Artistic Study: Vincent Van Gogh

I remember I first came to understand the artwork of Vincent van Gogh while I was in college. It was my roommate P-Rod who put a poster of the famous painting Cafe Terrace at Night in our living room. I wasn't too familiar with art at that time, but I thought the image had such a soothing appeal to it. It had a blurry mysterious quality to it, amidst a starry night, with people sitting outside a restaurant, while others walked in the cobblestone streets. I just loved this blurry style that I later came to understand as impressionism. I then became familiar with van Gogh's other famous works such as the iconic Starry Night, and my all time favorite Starry Night over the Rhone (I had this painting as a desktop wallpaper for a good portion of my junior year in college).

When I look at his paintings I see such a surreal illusionary image that is almost like a dream. It's like being in an altered state or subconscious where you see something, but it's not entirely clear what you see. In using the art form of impressionism (or post-impressionism) Van Gogh applies a brush stroke technique that creates a broken image with gaps in it. While it seems messy and incomplete it enhances the artistic quality with a cryptic style. After all by this point in history, the visual arts had outgrown the simplicity of clear beautiful painting. It had now become a subjective form of interpretation, where a painter could create a beautiful image with a unique technical application of the colors.

As I wrote in my previous study of the evolution of western art, this recent phase was brought on by a trip to the Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Furthermore I just watched the film, At Eternity's Gate (2018), starring William DeFoe as the Dutch artist living in Arles, France. Although the actor DeFoe was much older than van Gogh at the time, I thought the portrayal of his insanity was quite insightful. We've always known that infamous story of van Gogh cutting off his ear, but what was the true purpose behind it? In looking at his many portraits and even many of his paintings, it's clear to see that van Gogh suffered from mental illness. He did not achieve any fame or glory during his lifetime, but I believe it's due to his brief and troubled life that his artwork has now been celebrated as masterful. 

Early Life as a Wanderer

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853 in the small town of Groot-Zuendert, Netherlands. His father was a Christian minister while his mother came from a wealthy family. As a child van Gogh displayed a serious, intelligent, and unhappy personality where he developed an interest in art.. encouraged by his mother, this appreciation for art was clearly omnipresent in the family as Vincent's 3 brothers would also later become art dealers. In 1869 the teenager Vincent found work at an art gallery in the Hague where he began studying and applying the craft. He displayed great skill and was soon collecting some profit on his works. However he later suffered heartbreak and became more isolated and withdrawn. 

In his early 20s he traveled various towns of Holland, England, and Paris working various jobs as a teacher, painting, or at a bookstore. He became very religious, studying the bible intensly, did not eat meat, and made plans to become a minister like his father. In 1877 He attended the University of Amsterdam to study theology, however he failed his exams. He then once again traveled across Europe as a wanderer looking for various religious posts but eventually returned home to his parents for several years. Vincent had begun to show signs of mental illness at this point, and his parents felt he should be committed to an insane asylum.  

Life as a Painter

In the fall of 1880 van Gogh returned to the town of Cuesmes, where he decided to become a fulltime painter, with the support of his brother Theo. Vincent studied under Dutch painter Willem Roelofs and later enrolled at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium. During this time he once again grew infatuated with a woman, his cousin who rejected his overly persistent approach. He then spent time with his other cousin, Anton Mauve, who had become an established painter in the Hague. Van Gogh learned alot from Mauve, including new painting styles of charcoal, pastels, watercolor, and oil techniques. Vincent soon however cut ties with his cousin Mauve, due to various disagreements and he began to date a prostitute for some time.

However once again due to poverty, heartbreak, and depression he returned to his parents in 1883, who were living in the Dutch town of Nuenen. With funding from his parents, Vincent was able to fully focus on his paintings and completed one of his first notable works The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen. He fell in love with a neighbor briefly, but once again his parents did not approve of the relationship. Vincent's father died in 1885 of a heart attack. He then began a new phase of still-life and peasant depictions using dark watercolor undertones. He sold some of his first works that year including the Potato Eaters, Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, and Head of an Old Farmer's Wife in a White Hat.    

He then moved to Antwerp, funded by his brother Theo, where he continued life as a struggling impoverished painter. His diet consisted mostly of alcohol, tobacco, bread, and coffee. While in Antwerpt van Gogh developed a newer appreciation of colors and would spend time in museums studying the work of Peter Paul Rubens. Van Gogh also became fascinated with Eastern Japanese art and their use of woodblock prints. He studied briefly at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp however quickly clashed with the art instructors.   

In Paris during the Bella Epoque

In 1886 he moved in with his brother Theo in the Parisian art district of Montmartre. Vincent began painting portraits of friends and local Parisians as well as a more colorful and brighter style of still-lifes and urban landscapes. He amassed a great collection of Japanese art and demonstrated an original style of Japanese influenced impressionist art, which he described as Japonaiserie. Van Gogh's painting of the Courtesan after Eisen (1887) was his finest example of this Japanese woodblock artform also known as ukiyo-e. 

