Vincent Van Gogh: Life and Works - Term Paper Example

Vincent Van Gogh: Life and Works In this paper I would like to analyze the life and works of outstanding artist Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), is Dutch painter. He was born March 30, 1853 in Netherlands in a family of Calvinist priest. Three uncles of Vincent traded works of art. By their example and under their influence in 1869, he joined the company, “Goupil”, to sell the paintings, and worked in its offices in the Hague, London and Paris, while in 1876, he was fired because of incompetence. In 1877, Van Gogh arrived to Amsterdam to study theology, but failed the exam; he entered the missionary school in Brussels and became a preacher in Borinazhe, the mining district of Belgium. During this time he began to draw. Van Gogh held the winter of 1880-1881 in Brussels, where he studied anatomy and perspective. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Theo went to the department of “Goupil” in Paris. Vincent received from him not only a modest content, but also moral support, despite their frequent differences of their opinions. At the end of 1881 after a quarrel with his father, Van Gogh went to the Hague. For a time he studied at prominent landscape painter Anton Mauve. Van Gogh's eccentric behavior which was compounded by shyness, pushed away those who wanted to help him. He lived with a woman named Christina, who was from the lower strata of society, and he often depicted her on his paintings. When she left him, an artist in late 1883 returned to his parents, which lived in Nuenen. In that period (1883-1885) he began to show the originality of his creative manner. The master wrote with dark colors, subjects of his work were monotonous, they felt sympathy for the peasants and compassion for their hard life. The first large painting, created in nyuenensky period – “Potato Eaters” - depicts the peasants at dinner. Van Gogh went to Antwerp in 1885-1886. He attended classes at the Art Academy. The artist led a meager and half-starved existence. In February 1886, in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, he moved from Antwerp to his brother in Paris. Van Gogh entered the artist and academics Fernand Cormon studio, but more importantly for him was to become acquainted with the painting of the Impressionists. After two years, which he spent in Paris, Van Gogh could not bear the strong emotional stress; in February 1888 he went to Arles. In this Southern French city, he found an abundance of rural scenes which he liked so much. In the summer of 1888 the artist created some of his most tranquil works. Van Gogh lived in solitude, eating only bread and coffee, and drank a lot. In these circumstances, the visit of Paul Gauguin in October 1888, which Van Gogh was waiting impatiently, has ended tragically. Gauguin’s Aesthetic Philosophy was not acceptable to Van Gogh; their disputes became more intense and fiercer. On 24 of December, Van Gogh, lost the ability to control himself, pounced on Paul Gauguin, and then cut off his ear. In May of 1889 he stayed in a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Remy voluntarily. Over the next year his mind cleared from time to time, and then he threw himself to write, but those periods were followed by depression and lethargy. During this time he wrote the famous landscapes of cypress and olive trees, still lives with flowers and pictures and he copied his favorite artists Millet and Delacroix from reproductions. In May of 1890 Van Gogh felt better, left the shelter and returned to the north, he settled in Auvers-sur-Oise at Dr. Paul Gachet, who was interested in art and psychiatry. In Auvers artist wrote his last works - two portraits of Dr. Gachet, the scenery of wheat fields under the hot disturbing sky, in which he tried to express ‘sadness and extreme loneliness.’ Finally, Vincent Van Gogh died on July 27, 1890. I think that I will not be wrong if we call Starry Night of Van Gogh the most popular canvas. This picture is recognized instantly. Its style is unique. Starry night inspires poets and the books are being written about it. It is embodied in the electronic media. Everyone is familiar with Don MacLean song “Vincent” or “Starry, starry night.” Nowadays nobody mind about popularity of Starry Night. The writer says about this work surprisingly small. In letters to his brother Vincent often exhaustively discussed some canvas, however, the Starry Night, he mentioned only twice (in letters 595 and 607). Van Gogh wrote Starry Night at the hospital of Saint-Remy. At that time he acted spontaneously and unpredictably. The most severe bouts of madness plagued him. In contrast to most other paintings, Starry Night was written from memory. In this case, Vincent walked away from his habit of working in nature. It is possible that special emotional canvas richness, in comparison with other works from the same period, partly due to forced retreat of the author. Some experts draw a parallel with another well-known canvas by Van Gogh which features the same riot - Crows in a wheat field. Is the assumption true that the style of both works reflect the own state of Vincent, tormented by cruel disease? Is there any hidden meaning in the spiral curl of storming night sky? Due to the special nuances, Starry Night is not only one of the most popular works by the artist, but also the most often discussed. There are many attempts to interpret the picture in terms of its significance and importance in the