“Contrary to popular misconception “Wheat Field with Crows” was not Vincent van Gogh’s final painting– that distinction is more likely held by “Wheat Fields at Auvers under Clouded Sky”. This work has been the subject of intense analysis in terms of its symbolic meaning. Some interpret its ominous tone and meandering paths as a “suicide note” (Van Gogh committed suicide about three weeks after this work was completed). Others perceive the work as a turbulent but hopeful homage to nature, given that Van Gogh wrote in Letter 649 (c. 10 July 1890–precisely the same time that this work was executed) about the “health and restorative forces” he found so comforting in the countryside around Auver-sur-Oise, France. Whatever the symbolic import, “Wheat Field with Crows” remains one of Van Gogh’s most compelling and well regarded works.”
I guess we will never know for sure which, or if either of these paintings was for sure Vincent’s last artwork, but they are both beautiful.
October 25 2006 | Van Gogh's Last Work and Vincent van Gogh and Wheat Field with Crows and Wheat Fields at Auvers Under Clouded Sky | 1 Comment »
In Vincent’s letter to Theo, which is letter 596 in “The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh” Volume III, Vincent talks of sending Theo “Two studies of cypresses of that difficult bottle-green hue”… and also, later in the same letter, Vincent says “Only I have no news to tell you, for the days are all the same, I have no ideas, except to think that a field of wheat or a cypress is well worth the trouble of looking at close up, and so on.” Further down in the same letter, Vincent writes: “I think that of the two canvases of cypresses, the one I am making this sketch of will be the best. The trees in it are very big and massive. The foreground, very low with brambles and brushwood. Behind some violet hills, a green and pink sky with a crescent moon. The foreground especially is painted very thick, clumps of brambles with touches of yellow, violet and green.”
October 24 2006 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
I finished reading “What Makes a van Gogh a van Gogh” tonight. I really enjoyed it. It is a short little book, with a great deal of pictures that show excellent details of Vincent’s works. I learned that in Vincent’s “Starry Night”, the big mystery thing at the left is assumed to be Cypresses. Vincent loved Cypresses, and felt like no one could paint them the way he felt them, so he painted and drew many cypresses. After looking at several of Vincent’s paintings of Cypresses and reading “What Makes a van Gogh a van Gogh”, it does seem like the “thing” in “Starry Night” is indeed Cypresses (Muhlberger, pp. 32-37, 2002).
(Hint: If you click on the images, you can see a larger view.)
References
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Muhlberger, R (2002). What makes a van gogh a van gogh?. New York, New York: Penguin Group.
October 24 2006 | Muhlberger and Starry Night Cypresses and Vincent van Gogh and What Makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh | 1 Comment »
In the book “What makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh”, Muhlberger discusses different things about Vincent’s painting of “The Potato Eaters”. “The Potato Eaters” were actually a family named the De Groots. Vincent was friends with this family, and painted and drew several studies of them before he painted the final “The Potato Eaters” (Muhlberger, pp. 8-11, 2002).
Muhlberger goes into detail how the legs and arms of the De Groots are actually painted longer than they actually were. If you look at the painting of “The Potato Eaters”, you will see the fact that if the De Groots stood up in their tiny cottage, their heads might hit the ceiling. This was not actually how tiny their house was, but Vincent painted the De Groots this way on purpose (Muhlberger, pp. 8-11, 2002).
Muhlberger said Vincent painted the De Groots with long arms and legs, in the same way that “artists of old did with figures of saints” (Muhlberger, p. 10, 2002). With the De Groots arms and legs being extended, it would “give these kind peasants greater importance” (Muhlberger, p. 10, 2002). Vincent had a way of viewing things so much differently than the traditional way of viewing them. I’m sure, in Vincent’s mind, the De Groots were saints….
Vincent also painted the De Groots faces with as much light on them as the flame of the lamp in the painting. The rest of the room was mostly shadowed out and unimportant in Vincent’s “The Potato Eaters”, while the faces of the De Groots shone like the light of a candle. “The Potato Eaters” was considered Vincent’s first important work (Muhlberger, p. 8-11, 2002).
References
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Muhlberger, R (2002). What makes a van gogh a van gogh?. New York, New York: Penguin Group.
October 21 2006 | Painting and The Potato Eaters and Vincent van Gogh and What Makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh | 1 Comment »
