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