M.C. Escher, by Drew Raub

Maurits Cornelis Escher was born in Leeuwarden, the capital of the province of Friesland in the northern part of the Netherlands on June 17, 1898. He was the youngest of three brothers. His mother was Sarah Gleichman Escher, and his father was George Arnold Escher, who worked as a civil engineer for the government. He attended secondary school during his youth in the city of Arnhem. After finishing secondary school, Escher moved to Haarlem to study architecture at the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts. Escher would later drop out of the architecture program after discovering that he had a stronger attraction to graphic art. He studied graphic art under his teacher, Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita, an already renowned artist, from 1919 to 1922.

Upon finishing his studies, Escher began to travel, taking many trips that took him all over Europe. In the spring of 1922, Escher traveled from Arnhem with two friends to Italy. His two friends returned home after only a few weeks, while Escher stayed and traveled all over the Italian countryside, sketching plants landscapes and even insects that he would later use in his work. Below are examples of his work that are based on places he visited during his time in Italy.

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Castrovalva, 1930

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Coast of Amalfi, 1931

After returning home, he left again that same year on a ship bound for Spain. On the ship, he first experienced the phosphorescent waves of the sea as they broke during the night. These waves would inspire some of his later work, pictured below.

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Phosphorescent Sea, 1933

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Dolphins in Phosphorescent Sea, 1923

In Spain, he visited Madrid and the Prado, its famous museum. He didn’t care for the museum or its art pieces, and ended up drawing more inspiration from the beautiful vistas that filled the landscape. He then returned again to Italy, having become fascinated by its landscape. He became so captivated by the area, that in 1923 he took up residence in Siena, Italy for several months. During his time spent living in Siena, Escher formed a romantic bond with a young Swiss girl named Jetta Umiker. Later that same year, he decided to ask her to marry him. In 1924 Escher and his wife purchased a small house on the outskirts of Frascati, a town near Rome. After living in Frascati for two years, Escher and his wife moved to a larger house. It turned out to be for good reason. One month after relocating, Jetta gave birth to a baby boy, George, named after Escher’s father. At around this time Escher’s notoriety as an artist began to increase dramatically. So much so, that King Emmanuel of Italy, as well as Benito Mussolini, not-yet dictator, attended his newborn son’s christening. While living with his family in Italy, he saw the rise of fascism in the thirties, which made life more and more unbearable for him. In 1935, in order to escape the growing unrest in the region, Escher moved his family to Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland.

In mid-1937, Escher found himself moving again. This time, his family relocated to the suburb of Ukkel, in Brussels, Belgium. During 1937, Escher’s work underwent a dramatic change. So dramatic was this change that one can distinctly divide his work into two groups: That is, the work he did before 1937 and after 1937. Most of his work that occurred before 1937 was based on things he had seen in real life. Escher’s attention to detail in these early works is particularly striking. All elements of the natural landscape are rendered vividly and precisely, down to the imperfections and subtle details in rocks and clouds. Starting in 1937, Escher began to experiment with distorted perspective, tessellation and optical illusions. His woodcuts Still Life and Street and Metamorphosis I give us a hint at what his work is progressing toward.

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Still Life and Street, 1937

The books in the foreground of the image rest against the buildings behind them, as if the walls of the buildings were the edges of a bookcase. The still life scene in the foreground is rendered in exquisite detail, from the reflection in the pot, whose lid provides the focal point of the image, to the details on the playing cards and matchbox. This image is one of the first of Escher’s that deliberately causes us to question what we are seeing. The table in the foreground, as it recedes, slowly becomes the street behind it, as the books on both sides of the image recede into the buildings behind them. It is also worth noting that the street scene in the background rose from a sketch that Escher made of a real street in Savona, Italy.

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Metamorphosis I, 1937

In Metamorphosis I, Escher demonstrates how gradual changes in a repeated shape can bring about a transformation or metamorphosis in an image, hence the name. The realistic scene of a port city at the right of the woodcut slowly changes as the buildings revert back into the basic shapes they are constructed from, that is, simple cubes. The windows on the buildings disappear, and as we approach the middle of the image, we are presented with plain, uniform cubes arranged in a regular pattern. Moving further toward the right side the cubes slowly morph to take on more angles and slowly we are presented with a tessellated human figure. This process of drastic transformation through subtle changes in line and shape would carry over into much of Escher’s future work.

