Vincent Van Gogh Art

Vincent Van GoghThe Netherlands, 1853 - 1890

Dutch painter and designer, one of three leading exponents of post-impressionism (with Cezanne and Gauguin). Suffering from acute poverty and a spiritual crisis until 1880, when he realized the art a vocation and a way to bring solace to mankind. Thereafter he worked at his new "mission" with firmness of purpose and frantic, often suffering the same setbacks of poverty and malnutrition, the artistic production of the last ten years of his life was truly prodigious. Left about 800 paintings and an equal number of drawings, the best collection of his work is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

From 1881 to 1885 he lived in Holland, sometimes with parents, now in room rent, and is maintained by devoted brother Theo, who regularly sent him a small portion of their salary. In accordance with its humanitarian point of view, the artist painted peasants and workers, and his most famous work of this period The Potato Eaters (Van Gogh Museum).

In 1885 he moved to Antwerp and studied for a few months the local academy. Academic instruction, however, had little to offer such an individualist, and in February 1886 moved to Paris where he met Pisarro, Degas, Gauguin, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. At this time his painting underwent a major metamorphosis as a result of the combined influence of Impressionism and Japanese woodcuts, losing its moralistic flavor, linked to social realism. Becoming obsessed with the symbolic and expressive colors, Van Gogh began to employ them for this purpose and not for reproduction of visual appearances, atmosphere and light, as did the Impressionists. "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes," he wrote, "use color more arbitrarily in order to express myself more forcefully."

In February 1888 van Gogh settled in Arles, where in 15 months he painted over 200 canvases. Throughout this time, without selling any painting, suffered the effects of poverty and was attacked for recurrent nervous crisis with hallucinations and depression. In May 1889 addressed to his own request for an asylum in St. Rémy, near Arles, where he continued over the years that passed there, producing works at a frenetic pace as Wheatfield with Cypresses and Night Starry. During this period, did 150 paintings besides drawings. In May 1890 he moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, in order to be close to his brother Theo that he had married in 1889. Then followed another burst of vigorous activity, and painted 70 canvases in the last 70 days of your life. The spiritual anguish and depression that afflict became more acute, and July 29, 1890 committed suicide with a shot. He sold only one painting in the course of his life, and the time of his death was unknown for most of the art world, and since then, however, his fame has multiplied quite rapidly.

In the history of painting, Van Gogh occupies a position of first order in the movement that led to the realistic optical impressionistic use of color and abstract form in symbolic and expressive values. His influence on Expressionism, Fauvism and early abstraction is almost incalculable, manifesting itself in many other aspects of twentieth century art.

The work of Van Gogh, one of the greatest masters of art history for all time, laid the foundations of twentieth-century painting. More daring than the Impressionists, the Dutch came to express their feelings through an entirely subjective reality. Difficult to classify, chronologically his work can be considered post-impressionist. Besides working in London and The Hague branch of the firm Goupil & Co. art, Van Gogh also had his father's profession, lay pastor who was in Belgium and in some cities in England. Finally, in 1880, decided to abandon their old professions and devote himself to painting, moving to Paris. There, thanks to his brother Theo, who worked as an art dealer, soon made important contacts.

By knowing the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro and other Impressionists, Van Gogh's production, hitherto gloomy and melancholy (The Potato Eaters) underwent a radical change. He had become interested by Japanese prints with their urban scenes. The Dutch painter then understood the purpose of his paintings. His palette has broadened to deafening tones that went beyond the representation of nature - rippling on the screen they expressed the state of the artist at the time of capturing them. She wore the color as a means of communication, something that would later Fauves and Expressionists to the last consequences. In 1888, Van Gogh settled in Arles, in order to closely observe the nuances of nature. A year later, Gauguin would join him, and that Theo is going to help them survive. But the temper of both the living became too difficult, and Gauguin decided to leave. The Dutch came to cut off a piece of his ear and gave it to a prostitute friend of both. At this time, his famous paintings of interiors, although one must say that Van Gogh never gave up the subject of the work in the field, one of the reasons for his admiration of Millet.

Not much time has passed, and the painter suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be admitted to a hospital for nervous patients at Saint-Remy. Nevertheless, he continued working, having painted about 200 paintings in nineteen months. Paradoxically, it was the time when he created his most admirable and brilliant: The Sunflowers and Lilies to name a few. Upon leaving the hospital, the painter knew that his painting was being evaluated in Paris. A year later he committed suicide. Today, his works reach astronomical heights in the art market.



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