Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Vincent Van Gogh - Sadness and Beauty

My Favourite Vincent Van Gogh Paintings

"I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream." Vincent Van Gogh, the pioneer of Expressionism.

I most probably will never be able to afford a Vincent Van Gogh, but I have always admired his paintings which I've used as the wallpapers on my windows desktop. I love his colours and shapes, and here are five of my favourites with a bit about Van Gogh's insane personal life.

vincent van gogh impressionist artist painter starry night red vineyard sunflowers rosesVincent Van Gogh - Starry Night, 1889

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853 and is classified as a post impressionist painter. He started out working for an art dealer, later on teaching at a boarding school in England before working in a bookshop where he used to doodle on pieces of paper. He once worked as a Christian missionary during which he chose to sleep on a bed of straw in a small hut like the poor. He ate very little and preferred not to eat meat.

vincent van gogh impressionist artist painter starry night red vineyard sunflowers rosesVincent Van Gogh's - Red Vineyard, 1888

In 1880 he finally took up art on the advice of his brother Theo. He produced all of his work, some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings, during the last ten years of his life. In the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.

vincent van gogh impressionist artist painter starry night red vineyard sunflowers rosesVincent Van Gogh - Pink and White Roses

Angry at his poverty filled lifestyle, his father once tried to get him admitted to a lunatic asylum. Vincent ran away from home to a city called Cuesmes. Later on when a woman he proposed to refused to marry him, he held his left hand in depression to the flame of a lamp, saying, "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame". In December 1888, after an argument with fellow artist Gaugin, Van Gogh cut off the lower part of his left ear with razor, wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to a prostitute, asking her to "keep this object carefully".

vincent van gogh impressionist artist painter starry night red vineyard sunflowers rosesVincent Van Gogh - Vase with 12 Sunflowers, 1888

Around six months later he admitted himself to the mental hospital at St.Remy a former monastery where he drew swirly paintings. He too to smoing and started drinking heavily. After leaving the monastry, Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Not realising that he was fatally wounded, he returned home to his bed and died two days later. He never married nor did he have any children.

vincent van gogh impressionist artist painter starry night red vineyard sunflowers rosesVincent Van Gogh's - Starry Night over the Rhone, 1888

A highly emotional person with low self confidence and a few failed romances, Vincent Van Gogh managed to sell only one painting before his death - Red Vineyard.


Tags -

7 comments:

  1. hi buddy..
    lovely paintings..
    mysteriously telling something to u..
    great work..is wat i will say

    take care

    ReplyDelete
  2. have never been able to enjoy paintings.. wonder if its an "either in you or you cant have it" kind of thing.. so i stick to reading jeffrey archer's latest book that centers around a van gogh.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Red Vineyard and Starry Night over the Rhone are absolutely breathtaking..Cool post..Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  4. hey there...
    loved the post and i have great admiration for vincent!!!

    one of the best painters with a unique style... his art just captures you, the brush strokes make every painting look like a mosiac of beauty :)

    i wrote a post on him in march... on his b'day... drop by and check it out...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely Post.... Vincent cannot help but leave one feeling melancholy -- or perhaps a melancholy state of mind leads one to the things of Vincent...... This is a truly heartfelt summary of Vincent's life. You are right, Vincent lived a pauper's life -- only selling one of his paintings during his lifetime (In fact, it was "The Red Vineyard", one of your favorites listed here). It is hard to imagine that now his paintings sell for millions of dollars... An artist ahead of his time..... But one has to wonder if his paintings could have held as much emotion if he had lived with the wealth that his paintings now bring..... Thank you for this beautiful post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. all your posts are excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since you are interested in Vincent’s life and work, you might want to look at the Notes section on www.theeyesofvangogh.com. I am the writer and director of the new independent film on his life.

    ReplyDelete

We'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below to let us know what you think!