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Development I, 1937

In Development I, Escher demonstrates how he solved a unique problem. Because of the nature of creating a woodcut, Escher couldn’t achieve true “gray” tones in his work. So, to provide definition to his woodcuts, he needed to come up with a way to fool the eye into seeing gray even when it’s not there. He did this by alternating very thin white and black lines. If he needed to gradate from black to white, he would use an alternating series of white and black lines, and slowly increase the thickness of the white lines until he had achieved the effect. Alternately, if he wanted to go from white and darken back to black, he would perform the same process, but slowly increase the thickness of the black lines.

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Day and Night, 1938

In 1938, Escher created Day and Night; a woodcut furthers his journey into tessellation and transformation. The two halves of the print are mirror images of each other. In one half, it is bright daylight, with a series of black birds breaking up the sky over a small riverside town. On the other side of the image, the exact opposite: White birds glide against the black night sky of the same small town. The interesting thing to note is how Escher makes the transition from one side of the print to the other. As we move from left to right, the space between the black birds tightens as the flock moves closer together. These spaces of landscape below the black birds tighten even further until they become individual shapes unto themselves, that is, the shapes of white birds, emerging from the other side of the image. The exact same process takes place if you move in the opposite direction, from right to left. Escher does this by incrementally changing the shape of the birds on both sides toward an intermediate triangular shape, from which either series of birds can be formed. At the bottom of the image, there is yet another transformation going on. The birds nearest the bottom slowly become more and more basic in their construction, slowly morphing into the diamond pattern of the fields below. The fields in the bottom center of the print appear gray, since it is the midpoint between the two halves, day and night. This twilight area is not true gray however, but only another wonderful example of Escher’s use of crosshatched lined to trick the eye into seeing gray.

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Sky and Water I, 1938

Sky and Water I, very similar in composition to Day and Night, again plays around with the ideas of transformation and juxtaposition. However, in this case, as opposed to the identically shaped birds in Day and Night, Escher uses a tessellation made up of two completely different shapes. At the bottom of the print, a fish swims against a black background, symbolizing water. As we move higher in the image, more fish appear, grouping closer together, making the space between them tighter and tighter. The black shapes that begin to appear between the closely grouped fish begin to take on more and more definition as we approach the middle of the print. Emerging into white space, which represents sky, the black shapes become birds, and as we move to the top of the image, they appear to fly away from the surface of the water. In the middle of the image, Escher makes it so that the observer cannot tell which shapes are the subject and which are the background, shifting our awareness of the nature of the fish and bird shapes. This shift is referred to as figure-ground reversal, a technique Escher pioneered with Day and Night, and continued to use in various works during his life.

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Metamorphosis II, 1939-1940

In June of 1939, Escher’s father, George Arnold Escher, died at the house where he lived with his wife in the Hague. Several months later, Escher began to work on a new project. Metamorphosis II, a continuation of the tessellation transformations seen in his previously mentioned Metamorphosis I, consisted of ten such transformations. The work was very large; in fact, it is one of the largest woodcut prints ever produced. It measured roughly 19 centimeters by 390 centimeters. At the leftmost part of the print, the words “METAMORPHOSE” are repeated in a crisscross pattern. The blocky pattern of the words begins to form a checkerboard pattern as we progress right, slowly changing into a repeated pattern of interlocking lizard-shapes. The lizards continue to morph into the hexagonal pattern of a honeycomb, and moving further toward the right, we see honeybees fly out of holes in the comb. The bees pack together more tightly and with a figure-ground reversal, the space between the bees becomes the outlines of fish. Progressing to the right, the spaces between the fish change to become birds flying toward the right half of the print, and the birds slowly transform into a repeating pattern of cubes. The cubes become the buildings of a seaside town, whose outlying tower takes the shape of a chess piece. The adjacent chess pieces lie on a chess board, which reverts back into a flat, checkered pattern seen in the beginning. The checkerboard breaks up into individual crisscrossed instances of the word “METAMORPHOSE” again, as the print terminates.

