A Birthday for an Artist
"And my aim in my life is to make pictures and drawings, as many and as well as I can; then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking, 'Oh, the pictures I might have made!” -Vincent van Gogh, Letter 338 to Theo, 11/19/1883
Today’s update really has nothing to do with Cigars, but to pay respects to a great artist that has inspired so many to tap into their creative psyche; today marks the anniversary of Vincent van Gogh’s birthday in 1853.
Surprisingly, all of Van Gogh’s work was produced in the span of 10 years, during which time he has made what would become his most well known Starry Night masterpiece in 1889, just one year shy of his death in 1890.
His father was a Protestant pastor, thus leading van Gogh to train for the ministry. He abandoned his studies in 1878 to work as a lay preacher among miners in Belgium. During this time, he gave away his own worldly goods to the poor, lived in poverty and spiritual crisis, for he was dismissed for his literal interpretation of Christ’s teaching.
In 1880 he aspired as an artist with a way to bring comfort to humanity. From this time he worked with such a maddening frenzy, while undernourished and still living in poverty he produced an exceptional amount of work: about 800 painting and a similar number of drawings.
Over his lifetime he has lived in the Netherlands, where he painted peasants and workers, to Paris where he met Pissaro, Gauguin, Seurat and Degas. During his time in Paris, his painting underwent a dramatic change under the influence of Impressionism and Japanese woodcuts. He became obsessed with the expressive values of color and began to use them for this purpose rather than simply trying to recreate visual appearances and light the way the Impressionists have. “Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes,” he wrote, “I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly”.
He sold only one painting during his lifetime (Red Vineyard at Arles; Pushkin Museum, Moscow), and was little known to the art world at the time of his death. His stormy and dramatic life and his unswerving devotion to his ideals have made him one of the great cultural heroes of modern times.
Happy Birthday Vincent.
Today’s update really has nothing to do with Cigars, but to pay respects to a great artist that has inspired so many to tap into their creative psyche; today marks the anniversary of Vincent van Gogh’s birthday in 1853.
Surprisingly, all of Van Gogh’s work was produced in the span of 10 years, during which time he has made what would become his most well known Starry Night masterpiece in 1889, just one year shy of his death in 1890.
His father was a Protestant pastor, thus leading van Gogh to train for the ministry. He abandoned his studies in 1878 to work as a lay preacher among miners in Belgium. During this time, he gave away his own worldly goods to the poor, lived in poverty and spiritual crisis, for he was dismissed for his literal interpretation of Christ’s teaching.
In 1880 he aspired as an artist with a way to bring comfort to humanity. From this time he worked with such a maddening frenzy, while undernourished and still living in poverty he produced an exceptional amount of work: about 800 painting and a similar number of drawings.
Over his lifetime he has lived in the Netherlands, where he painted peasants and workers, to Paris where he met Pissaro, Gauguin, Seurat and Degas. During his time in Paris, his painting underwent a dramatic change under the influence of Impressionism and Japanese woodcuts. He became obsessed with the expressive values of color and began to use them for this purpose rather than simply trying to recreate visual appearances and light the way the Impressionists have. “Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes,” he wrote, “I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly”.
He sold only one painting during his lifetime (Red Vineyard at Arles; Pushkin Museum, Moscow), and was little known to the art world at the time of his death. His stormy and dramatic life and his unswerving devotion to his ideals have made him one of the great cultural heroes of modern times.
Happy Birthday Vincent.
posted by Fumo Santo | 10:03 AM
2 Comments:
An excellent post and tribute. Best read whilst listening to Don McClean's "Starry Starry Night"
It brings to mind my favorite Van Gogh quote, which directly follows in the next phrase of the one cited in your post “...exaggerate the essential and keep the obvious vague.”
Words to live by!!
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