Van Gogh in Provance - Essay Example

VAN GOGH IN PROVENCE Introduction Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) spent most of his painting life in Paris and Arles in Provence in the South of France. Van Gogh’s is an astonishing and poignant story of genius and struggle. Though he was not French, and despite the short time that he spent in Provence, “no other person is as strongly associated with the place” (Krohn: 18). Van Gogh was a brilliant and innovative artist, creating haunting self portraits and landscapes in which colour was used in an expressive and emotive way. The artist’s most famous works Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s Chair (1888) were painted in Provence. Unfortunately, van Gogh’s talent was mostly unrecognized during his lifetime. A tormented Vincent van Gogh took refuge in an asylum in St-Remy de Provence, painting some of his best known works there between 1889 and 1890. These included his famous Les Iris (Still Life with Iris, 1890) and Le Champs de Ble au Cypres (Yellow Cornfield, 1889) among his one hundred drawings and one hundred and fifty paintings, before he eventually committed suicide (Williams & Parnell: 46). The purpose of this paper is to examine Vincent Van Gogh’s life when he was in Provence, France. The works that the artist created while in Provence, his conditions, his lifestyle, and the environmental features that influenced his work will be discussed. Discussion Arles is a city in the South of France, in the former province of Provence. It was a major port on the Rhone River. The arrival of the railway in the nineteenth century diminished much of the river trade, resulting in the town becoming more of a backwater. The painter Vincent van Gogh, arrived in Arles, Provence after two years in Paris where he associated with artists from the impressionist school, and met Paul Gaugin (1848-1903). The main purpose of van Gogh’s move to Provence was in search of a quieter life, and to make his dreams of founding a community of artists under the leadership of Gaugin, a reality (Rathbone & Halford-Macleod: 130). Van Gogh found Arles to be an attractive destination with its Provencal landscapes and intense light and colors when he arrived there in February, 1888. During his time in Provence, he produced over three hundred paintings, water colours and drawings. Van Gogh’s drawings were made with a wide variety of tools and materials, and his subjects ranged from still life depictions to “interiors, gardens, parks, townscapes, landscapes, and seascapes to figure studies and portraits” (Walker: 25). The skill and accuracy of van Gogh’s mark making in the mature reed-pen and ink drawings of the Provencal period are amazing to view. Some of the drawings were created as studies for paintings, as seen by the color notations marked on the drawings; but a number of drawings were highly finished and were intended as independent art works in their own right. Further, gouache and watercolor were added to many drawings, hence these resemble paintings. Van Gogh’s oil paintings were created with vigorous drawing and stippling with the brush. Additionally, drawings were also made based on oil paintings to inform artist friends what the oils appeared like. Van Gogh at times focused on drawing and at other times on oil painting; but it is clear that there was a lot of overlap and interaction between the two media. Further, van Gogh experimented with various tools, inks, papers and techniques: for example “charcoal, chalk, graphite, carpenter’s pencils, reed and quill pens, aniline inks, a perspective frame, and laid and woven paper”, and milk was used as a fixative (Walker: 25). The artist worked with a burning eagerness, unhampered even by howling winds, during which time he would either kneel on his canvases and paint horizontally, or tie his easel to iron stakes that he drove deep into the ground. Among many other locations he painted the Pont de Langlois, a little re-built bridge close to Arles. Van Gogh’s paintings completed there included The Night Café, the Yellow Room, Starry Night Over the Rhone, and L’Arlesienne. Café Terrace at Night (Metmuseum) (Painted in September, 1888). “Cafe Terrace at Night, also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, was painted in Arles, France in September 1888. The style of the painting is unique for Van Gogh, with the warmth of colours and the depth of the perspective. This is the first painting in which he used starry backgrounds. He looked south towards the artificially lighted terrace of the popular coffee house as well as into the enforced darkness of the rue leading up to the building structure far back comprising the town house (to the left, not pictured) and, beyond this structure, the tower of a former church (now Musée lapidaire). Towards the right, Van Gogh indicated a shop lighted as well, and some branches of the trees surrounding the place, but he omitted the remainders of the roman monuments just aside this little shop. He continued painting star filled skies in Starry Night Over the Rhone, painted the same month, and the better known Starry Night a year later. Also, in his Portrait of Eugene Boch Van Gogh painted a starlight background” (Tracing Vincent, 2008). The Café Terrace, now Café van Gogh (October, 2003). A contemporary view of Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace, with the picture taken from the point where the artist set up his easel for creating his painting. The artist’s later technique, which was used in his works such as Starry Night and Olive Trees (1889) during the St.Remy period were indicative of pointillism. This was a postimpressionist school of painting using dots of varying sizes to increase the luminosity of paintings. This was done by “placing small dots of pure color side-by-side to produce an optical mixture in the eye, or to achieve strong hue contrasts with larger dots” (Backhaus et al: 27). The Olive Trees (Artsnet Minnesota) (Painted in 1889) The post-impressionist technique of pointillism is evident in The Olive Trees. The above painting, with its bold colors