In 1940, Germany invaded Holland and Belgium. Brussels and its suburbs were occupied by Nazi forces on the 17th of May. At the end of May, Escher’s mother died. Because of the Nazi occupation, he could not travel to the Hague to see her funeral. Escher spent the rest of that year taking care of his mother’s affairs. In February of 1941, Escher and his wife moved to a new house in Baarn, Holland.

The persecution of the Jews by the Nazis affected Escher greatly. In 1944, his old teacher and friend, Samuel de Mesquita, a Jew, was arrested and executed by the Nazis. After the war, Escher helped organize a memorial showing of Mesquita’s salvaged work. Around 1948, Escher became attracted to a new print technique, called mezzotint.

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Dewdrop, 1948

In one of his most striking examples of mezzotint, Dewdrop demonstrates the huge leap forward in detail that can be achieved with mezzotint as opposed to the relatively limited line-based woodcut method. Mezzotint is comparable to modern printing, in that, instead of broad cuts being made to the printing block, small, individual dots make up the printing surface. Made with a small pointed tool, the dots provided the artist with much more definition in the final print. In Dewdrop, Escher shows his mastery of mezzotint. The image approaches photo-realism, from the subtle halo of light around the edges of the leaf, to the light from an overhead window being perfectly reflected in the dewdrop. With mezzotint, Escher was able to much more successfully achieve subtle transitions from white to black, as a print made of small dots of ink made it much easier to achieve the illusion of gray.

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Relativity, 1953

In one of his most famous prints, the 1953 lithograph entitled Relativity, Escher presents us with a supremely distorted perspective, one which seems to invite the viewer to question: “Which way is up?” In the print, human figures ascend and descend the staircases presented in the image. The three sets of stairs form a triangle in the center of the work, and our eye is drawn to the center of it. The orientation of the figures seems to imply that the world depicted has multiple sources of gravity, each affecting a different staircase and attached floor. Based on the way in which the doors, railings and figures are laid out in the image, it appears that every floor is also a wall, and also a ceiling, depending on where in the image it appears.

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Belvedere, 1958

In Belvedere, Escher again presents us with another example of an “impossible” building. The building, at first glance, appears normal, but upon closer inspection we find that it would be impossible to build in reality. The balcony suspended on pillars is actually twisted 90 degrees in relation to the floor below it. The reason it looks correct at first glance, is the way Escher lines up the tops of the columns with their bases on the opposite side. The theory behind such a building is the so-called “Necker cube” in which opposite supports on a hollow cube cross the center and connect, making an impossible shape. Interestingly, the man seated on the bench at the bottom left of the print is holding an example of a “Necker cube”, hinting at the inspiration behind the “impossible” structure behind him.

In the later months of 1960, took a trip to the U.S. and Canada, where he gave lectures in Boston and Ottowa.

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Waterfall, 1961

The 1961 lithograph entitled Waterfall gives us yet another “impossible” building. Water falls onto a waterwheel, propelling the water down a channel that zigzags back and forth. As the channel progresses, it begins to somehow rise above itself, and columns similar to those seen in Belvedere support the rising channel above its lower parts. At the end of the channel, the water tumbles over the edge of a drop-off, and falls back onto the same waterwheel to start the cycle over again. The supports that connect the different sections of channel, and the arches that rise above them form two distinct towers that dominate both halves of the print. Several visual oddities occur when you examine the towers by themselves. First, the bases of both towers begin on the same level, where the waterwheel sits. The tops of both towers, capped by elaborate crystal shapes, are also on the same level, as they appear right next to each other, connected by the final piece of channel. However, when we compare the two towers, we see that the right one is a floor shorter than the left one. So, even though they have bases and tops at the same elevation, the two towers are not the same height. Truly, this is an “impossible” building.