During this Bella Époque of Paris he joined the circle of many famous artists such as Australian John Russell, Emile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and one of his closest friends Paul Gaugin. He joined these artists in the new artistic movement of post-impressionism and pointillism. During his two years in Paris, van Gogh painted over 200 works. However while he had received admiration among the artist community, including the elder Camille Pissarro, he still had yet to achieve any financial success from his works. In 1888 he decided to change scenes to move from an urban setting to a rural setting in southern France.

Arles: His greatest works

Encouraged by his friend Paul Gaugin, Vincent decided to move to the coastal city of Arles, France. Here he experienced his greatest inspiration yet in this far off rural land with sweeping landscapes of rivers, hills, and forests. He painted with newer vibrant styles of light and colors depicting the French countryside. Van Gogh sought to create a community of artists in this southern district and encouraged his best friend Gaugin to join him. Paul eventually joined him for nine weeks at an art studio they described as the Yellow House. In anticipation of this visit Van Gogh painted various works of sunflower still-lifes which was a favorite theme of Gaugin.

During Gaugin's visit in the fall of 1888 Van Gogh painted some of his most famous works including the Bedroom in Arles, the Night Cafe, Cafe Terrace at Night, Starry Night over the Rhone, and the Still Life Vase with Twelve Sunflowers. Van Gogh admired Gaugin greatly and had hoped that he would stay in Arles indefinitely. However Gaugin was a more established painter and had a greater ego then Van Gogh. Soon the two began quarreling over paint techniques and Gaugin's growing boredom with the town. Van Gogh began to display panic outbreaks, bouts of schizophrenia, and mental collapses due to their various disagreements.

In what is regarded as his most infamous panic attack, Van Gogh decided to cut off his ear with a razor in December of 1888. He then bandaged the wound and presented the cut ear to a prostitute, asking her to deliver to Gaugin. While the stories are often unclear, it seems Van Gogh had experienced a mental breakdown and committed this self-inflicting harm, to change Gaugin's mind of leaving. Gaugin did not visit Van Gogh in the hospital and left the town of Arles shortly after. While in the hospital van Gogh painted his famous Self Portrait with the Bandaged Ear. When he finally left the hospital his mental state continued to weaken with continuous bouts of hallucinations and schizophrenia. After meeting with a doctor he voluntarily decided to enter an insane asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence. 

Insane Asylum and Death

In May of 1889 Van Gogh committed himself to the Saint Paul Asylum in Saint-Remy de Provence (on the outskirts of Arles). While in this institution he continued various great artworks depicting the gardens and his view from his window. It was in the summer of 1889 that he completed his famous masterpiece The Starry Night. A beautiful mysterious image that clearly depicts Van Gogh's darker and maddening state. During this time his subject material was limited and he adapted the works of others such as his revisioning of Gustave Dore's illustration Prisoner's Round as well as variations to his portrait of L'Arlesienne (depicting the owner of the Arles Cafe van Gogh would frequently visit).

By 1890 Van Gogh had finally begun to receive some public acknowledge of his works and was even welcomed to a new avant-garde circle of painters from Brussels. He left the insane asylum and moved to the town of Auvers-sur-Oise (on the outskirts of Paris) seeking fresh air. He lived near the psychiatrist Dr. Paul Gachet whom frequently treated Van Gogh. Gachet was an admirer of Van Gogh's work and was later the subject of a famous portrait. In his final weeks in Auvers his paintings began to reflect his older memories of Dutch life and landscape. His painting of the Church at Auvers was another famous painting of this time. 

He began to write letters to his brother Theo, that described his growing depression, loneliness, and hopelessness. At that point it became clear that his end was near, as he even stated in a letter that "the prospect grows darker, and I see no happy future at all". On July 27th, 1890 Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver while painting in a field. He was able to walk back to the inn he was staying at, however quickly needed medical attention. His friend Dr. Gachet was there that night to provide surgical care. The next morning Vincent's brother Theo arrived, and the two shared some encouraging conversation. However Van Gogh's condition quickly began to worsen and he died the following day on July 29th. His final words were "The sadness will last forever".   

Van Gogh's Most Famous Paintings

• The Potato Eaters (1985)
• Skull of a Skelton with Burning Cigarette (1886)
• Self Portrait (1887)
• 
  Sunflower Series (1888)
• The Cafe Terrace at Night (1888)
  
• The Bedroom (1888)
• The Night Cafe (1888)
• Starry Night over the Rhone (1888)
• The Red Vineyard (1888)
• The Yellow House (1888)
• Fishing Boats on the Beach (1888)
• Van Gogh's Chair (1888)
• L'Arlesienne series (1888-1889)
• Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889)
• The Starry Night (1889)
• Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889)
• Saint Paul Asylun, Saint Remy (1889)
• Ward in the Hospital (1889)
• Prisoners' Round (1890)
• Church at Auvers (1890)
• Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890)