life of Vincent. Another topic for discussion - the eleven stars. In 1889, Vincent was no longer a supporter of the theological teachings. Despite this, one can not exclude the likelihood that the composition of this work was influenced by the Old Testament tale of Joseph. “Listen, I once had a dream - he said. - It was the sun and moon and eleven stars all bowing to me.” The book of Genesis 37:9. This famous painting by Van Gogh demonstrates the tremendous power of the artist and his unique individual style of writing, his special vision of the world. The picture was painted in the hospital of Saint-Remy in June 1889. By this time, Van Gogh walked away from the conventional Christian faith, but he said: “I still have a passionate need in religion. So I went out at night from home and began to paint the stars.” (Hammacher, 1985). Imagining of the moonlight scenes has a long tradition of Dutch painting, but no artist has written the night sky with such trepidation in front of the greatness and incomprehensibility of the universe before Van Gogh. The sky, stars and crescent moon are moving in one ecstatic wave-like rhythm. Despite the fact that the painting conveys the artist's sense of overwhelming, this written is not spontaneous, but carefully assembled. The starry sky is framed by trees and it balances the composition. The stars are increased deliberately, they are huge and they are surrounded by flickering light, which creates a sense of rotation in the fathomless depths of the universe. Pulsing crescent that has its place in the upper right corner of the painting, radiating so much light that it seems more like the sun. Cypress trees on the left side of the picture, stretching toward the sky like the flames, but the dark color gives weight to them, lands them, making sense of celestial bodies motion, they do not overload the whole picture. Spiral whorls of light sweeping across the sky, creating a stylized image of the galaxy. Discussing another painting it is necessary to mention that the skull is an allusion to the illusory nature of existence in European painting. Artists have used this image that would emphasize the transience of life, to give the audience too much a reminder of death and temporarily presence on the Earth. The skull could be reminder not only death, but also decay, aging. Fashion for decadence on the one hand has brought sustained attention to the death, on the other hand the search for new forms of allusions, against the refusal of the old traditional way. At the same time psychologists researches in the field of optical illusions are becoming popular (Pickvance, 1974). I can say that Skull with Burning Cigarette of Van Gogh is the most horrible work from the Antwerp period. This canvas he painted from a skeleton in an anatomy class when he studied art. This picture was painted when Vincent did not enjoy his good health. At that time he had a stomach disease and tooth decay. Therefore, the picture may reflect the experiences of the artist - about his own health, his defiance against the non-stable health. This picture may have been written under the influence of terrible products that were created by Belgian artist Félicien Rops. However, it can be Hercules Segers influenced Van Gogh. He was his Dutch compatriot of 17th century and he created anxiety of the scull too. From the Vincent point of view a skull with a cigarette is a sinister image, which is painted with a terrible irony, the real challenge of death. The canvas sprays a powerful, almost satanic glee. Interpretation of the author based on an unusual character of the canvas. The artist tried to combine incompatible: the skull smoking, taunting the audience. Painting, according to Perruchot should produce (and makes) the exciting frightfulness (Wilkin, 2005). The same canvas is interpreted by other authors, who have pictorial realities: Van Gogh just laughed custom art school in Antwerp, where the skeleton was a necessary requisite of anatomical studies. Skull compresses the cigarette between his teeth, and this gives it a grotesque-comic character (Dorn and Keyes, 2000). This interpretation is based on a real, life context. It turns out that the motive of creating the painting is easier, and it should not perform, according to the artist, an awesome effect. The artist just introduced a kind of caricature of the art school manners, made fun of its absurd, in his view of tradition. In conclusion, I should say that I choose this artist because of the main component of art by Van Gogh that is animation and humanization. It is necessary to add that every element of the universe in his eyes is significant and beautiful only when it gains the ability to feel. Thus, Van Gogh’s outstanding talent will never leave somebody disinterested. Works cited: Bailey, Martin. “Drama at Arles new light on Van Gogh's self-mutilation”. Apollo, September 2005. Chrisafis, Angelique. “Art Historians Claim Van Gogh's ear 'Cut Off by Gauguin.” The Guardian, May 4, 2009. Dorn, Roland and Keyes, George S. Van Gogh Face to Face — The Portraits (exh. cat). Detroit, Boston & Philadelphia, 2000–01, Thames & Hudson, London & New York, 2000. Hammacher, A.M. Vincent van Gogh: Genius and Disaster. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1985. Pickvance, Ronald. English Influences on Vincent van Gogh (exh. catalogue University of Nottingham & alt. 1974/75). London: Arts Council, 1974. Wilkin, Karen. “A Flesh Look at Van Gogh.” New Criterion, Vol. 24, December 2005. Read More