In 1964, Escher again traveled to North America to deliver a series of lectures. Soon after arriving, he took seriously ill and underwent surgery in Toronto. He and his wife returned to Holland, and the undelivered lectures he had written were later published in the book Escher on Escher. Escher’s wife eventually moved back to Switzerland, where she was born, while her husband continued to live and work in Holland. With his health beginning to fail, Escher continued to make prints in Baarn, Holland during the final years of his life. In 1970, after undergoing more surgery, Escher moved once again to the Netherlands. In March of 1972, Escher’s health deteriorated further. His family took turns sitting with him by his hospital bed. On March, 1972, Maurits Cornelis Escher died.

M.C. Escher’s contributions to the world of art go far beyond his development of tessellation techniques, or the designs of his “impossible” buildings. During his lifetime he creatively expanded the possibilities of woodcut prints, and can be considered one of the earliest pioneers of Op-art (optical art). His work is known worldwide, and has inspired countless other artists. He successfully bridged the worlds of science and art, with many of his works taking advantage of fractal geometry, visual paradoxes and other scientific phenomena. His legacy is ongoing, with many people today still drawing inspiration from his many works.

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M.C. Escher (Self-Portrait), 1948

Bibliography

1. Frank, Patrick. Prebles’ Artforms: Eighth Edition. Pearson & Prentice Hall

2. Locher, J.L, and M.C. Escher. The World of M.C. Escher. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York

3. M.C. Escher Foundation, The. “M.C. Escher: The Official Website” http://www.mcescher.com/

4. Ziring, Neal. “M.C. Escher Brief Biography”
http://users.erols.com/ziring/escher_bio.htm

Art in the Ancient Civilization, by Janay Lea

Ancient Civilization can be described as what the world is based on and the habits we have picked up and continued hundreds of years later through tradition. Our world is founded upon thousands of years of culture from such groups as the Egyptians, Amarnas, Mesopotamians, Sumerian/Akkadians, Assyrian/Neo-Babylonians, Persians, Aegean, Minoans, Mycenaean, and even the Greeks (Art History Guide). We are aware of the different cultures with the help of the work of archaeologists. Not only did they leave behind their unique cultures, they also left behind some of the most beautiful art ever discovered.
Egyptian art was around from about 3200 B.C. until about 1070 B.C. When we think of Egypt, we automatically think of Pyramids. Kings would have numerous slaves work night and day to build a pyramid solely for themselves. But the pyramids weren’t just for recognition of the King; they were built to house the King’s body after he died. The Egyptians felt it necessary to preserve the body to protect it from decaying; for if the body decayed, its soul wouldn’t be protected and would not live on in afterlife. Not only were pyramids ordered to be created, sculptors were ordered to create a statue replica of the King’s head to ensure that he would be in existence forever.

This photo shows the Great Sphinx and the Fourth Dynasty Pyramids of Giza, which were built during the Old Kingdom

After the Eighteenth Dynasty passed, a new style of art came about; the Amarna Art. It was around from about 1370 B.C. until about 1340 B.C. It derived from the Ancient Egyptian art, but is distinctly different. The images in Amarna art are captured in movement, thus explaining the body language and the busy scenes. The men in Amarna art are also depicted differently from Egyptian art. In Egyptian art, the men are very fit, chiseled having perfect bodies. In Amarna art, men have sort of feminine features. They have hips, thighs, and outstanding breasts just as women do. Amarna art is also different in that people are painted having a left and a right foot, instead of the traditional Egyptian way of having two left feet or two right feet. The body color of both men and women were a dark brown, representing “life’s blood”. Their sculptures displayed long necks, low foreheads and noses, big ears, big lips, and noticeable chins; very different from the emphasized features of Egyptian sculptures (Wikipedia).

This is a photo of Akhenaten, the Pharaoh of Egypt. It is located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Mesopotamian art era occurred around 3500 B.C. to 331 B.C. Much of its art was created to exalt powerful empires and to show the close relationship between being a king and holiness. Mesopotamian art discloses a tradition that is uniform in style and in iconography.

