Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 48 Location: Toronto Canada
The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Thread Started on Feb 19, 2009, 10:54pm »
'It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to...the feeling for things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for paintings.'...
The are the words of Vincent Van Gogh, who lived for only 37 years, 1853-1890. His life was deeply disturbed, often lonely, but 'out of chaos comes the dancing star', Nietzche...the dancing star of his glorious work. His early life was spent as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage, a dreary mining district in Belgium. Fortunately for us, he was fired (again) and remained in Belgium 'determined to give happiness by creating beauty'. At this time he was influenced by Japanese art. In 1886 he joined his brother Theo in Paris and came to know the significent avant garde artists of the day. He wasn't well and journeyed south to Arles. He was deeply disturbed now, alternating between madness and lucidity. To calm him, Van Gogh was sent to an asylum at Saint Remy de Provence. Two of my favorite paintings come from this period. The first was done when he first arrived in Arles and was maintaining a tenuous grasp of his emotions...Starry Night over the Rhone, 1888.
His disturbed mind was falling into deeper chaos. He painted this, my most loved, during his time at the asylum...Starry Night, 1889,
I feel a deep longing for what he can never have in this work, a terrible and beautiful recognition of his chaos and the beauty that he feels all around him. I think he spent most of his life in the swirling glorious sky and longingly looked at the peaceful and beautiful sleeping village, its calmness was usually out of his reach.
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 48 Location: Toronto Canada
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #1 on Feb 19, 2009, 11:18pm »
The work of the 19th century Japanese artists had a great influence on Van Gogh. I like these two,
Bridge in the Rain, after Hiroshige, 1887.
This is a painting that I had never seen until I saw the original in the Rodin museum in Paris. The man, Pere Tanguy, owned a hole-in-the-wall shop in Paris and was very good to the emerging artists of the time. I love it.
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 48 Location: Toronto Canada
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #5 on Feb 20, 2009, 1:19am »
Auvers-sur-Oise is a small village about an hour from Paris. I took a day trip there in hommage to Van Gogh. The village is quiet, lovely and is where Van Gogh spent the final three months of his life. His creative output was stunning, 90 paintings in 3 months. Here is a painting of the village by Cezanne, a close friend of Van Gogh,
The inn where Vincent enjoyed many a meal and lived 'above stair'...
and, today,
his austere room, with an iron single bed, not shown,
He was in the care of Dr. Gachet. Often, the doctor invited him for a meal and conversation. The good doctor was the subject of many of his paintings, here is one...
Ninety paintings in ninety days. A passionate, furious, yet loving outpouring of his essence. He somehow lost complete control and shot himself and died, at 37. He is buried beside his dear brother, Theo.
Vincent wrote to his brother,Theo,
"What am I in the eyes of most people?...a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person...somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right then...even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love, in spite of everything, based more on a feelng of serenity than of passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners...and my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistable momentum.", Vincent.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,302 Location: Mexico
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #6 on Feb 20, 2009, 2:26am »
I've never seen that portrait of Pere Tanguey before. It is absolutely wonderful -- could become my favorite van Gogh! I got to see some van Goghs at the MOMA, and did not expect the portraits to affect me as much as they did.
Thank you for the wonderful photo of the asylum, so beautifully juxtaposed with Vincent's pictures of the interior. The corridor one is heartbreaking.
A few years ago the Metropolitan Museum of Art did a show of Van Gogh's drawings. The NYTimes online had a great slideshow of it, clearly showing that Van Gogh was by no means a natural draftsman & indeed struggled to master drawing.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,482 Location: Paris, France
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #13 on Jul 22, 2009, 8:25pm »
I think that there may be more Van Gogh works at the Orsay than at the Louvre, but they are just across the river from each other, so there are dozens and dozens.
Joined: Jan 2013 Gender: Female Posts: 373 Location: NOLA,USA
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #18 on Jul 23, 2009, 12:07am »
Amazing photos Jazz. Thank you. The shadow at the gravesite appears at a glance to be his own with his trademark hat on as in his self portrait. Thank you. The first time I saw "Starry Night" at MOMA I had to contain myself I was so moved. I looked over at my husband and the same thing was happening to him. It was a most beautiful moment. That same year the Bonnard exhibit was on tour and although he is one of my favorite artists I cannot say I was as moved as by the one Van Gough,
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,302 Location: Mexico
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #19 on Jul 23, 2009, 3:50am »
Oh, beautiful, Jazz! The roadside flowers are amazing, but your feelings on walking the same ground as Van Gogh come through in all the pictures. Thank you!
Casimira, I had the same thing happen at the MOMA, but the one that "got" me was the portrait of the postman.
