Vincent Van Gogh - Post Impressionism

 Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist Master whose innovative artwork powerfully influenced modern Expressionism, Fauvism, and early abstraction. Astoundingly prolific, Van Gogh produced all of his work during a 10-y...ear period, at one point, creating 150 paintings and drawings within one year. Painting outdoors, Van Gogh uniquely captured the nighttime nuances of light and shadow, and was also renowned for his paintings of sunflowers and irises. Tormented by mental illness for most of his life, Van Gogh created many of his masterpieces while he was institutionalized. Although Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the most profoundly influential artists of the 19th century. Van Gogh's tumultuous friendship with Paul Gauguin literally changed art history. After living together in Arles, France, art historians believe Gauguin sliced off Vincent's ear with a sword - an act previously believed to have been performed by van Gogh himself in a fit of rage.

Vincent Van Gogh painted many trees during his short career—cypresses, mulberry and olive trees. At his own request, Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) lived in an asylum in Saint-Rémy from 1889-90, ...and while there, he completed many landscapes featuring trees. Both cypresses and olive trees were plentiful in the region, and he found each compelling for different reasons. Olive trees were representative of Provence, and, according to a letter written to his brother, they presented Van Gogh with a challenge: “They are old silver, sometimes with more blue in them, sometimes greenish, bronzed, fading white above a soil which is yellow, pink, violet tinted orange...very difficult."

After painting several compositions with cypresses, Van Gogh expanded the series at his sister Wil’s request. With these depictions of cypress trees, Van Gogh developed a method of instilling landscapes with an ethereal tone through the use of thick impasto and swirling strokes. The same frenetic brushstrokes are applied to the mulberry tree here, and they give the viewer a great sense for the movement Van Gogh saw while painting the tree.

Apple Logo Turned Into Touching Tribute to Steve Jobs

This touching logo tribute, simply named “Thanks, Steve.” was created by Jonathan Mak Long, a 19-year-old designer living in Hong Kong. Jobs’ face appears to be taken from the cover of ‘Inside Steve’s Brain’, a book about Steve Jobs written by Leander Kahney.



http://www.demilked.com/tribute-apple-logo-to-steve-jobs/

Famous Paintings: Starry Night - Posted by Susan Benford

Vincent van Gogh.  The Starry Night, June 1889.  Oil on canvas, 29" x 36 1/4".  Acquired through Lillie P. Bliss Request.  Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

Among the most famous paintings in Western art history, The Starry Night by van Gogh is a bit intimidating: it has Mona-Lisa-like recognizability, is the most famous of van Gogh paintings, and was created by an artist who, more than any other, epitomizes the tortured artist-genius-loner stereotype.  

None other than the late Thomas Hoving, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1967-1977, reacted to the public perception of van Gogh:

There is more bunk written and believed about van Gogh than any other painter of recent times. (1)
The "bunk", according to Hoving, was spawned by the 1956 Oscar-winning movie, Lust for Life, based on Irving Stone's fictionalized account of van Gogh's life.


Hoving challenges two prevalent van Gogh stories:

1. that he sold only one painting, Red Vineyard in Arles, during his lifetime. Hoving counters that van Gogh paintings did sell, so successfully, in fact, that some were forged while van Gogh was alive; and
   
2. that van Gogh committed suicide. Hoving argues that van Gogh accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun.
   

I'm mystified how and why Hollywood's version of van Gogh is more widely accepted than the truth (assuming Hoving is right, but I'm not one to bet against a past Met Director). Regardless of fact or fiction about van Gogh, Starry Night is a masterpiece, a true wonder even among famous paintings.

Vincent van Gogh.  Self-Portrait, 1889.  Oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 21 1/4".  Musee d'Orsay, Paris.

Why? Because in it, van Gogh has captured the vastness of the universe.

Starry Night pulsates with energy and opposites: it could as easily portray the creation of the world as its pending demise.
It has chaos in the skies and calmness in the village; it has roiling of the Milky Way and stillness of an imaginary town.
The cypress trees bridge the earthly and heavenly worlds.
There's so much movement in this van Gogh sky that you verge on vertigo when seeing it on site.

Anyone aspiring to be a painter should pay homage to Starry Night - as might anyone who doesn't know how powerful a masterpiece painting can be.


Explore other famous paintings by van Gogh from our archives, including Potato Eaters and van Gogh paintings at the Hermitage.
1. Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization.  Thomas Hoving, page 259.

Tags: van gogh, starry night, van gogh paintings