This is a picture of a Babylonian relief sculpture of a bull, made of brightly glazed tiles on a restored Ishtar Gate. The original sculpture dates from around 575 B.C. and stood on the gate of the Temple of Bel, which was the biblical Tower of Babel in Babylon.
Of the Mesopotamian civilization, the Sumer civilization was known as the first, centered on the cities of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. It was around from about 3500 B.C. until about 1750 B.C. Sumerian sculptures had a discrete style of tall marble figures that were always recognized by their clenched hands and their big eyes. They also created tiny, elongated carved seals. These seals were made with marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and of stone (Research Machines). Along with the seals and the tall marble figures, Sumerians also were known for building temples on the tops of fortresses, as well as on the tops of gigantic ziggurats. Like the Egyptians, the Sumerians also felt there was “life after death”, so they furnished all burial sites with material things they felt were needed in the afterlife.

These statues are “Statuettes from Tell Asmar”. These statues are representations of the unending prayer for the people who actually donated the statues to a temple. Notice the large eyes, a characteristic of Sumerian art.

Akkadian art derived from the Akkadian invaders from around 3500 B.C. until about 1750 B.C. The Akkadians incorporated the style of the Sumerians into a style of their own. The Akkadians were a warlike group, as shown in the “Victory of Naram-Sin” which portrays a military crusade carved in relief printing (Research Machines).

This is a picture of the actual “Victory of Naram-Sin” from the Akkadian art.

The next style of art was labeled as the Assyrian art, which was present around 1000 B.C. until about 539 B.C. Assyrian art can be recognized through relief sculpture. Many of the Assyrians’ sculptures were made in stone due to its widespread availability. Since their sculptures were made from stone, many of them have survived through the weather, and are still around. Many of the Assyrian relief sculptures were used to decorate local fortresses in the area (Research Machines).

This is a picture of “Griffin and Sacred Tree”, an Assyrian art relief sculpture. It is located in Mumbai, India.

Neo-Babylonian art, like Assyrian art, was also around from around 1000 B.C. until about 539 B.C. Neo-Babylonian art came about around the same time as the ruling of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Babylon art was focused around bright tiles and relief sculptures. They centered on the ideas and styles of all the Mesopotamian arts. King Nebuchadnezzar built a number of gardens with patios, which were named the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”. (Research Machines).


This is an image of what the actual “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” actually looked like. It is a magnificent patio with well manicured flowers all around it.


Persian art, which came about from around 539 B.C. until about 331 B.C., was pivoted around pottery. One form of Persian pottery was known as miniature, or visual pottery. Miniature was one of the most well known types of Persian pottery. The pictures painted on the pottery showed the images as a Fruitopia, filled with lots of love and happiness. The paintings revealed a sense of the artist’s feelings and emotions that went into the artwork. The Persian pottery not only captured images in the paintings, but also used words combined in with the images, to create actual “visual pottery”. Persian art conveyed a feeling of comfort and peace to those who viewed it (Persian Painting).


This painting is called “A Mystical River”. The artist is unknown, but the actual artwork is from the anthology of 1398 in Bihbahan, which is near Shiraz. This painting not only asserts a sense of peace, but also has the feeling of a sense of harmony.

The next era of art was called the Aegean Art period, which around from around 3000 B.C. until about 1100 B.C. Aegean art was formed in the Grecian lands, near the Aegean Sea. Actual Aegean art consists of lots of different cultures from the surrounding areas that occurred during the same time period. Both Minoan and Mycenaean art forms are part of the Aegean art style. Aegean art consisted of many zigzags, swirls, and ship themes to represent the marine activity that occurred in the area. Since the surrounding area had more than enough marble, their sculptures were mostly made of just that, marble. The facial features of Aegean sculptures were defined down to the nose, eyes, and the mouth (Ancient Aegean Art).

This is a photograph of the “Snake Goddess”. It is a Faience statuette from Knossos, around 1600 B.C. It is located in the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete. The goddess in the sculpture has either a panther or a leopard on her headband.

Their statues consisted of the Aegean idols, highly honored women, women with babies held in their arms (called kouratrophoi), soldiers, hunters, and even pipe and lyre player musicians. In the time of the Aegean art period came the Bronze Age, which lasted from about 2800 B.C. until about 1100 B.C. During this time, the Aegean culture did trade with the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians. Although trade was in effect, the Aegean art form was neither altered nor changed. Their artwork was still of their own discrete style. Some of the statues from the Aegean art form were recently used in the Summer Olympics located in Athens in 2004. They were representing the idea behind the mascots Athina and Fivos (Wikipedia).