and uninhibited brushstrokes, goes beyond a depiction of olive trees. “It shows the trees as van Gogh saw them, with all the frenzied emotion they inspired in him. Van Gogh used bold colors and exaggerated lines, distorting the shape of objects in order to communicate the intensity of his thoughts and emotions. He did not sketch his scenes first, but painted directly on the canvas, applying his paint with thick, strong strokes. The branches of the trees curve and twist, the ground rolls like waves, and the sun blazes in a brilliant bright yellow. The short, powerful brushstrokes seem almost to have a life of their own. The colors were often symbolic: yellow symbolized love and light, red and green conveyed passion and conflict, blue was infinity, and grey was surrender” (Artsnet Minnesota). After a few months in Provence, van Gogh rented a small house on place Lamartine to be the home of his new community of artists that he was planning to develop. This was referred to as The Yellow House because of its appearance when it reflected the brilliant light of the sun. The Yellow House at Arles (Tracing Vincent, 2008) (Composed in September, 1888). “The title of this work refers to the right wing of the building next to the spectators. Place Lamartine, Arles, was the house where, on May 1, 1888, Van Gogh rented four rooms, two large ones on the ground floor to serve as atelier and kitchen and, on the first floor, two smaller ones facing Place Lamartine” (Tracing Vincent, 2008). In the painting Yellow House at Arles the wonder and delight of the painter is readily perceptible. The incredible, all-penetrating radiance of the Midi reflecting brilliantly from red-tiled roofs and white walls, and the tremendous orchestration of light and colour conveyed as a harmonious picture, with the contrasting effect of a darkened sky. Van Gogh once asserted that colour spoke for itself, and proved his statement with his use of color in unusual, yet appealing harmonies (Breuning: 9). Across the street from the Yellow House was the public garden. Van Gogh’s painting Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles, dated between August and October 1888 was created by him, using his view of the garden’s entrance from his house. This was carried out when the artist was eagerly waiting for the arrival of Gaugin and for the start of their artistic collaboration. “It was a period of great activity for van Gogh, as he worked at paintings intended as decorations for the Yellow House” (Rathbone & Halford-Macleod: 130). Among them were paintings he made of the public gardens, out of which The Poet’s Garden series were created for Gaugin’s bedroom. They contained symbolic indications of the collaborative relationship that van Gogh hoped to have with Gaugin. Other paintings of the gardens such as Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles, focused on their more prosaic aspects. The figure wearing a straw hat is seen in a number of the artist’s paintings during this period and is believed to be a self portrait. Van Gogh also wrote several letters, many of them deeply insightful examinations of Provence, of himself, and his artistic conceptions (Krohn: 18). Besides the extensive productivity, the actual source of awe is the commanding stature of the works. It is a challenge to think of any group of paintings as wondrous as van Gogh’s canvases from the South of France. It appears from the paintings from Provence that the brilliance of the South helped van Gogh to develop his artistic skills and to flower magnificently in his art. He beheld the rural vistas, and at the faces of the people around him, and responded with paintings of great emotional force, using his formidable artistic skills. The effect of the tempestuous Mistral wind on the writhing cypress trees were realistic depictions, to portray the intensity of the wind that was a unique feature of the area (Lloyd, 2008: 19). Similarly, when he painted olive trees, he did not attempt to portray a literal representation of the particular type of tree or group of trees, but the essence of growth itself. He sought to find the profound significance that lay beneath the ephemeral appearance of things. The evangelist and the artist that he was made up of, were mutually co-existing within him. He achieves the realization of his emotional experience through his art. The artist created a personal visual universe using the strong light and the vivid hues of the place as tools to develop a distinctive language of expression through art. “Almost overwhelmed by the brilliant light of the South, he increases his use of yellow so that his canvases glow with an intense luminosity” (Breuning: 9). Examples of the artist’s use of color is seen in Self Portrait that was painted at this time, with its opposing and complementary colors, greens and reds set deliberately against each other, and the intense vitality of Sunflowers which was also of the same period, conveying a sense of the exuberance and bounty of nature. At Arles, he occassionally adopts the technique of Gaugin as in The Zouave, with its areas of flat colours and gleaming surfaces. Looking closely at van Gogh’s paintings from Provence, Krohn (p.18) states that “one is struck by the flowing and powerful force of the design, and by the thick, almost sculptural application of paint: van Gogh was driven to record as authentically as possible a spiritual experience, this preternatural radiance of the South and his interaction with it”. The source of his inspiration and the scene of his ultimate achievement was Provence. The powerful expressions revealed in his paintings appear to have been increased by the emotional turbulence of growing psychological difficulties. Van Gogh loved the clarity and graphic intensity of the South of France, and his sense of pleasure and challenge of working in Provence he conveyed through detailed descriptions in his letters. He described the colors in nature as exquisite, the rich green of fresh leaves was unique, and not to be found in the North, where leaf green was of a quieter hue. Even when the landscape