And speaking of being gotten -- this makes me want to sob: "Some day or another I believe I will find a way to have my own exhibition in a cafe."
One of the things about Van Gogh that is hard to believe is that he struggled to teach himself to draw. He was not a natural -- far from it.
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #21 on Mar 28, 2012, 2:06pm »
I would like to add this snippet of information to this thread, from a book review in our local newspaper today:
The Book - Brothers In Arms by Chris Schoeman(Zebra Press).
The book is about the role of Hollanders during the second Anglo-Boer War. Most died in battle and a few of illness. One of those casualties was the 32-year old Hollander volunteer Cornelius van Gogh, youngest brother of the world famous artist, Vincent van Gogh.
Cornelius was fourteen years younger than Vincent. Born in Zundert, Noord-Brabant, in 1867. He started his career as a metallurgical worker in Lincoln, England in 1888. By October 1889 he was working as an engineer for the Cornucopia Gold Company in Germiston in the Transvaal, South Africa.
After his arrival, he wrote to his brother Theo: "Johannesburg is a place full of dust and gold - the city is ugly without any surroundings.." On 8 October 1890, he again wrote to Theo after their famous brother's suicide: "I can tell you how upset I was to hear the sad news about Vincent, I know it will be a terrible loss and emptiness for you, although I believe that it is better for him as things are".
Cornelius showed 'his Boer feelings' in 1895 when he did guard duty for the ZAR forces around the time of the Jameson Raid. By early 1900, when he went on commando, he was living at 17 Markstraat, Pretoria. Serving under Commandant J.S.F. Blignaut, Cornelius was reportedly wounded near Brandfort and treated in the British hospital there as a prisoner of war. He died on 12 April 1900, a week after the battle of Boshof, but it is not clear whether he was wounded during this battle (Brandfort is near Boshof). He became very ill in hospital and during one of his fever attacks committed suicide according to The Red Cross documentation. What is also not clear is in what manner he took his own life.
This meant that all three Van Gogh brothers, Vincent, Theo and Cornelius, committed suicide. Cornelius was buried in the Brandfort cemetary, but his grave remains unidentified.
I hope this little story was of interest to all lovers of Vincent "Starry starry night" van Gogh !
I would like to add this snippet of information to this thread, from a book review in our local newspaper today:
The Book - Brothers In Arms by Chris Schoeman(Zebra Press).
The book is about the role of Hollanders during the second Anglo-Boer War. Most died in battle and a few of illness. One of those casualties was the 32-year old Hollander volunteer Cornelius van Gogh, youngest brother of the world famous artist, Vincent van Gogh.
Cornelius was fourteen years younger than Vincent. Born in Zundert, Noord-Brabant, in 1867. He started his career as a metallurgical worker in Lincoln, England in 1888. By October 1889 he was working as an engineer for the Cornucopia Gold Company in Germiston in the Transvaal, South Africa.
After his arrival, he wrote to his brother Theo: "Johannesburg is a place full of dust and gold - the city is ugly without any surroundings.." On 8 October 1890, he again wrote to Theo after their famous brother's suicide: "I can tell you how upset I was to hear the sad news about Vincent, I know it will be a terrible loss and emptiness for you, although I believe that it is better for him as things are".
Cornelius showed 'his Boer feelings' in 1895 when he did guard duty for the ZAR forces around the time of the Jameson Raid. By early 1900, when h went on commando, he was living at 17 Markstraat, Pretoria. Serving under Commandant J.S.F. Blignaut, Cornelius was reportedly wounded near Brandfort and treated in the British hospital there as a prisoner of war. He died on 12 April 1900, a week after the battle of Boshof, but it is not clear whether he was wounded during this battle (Brandfort is near Boshof). He became very ill in hospital and during one of his fever attacks committed suicide according to The Red Cross documentation. What is also not clear is in what manner he took his own life.
This meant that all three Van Gogh brothers, Vincent, Theo and Cornelius, committed suicide. Cornelius was buried in the Brandfort cemetary, but his grave remains unidentified.
I hope this little story was of interest to all lovers of Vincent "Starry starry night" van Gogh !
That's a good story Tod.
I particularly like the name of The Cornucopia Gold Company.
Re: The eye of the storm, Vincent van Gogh « Reply #23 on Mar 28, 2012, 2:23pm »
Thanks Mick - I can't fathom why no-one has tried to get the remains of Cornelius re-interred next to his two brothers. Brandfort is a speck of a town. Don't blink when you pass through or else you'll miss it! The cemetary can't be that big and with the equipment that locates bodies and a bit of digging and DNA sampling, I am positive it can be done.
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