This is a figure from the Cyclades which appeared in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

From the Aegean art form derived the Minoan art form. It was around from about 3000 B.C. until about 1475 B.C. Minoan art can be documented for its use of animal paintings and images, being that the Minoans were closely tied with the surrounding environment. It can also be recognized by its calming images, even in its architectural work. During the Protopalatial Period, from 1900 B.C. until 1700 B.C., the invention of the pottery wheel came about. The pottery style of the Minoans can be described as the Kamares ware, meaning they had thin walls, large curves, and appeared to be very elegant. Their paintings were seemed wet due to the wet plaster used. They used the true wet method to enhance the environmental scenes they were known for creating (Ancient-Greece.org).

This is an example of the Minoan frescoe style of pottery. It appears very beautiful in style, and has an elegant feel to it.

Mycenaean art is just the exact opposite of Minoan art. It was around from about 1650 B.C. until about 1100 B.C. Mycenaean art is documented for warlike images and for its famous gold masks. They Mycenaean civilization went through a phase of wealth and success and showed it in their artwork. Their architecture was also very amazing. Cyclopean masonry was used to create beautiful bridges, defense walls, along with beehive-shaped tombs. The architectural style of Mycenean art is very well-built with its walls being up to twenty feet thick. They used jewelry, gems, made vases out of expensive metals, and even made glass ornaments (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The top picture is a replica of the Mycenaean Acropolis known as “Lion Gates”. The bottom is a photograph of the ruins of the actual “Lion Gates”.

The final art form of the ancient civilizations was known as Greek Art, which was around from about 800 B.C. until just 323 Before Christ was born. Greek art is generally categorized into four main groupings. The first being architecture, the second sculpture, the third pottery, and the last painted pottery. Coin design was also a form of Greek art. The Archaic style, the Classical style, and the Hellenistic style were very important to Greek culture and art. First, there was the Archaic style, separated from the Classical style by the Persian wars around 480 B.C. and 448 B.C. Then, there was the Hellenistic style, separated from the Classical by the death of Alexander the Great around 323 B.C.
Archaic art is said to be the spectator of the great things that were near for the Western Society. The statues appear to be tense and seem to have diminutive smirks as if they knew of the great things that were about to occur for the Western civilization, that being the Classical era (Greek Landscapes).

This is a picture of the statue “Korous”, found in the temple of Poseidon at Sounio. It divided the body with each area being proportional with one another.
The Classical era of the ancient times produced some of the most wonderful sculptures of all times. The statues evoked a sense of movement and freedom of expression. Instead of being the same stiff statues, the statues of the Classical era were 3-Dimensional statues of movement.

This is a photo of the statue of “Zeus of Artemision”, which was found in the sea near Cape Artemisio.
With the Hellenistic art era, artists took the Classical era to another level. They captured all angles of movement with poses that were more remarkable than the statues of the Classical era. The Hellenistic era statues evoke lots of energy in their statues.

This is a photo of the “Boy Jockey and Horse”, which was recovered from a shipwreck near Artemesium, and later had to go through restoration to replace the horse that was completely destroyed in the shipwreck.

The ancient civilization time period covered nearly 3,000 years. Several different pieces of artwork, as well as different monuments, were produced, each with its own personal beauty.
Works Cited

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10. Hanging Gardens of Babylon. (1998, 1997). “Geocities Corp.”. http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/4966/garden.html

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16. Picasa Web Albums. (2008). “Google”. http://picasaweb.google.com/sopedestrian.com/Mumbai/photo#5118222233550591730
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20. Victory of Naram-Sin. (October 24, 2007). “Wikipedia Foundation, Inc”. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Victory_stele_of_Naram_Sin_9046.jpg