became scorched and dusty, it did not lose its beauty, for then the landscape “gets tones of gold of various tints, green-gold, yellow-gold, pink-gold, and in the same way bronze, copper”. In short, starting from citron yellow through till a dull, dark yellow color similar to a heap of threshed corn. He exulted in the combination of the yellow tones with those of blue, from the “deepest royal blue of the water to the blue of the forget-me-nots, cobalt, particularly clear, bright blue, green blue and violet blue” (Krohn: 19). Moreover, the beauty of the orange colour he described as an inspiration from a sunburned face, for example; and the many yellow hues tend to emphasize the violet tones of a cane fence, a grey thatched roof, or a dug-up field, which as he conveyed in his letters, made a more violet impression than back home in Holland. However, the mistrals or dry, cold, northerly winds which blow in squalls sets people on edge. But once the winds cease, the compensation was worth while, because of the intensity of color, the purity of the air, and the vibrant serenity. Van Gogh’s friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin came to stay with him for several months in Arles, Provence in 1888. But their different temperaments and approaches to art soon led to disagreements. Van Gogh’s mental health deteriorated and he became increasingly eccentric; this culminated in his severing his left ear in December, 1888. It is worth noting that at present Arles does not have a single painting from van Gogh’s incredibly productive stay in the area. Williams et al (p.803) believe that there is poetic justice to this, since the town was barely kind to van Gogh during his stay. When he was recovering from his first mental attack, during which he had threatened his housemate Paul Gaugin with a sharp razor, before using it to slice off part of his left ear, the Arlesians did not treat his condition with sympathy. Instead, they raised a petition towards getting van Gogh confined, which led to his house being sealed, and the artist being locked up for a month on the mayor’s orders. Subsequently, in May 1889, the artist himself left Arles for the asylum at nearby St. Remy-de-Provence which is twenty-five kilometres north-east of Arles over the Alpilles. He continued to paint and add extensively to his collection of works during his year’s stay there. One of van Gogh’s most moving pictures is of the corridor of this asylum at St.Remy. The anguish of the shattered minds that are housed within the walls of the asylum are depicted symbolically through the lines of the architecture, the nature of the somber light, and sinister linear rhythms. The impression of agony was forcefully given by the artist to the depiction in the picture. He was eventually allowed to leave the hospital, with a great improvement in his health, and he hoped for complete recovery. A brief period of tranquility followed (Breuning: 11). In 1890, while staying in Auvers-sur-Oise, he felt that he preferred to be remembered as he was, which he conveyed to his brother. “Van Gogh who was lonely, despairing, and afraid that his madness was incurable, shot and killed himself” (Williams et al: 803). His last painting Cornfield is a dramatic expression of the hopelessness and defeat that he was feeling, and was an ominous indication of approaching disaster, due to which the painting is difficult to view (Breuning: 11). Conclusion This paper has highlighted Vincent Van Gogh’s life when he was in Provence, France. The works that the artist created while in Provence, the unique qualities of nature characterized by luminous brightness and rich colors in the South of France that influenced his work were examined, his lifestyle and passion for creating his artistic works, and finally his attacks of mental illness and subsequent decline towards taking his own life were discussed. Van Gogh was passionately committed to understanding and recording his experiences of nature and to find the transcendant meaning of the radiant light of the Midi. Krohn (p.20) believes that any inquiry into the nature of beauty is a noble enterprise. Most pilgrims who travel in this pursuit, discover that the investigation and the inward journey form the greatest rewards. The discussion of the life and powerful works of the artist van Gogh help to get insights into the artist dedicated to his work but was unable to find relief from his tormenting mental condition. His tremendous artistic productivity within a short span of time is remarkable, taking into account the high quality and commanding stature of his works. References ArtsNet Minnesota. Vincent van Gogh: Olive Trees. Available at: http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/environ/vangogh.html Backhaus, Werner, Kliegl, Reinhold & Werner, John S. Colour Vision. New York: Walter de Gruyter. 1998. Breuning, Margaret. Vincent van Gogh. Parnassus, 7.6 (1935): 7-11. Krohn, Don. In the South of France. New York: David R. Godine Publishers. 1999. Metmuseum. Vincent van Gogh: Café Terrace at Night. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/store/st_beautyShop_Page.asp/familyID/%7BC7962678-6E61-44FA-8429-8A4BB961800E%7D/FromPage//catID/%7B64E7905E-12C6-4B4F-A23A-1D66F23153C6%7D/familyNo//callFromRelViewer//SpecialPermFlag//FromSearch//tablename/GeneralStorePF Rathbone, Eliza E. & Halford-Macleod, Johanna. Art beyond ISMS. The United States of America: Third Millennium Publishing. 2002. Tracing Vincent. The Yellow House. Landscapes: Vincent van Gogh. Available at: http://www.tracingvincent.com/paintings/yellow-house Walker, John A. Review of Lloyd, Jill. Vincent van Gogh and expressionism. The Art Book, 15.2 (2008): 19-20. Walker, John A. Review of Van Gogh: the master draughtsman. Heugten, Sjraar, V., Vellekoop, Marije & Zwikker, Rolie. The Art Book, 13.1 (2006): 25-26. Williams, Nicola, Berry, Oliver & Fallon, Steve. France. The United States of America: Lonely Planet Publishers. 2005. Williams, Nicola & Parnells, Fran. Provence & the Cote d’Azur. The United States of America: Lonely Planet Publishers. 2005. Read More