
cer-
specters of imagination.
the house
Finally, there's
who, during
the
be seen as wandering
(Plus the
tainly
local
light,
itself,
back
set
Auvers,
in
if
withdrawing
his first
He
loves
its
his
months
new town.
add up to
nuanced
painting, construct-
artifice,
projection
and observation.
capture
its
charms.
When:
He
starts
thatched cottages on
moves
into
its
a letter to
In
890, Van
then
outskirts,
Gogh mentions
that
those
his early
The
felt like
hoped
family of
the "house"
home
in
artists),
Van Gogh's
art.
to reside with a
is
Despite
rarely a
its
the
light in
and
Theo on 17 June
with the
stark
that he's
mak-
house among
changes
in
the
final
version
trees are
the pink
is
pruned down
op
this
image.
not be his
And though
last
painting by Van
painting,
Gogh
recent scholarship.
to
it
it
may
is
come
or
may
the latest
to light
in
He came
to art
the world.
Working
in
a difference" in
his
complex
feelings
and
Impressionism. But
day
through
Van Gogh
He
that, too.
in
two short
assimilated the
to express his
own
highly
life.
most sophisticated
years,
art
to
of his
blasted
potentially
all
artificial
visual effects
Now
of color,
light,
and movement).
that he
for
which
of distractions, so he
full
his
color, aggressive
put
internal
at the service
of expressing the
artist's
of modern
life.
Van Gogh
irresistible
and
timeless.