Vincent Van Gogh, by Casey Ellis

Vincent Van Gogh

By: Casey Ellis

Vincent Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853 in the Netherlands. During the younger part of his life, he worked as a art dealer, teacher, and later on became a missionary worker in a poor region. It wasn't until 1880 that he discovered his art abilities. Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. Van Gogh loved working with bright colors in making his paintings unique. Van Gogh was dedicated to art and he basically taught his self to draw. Six years later, he went back to the Netherlands to study theology (the study of God). Later, he became a preacher in Belgium. During that period is when he decided to become a artist. He studied at the art academy in Antwerp, Belgium. “He made this commitment to art not because he possessed any obvious talent, but because he saw art as the means through which he could communicate with others.”
As a young gentlemen, Van Gogh was different. He had a personality that others would not like him. He would have a nervous breakdown , seizures and become very depressed. He lost many friends. One friend he lost was Paul Gauguin. His art was put on hold during these depression spells, seizures, and often hospitalization.
His health later improved and he moved to Paris under direct doctor's care. In only sixty-five days, Van Gogh completed seventy-five paints. However, unknowly these were the last two months that he lived. Van Gogh, at the young age of thirty-seven committed suicide. This was due to his loneliness. His medical condition is called bipolar.
Most of Van Gogh's artwork is displayed in many of the large museums all over the world. Such Museums includes: Musee d'Orsay located in Paris, Kroller-Muller Museum located in Otterlo which is The Netherlands, and The Vincent Van Gogh Gallery located in Amsterdam. People from around the world travel abroad to see and explore Van Gogh's art work.
Van Gogh's art work includes: Self Portrait with Gray hat. 1887 which is oil on canvas, Carpenter, 1880, which is black crayon, Old man with his Head in His hands, 1882, The Fountain in the Hospital Garden, 1889, Skull with a burning Cigarette, 1885-1886, Detail of Starry Night, 1889,
Japonaiserie:Flowering Plum Tree, 1887, The Sower, 1888, The Starry Night, 1889, which is oil on canvas.
One of Van Gogh's most popular portraits that most people would like to have is The Starry Night. This portrait shows a dark town with dark rounded hills behind it. The horizon is above the hills as well as many rolling clouds. It looks very peaceful and has a very flowing look to it. In the center of the portrait is a church with a tall steeple. The steeple extends much higher than all the houses, buildings and town. “This portraits bold strokes shows Van Gogh's passionate spirits and his personal visions.”
Van Gogh also had many quotes that are very interesting, keeping in mind that this great artist had a medical mental problem. Some of these quotes are:
“I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.”

“A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.”

“An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.”

“The diseases that we civilized people labor under most are melancholy and pessimism.”

“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even-the French air clears up the brain and does good-a world of good.”
“If...boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?”

“To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one's fling from time to time, smoke one's pipe, and drink one's coffee in peace.”

“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”

“It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to.... The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the the feeling for pictures.”

“I can't work without a model. I won't say I turn my back on nature ruthlessly in order to turn a study into a picture, arranging the colors, enlarging and simplifying; but in the matter of form I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true.”

“We spend our whole lives in unconscious exercise of the art of expressing our thoughts with the help of words.”

These are just a few of Van Gogh's quotes, but as you read each of these, you can feel inside somewhat of what this great artist is feeling and experiencing. You can tell he is lonely, sad, hurt, confused and very unhappy. He is depressed. His quotes makes you feel that he is the most un- happiness person. He must have been pretty sadden and upset to later have killed himself. He had no inner peace about himself.
The quote “There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” You also can see this in “The Starry Night.” You can see more blue in the picture. Blue as in color and blue as in depressed. However there is the yellow and orange in the picture. This is where he is calling out to others for help! There is light (orange and yellow) in the sky and in the lights in the town. His mind and body was in the valley when he created this picture.
The quote “It is not the language of painters, but the language of nature which one should listen to....” definitely shows in the painting “ The Starry Night.” You can see, feel and even touch the nature here in this picture. You can see hills, clouds, moon, darkness, trees, hear echoes, and feel the winds blowing against you. It is like Van Gogh is crying out for help. This is a peaceful picture, but Van Gogh is definitely not at peace.
Van Gogh's drawing ability did not come naturally. It took long hours and efforts. He taught himself to draw. This was not a gift that he was born with. His first beginning art work was Carpenter.
It is described as “although stiff, and clumsy in proportion, the drawing reveals Van Gog's careful observation and attention to detail.”
Van Gogh would write letters to his brother, Theo. One of his notes was:
“I remember quite well, now that you write about it, that at the time when you spoke of my becoming a painter,I thought it very impractical and would not hear of it. What made me stop doubting was reading a clear book on perspective.... and a week later i drew the interior of a kitchen with stove, chair, table and window- in their places and on their legs- whereas before it had seemed to me that getting depth and the right perspective into a drawing was witchcraft or pure chance. If only you drew one thing right, you would feel an irresistible longing to draw a thousand other things.”

Two years later, Old Man With His Head In His Hands was made. You can see a great deal of difference in the drawings. Two extra years experience really brought out the details of the art work. “The groups of parallel lines appear to have been drawn quickly, with sensitivity and self-assurance.” What appears to be very simple indeed takes years of experience, hard work, patience and trial and error. This art work also shows the inner heart of Van Gogh. Even this man looks tired, disgusted, hurt, lonely and depressed. Van Gogh wanted to achieve drawing first before he started with colors.
Vincent Van Gogh finished The Potato Eaters in 1885. Many believed that this is his first great work of art. He painted this picture young in his career and was not sure of himself how it would turn out. His main point for this picture is that the people look “natural.” There are a total of four females and one male setting around a square table in a darkened room. You can notice small details in this picture very easily. It was not successful during his lifetime but is now considered a great masterpiece.
Van Gogh also painted Sunflowers. His beautiful yellow sunflower paintings have been used over and over by many well known artists. His art work shows the yellow color and well as the brown colored sunflowers that represents death or wilting away. Each flower does show a little minor differences, however it is very hard to see and recognize. You can compare the sunflowers in the same pictures or even different paintings and its very hard to see any differences. Van Gogh describes his Sunflowers paintings as “the flow from one piece to another.” Once again, the bold and color supports his paintings. “The overall layout of the painting along with positioning of the actual sunflowers usually remains the same in the similar paintings.”
Van Gogh would use the name Vincent on his finished art work. His brother, Theo supported this idea. Theo would also support Van Gogh with letters, words of encouragement and would also send him money. A book was published entitled Dear Theo which was letters that was written to his brother. Van Gogh is described as “short,intense, yet highly creative life.”
1886 through 1889, Van Gogh painted over thirty portraits of himself. “His collection of self-portraits places him among the most prolific self-portraitists of all time. Van Gogh used portrait as a method of introspection, a method to make money and a method of developing his skills as an artist.”
He then began using more color in painting and detailing flowers,landscapes, and the outdoors. He tried using peasants as models, but could not pay the price for them. In his self portraits, he said, “I purposely bought a mirror good enough to enable me to work from my image in default of a model, because if i can manage to paint the coloring of my own head, which is not to be done without some difficulty, i shall likewise be able to paint the heads of other good souls, men and women.” Van Gogh would exchange self portraits with artist Gauguin, and artists Emile Bernard.
Most of Van Gogh's art work was paintings and sketches. However his art work also includes oil paintings , a series of lithographs, and etching. His watercolor paintings exceeds one hundred fifty. Here again, he uses the bold colors. A lot of times, he would do watercolor studies first before he would go into his paintings. As time progressed, he became more comfortable and could paint quickly with watercolor. He often used them to add color to his art work drawings. As he was into his watercolor, he wrote yet another letter to Theo. Van Gogh was twenty eight years old at this time.
“I came away from him with some painted studies and a few watercolors. They are not masterpieces, of course, yet I really believe that these is some soundness and truth in them, more at any rate than what I've done up to now. And so I reckon that i am now at the beginning of the beginning of found something serious. And because I can now call on a couple of technical resources, that is to say, paint and brush, everything seems fresh again, as it were.”
Within ten years, Van Gogh had created two thousand pieces of art work. He made a great contribution to artist. Its sad that this great artist, Vincent Van Gogh only sold one piece of art(The Red Vineyard) and that he killed himself but he leaves much expression for the love of art to many people today. Vincent Van Gogh went through so much during his lifetime but most of all he proved to himself, brother, and community that his inner character outshines the tainted image in which others view him as.




Works Cited

1. Prebles' Artforms eighth edition
2. http://www.vangoghgallery.com
3. World Book encyclopedia Search

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