Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings made during Vincent van Gogh's early artistic career. Most still lifes made in the Netherlands are dated from 1884 to 1885, when he lived in Nuenen. His works were often in somber colors. Van Gogh experimented with the use of light falling across objects.
The next two years (1886–1887), transformed the subjects, color and techniques that van Gogh used in creating still life paintings. In Paris he painted many still life paintings of flowers, experimenting with color, light and techniques he learned from modern artists.
Van Gogh moved to Nuenen in 1884 where he lived for two years. [1] Upon van Gogh's arrival, a studio was made for him from a laundry room at the back of his parents' home. Vincent's father, Reverend van Gogh wrote to his son Theo: "We do not think it’s really suitable, but we have had a proper stove installed... I wanted to put in a large window as well, but he prefers not to have one." [2] During that time he completed numerous drawings and watercolors and nearly 200 oil paintings. [1]
In November 1884, van Gogh taught some friends from Eindhoven, a large town near Nuenen, to paint inanimate objects in oil. Van Gogh, in his enthusiasm, created a series of still life paintings of bottles, bowls and pots and other objects. [3] When van Gogh created still life paintings he was able to explore light and its effect on colors. A close-up of the bottle in Still Life with Straw Hat reveals that way in which van Gogh used varying shades of the same color to depict how light would fall, or be shaded, in the everyday items he painted from home or the garden. [4]
His palette consisted mainly of dark earth tones, particularly dark brown, and he showed no sign of developing the vivid coloration that distinguishes his later, best known work. When van Gogh complained to his brother Theo van Gogh (art dealer) that he was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo replied that they were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings. [1]
Van Gogh found three students who took painting classes from him. Anton Kerssemakers, a tanner of about 40 years of age, who had money and time to pursue painting, promised to make 30 paintings over the winter. He met Kerssemakers on a trip to Gennep that resulted in van Gogh's three paintings of the Water Mill at Gennep. There was also two people he called "the Hermanns" who took lessons, but weren't as intensely interested as Anton. Van Gogh said in a letter to his brother Theo that he was not looking to receive payment in money, rather he'd prefer to be rewarded by providing him tubes of paint. [5]
Van Gogh did not live at the parsonage the entire time he was in Nuenen. For a time he lived with a priest and was rumored to have become involved with the priest's servant that resulted in a pregnancy. The priest condemned van Gogh for the rumored activity and many people within the village felt he was guilty.
Van Gogh wrote in September 1885, "That affair with the priest has not given me any more trouble. But of course there will always be God-fearing natives in the village who will persist in suspecting me, for one thing is sure, namely that the priest would only too gladly throw the whole blame of that affair on me. However, as I am quite innocent, the gossip from that quarter leaves me perfectly indifferent; as long as they don't bother me in my painting. I don't take any notice of it whatever. With the peasants to whom the accident happened, where I often used to paint, I have remained on good terms, and I am as welcome in their home as I used to be." [6]
Van Gogh and his brother Theo exchanged letters about Vincent's propensity to use dark colors and the amount of black in his paintings. Theo was unable to sell any of his work and encouraged Vincent to explore creating work that is lighter in mood and shade.
In mid-October 1885, Vincent responded that the use of dark colors were more realistic and mature, "I am writing you rather a long letter – though perhaps you may not believe what I say about the colours, and though you may find me pessimistic when I say that much of what is called delicate grey is a very ugly grey; though you may find me pessimistic or worse when I also disapprove of the smooth polishing of faces, hands and eyes, because the great masters all worked in quite a different way, perhaps by and by your own study of art, which I am glad you took up again thoroughly, will change you too." [7]
Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles (F53) was one of several still life paintings that van Gogh made while exploring the still life genre. In 1884, van Gogh taught painting to a small group of people in nearby Eindhoven. Van Gogh experimented with the use of contrasting colors to intensify the impact of his paintings. In this case he paired the green of the bottles against a reddish-brown earthenware pot. The painting is set against a dark background with the effect of making the inside of the bowl made in muted colors appear white. [8]
Van Gogh lived with his parents in Nuenen in 1884 and 1885 when the still life paintings were made. Behind the vicarage was a large enclosed yard with vegetable plots and a small orchard. Van Gogh made many paintings of the resulting produce, such as potatoes, cabbages, and apples. [9]
The Van Gogh Museum describes van Gogh's Baskets of Potatoes (F100) as follows: a "dark still life is a tonal exercise; that is, a study of the effects which can be achieved using varying shades of a limited number of colors." Van Gogh's intention was to create a realistic portrayal of the basket of potatoes. [10] In a letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote: "You will receive a big still life of potatoes, in which I tried to get corps, I mean, to express the material in such a way that they become heavy, solid lumps – which would hurt you if they were thrown at you, for instance." [6]
Van Gogh painted five paintings of birds' nests in October 1885. According to van Gogh's friend Anton Kerssemakers, he had "no less than 30 different birds' nests" in his studio, collected from his walks or purchased from children for roughly 10 cents per nest. For the more elaborate nests, such as the two ball-shaped wrens' nests in the top right of the Still Life with Birds' Nests (F111) painting, van Gogh would pay more. The Van Gogh Museum comments: "The relatively light foreground and background of the canvas was probably applied a couple of years later. By then Van Gogh had come into contact with the bright colors of the Impressionists during his time in Paris, and he seems to have found the dark background too somber." [11]
Early September 1885, Van Gogh wrote: "I am now busy painting still lifes of my birds' nests, four of which are finished; I think some people who are good observers of nature might like them because of the colors of the moss, the dry leaves and the grasses." With a Bird's Nest sketch (Sketch F425, JH 943), van Gogh commented in the same letter of his tender feelings for nests of birds and people: "When winter comes (when I have more time for it) I shall make more drawings of this kind of thing. La nichée et les nids [the nestlings and the nests], I feel deeply for them – especially people's nests, those huts on the heath and their inhabitants." [6] [12]
Vincent van Gogh made a painting of his father's Dutch Authorized Bible in Still Life with Bible (F117) months after his father, Theodorus' sudden death in March 1885. The Bible symbolizes his father's faith, which Van Gogh felt was too conventional and made for a strict view of life. Isaiah 53 is the passage identified on the open page, which foretells the coming of the Messiah who will not be recognized. Representing himself is Émile Zola's novel La Joie de vivre (English: The Joy of Living), which van Gogh saw as a "Bible for modern life", placing it next to his father's Bible in the painting. The burned out candle could symbolize van Gogh's father's death or it could represent Vincent's disenchantment with traditional faith. [13]
Still-Life with Straw Hat and another painting of this period, Still-life with Earthen Pot and Clogs, are regarded by critics and writers for their technical mastery. Both are characterized by smooth, meticulous brushwork and fine shading of colors. [14]
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterized by bold colors and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was beginning to gain critical attention before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
The Van Gogh Museum is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on 2 June 1973, and its buildings were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa.
The Potato Eaters is an oil painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh painted in April 1885 in Nuenen, Netherlands.
Vincent van Gogh lived during the Impressionist era. With the development of photography, painters and artists turned to conveying the feeling and ideas behind people, places, and things rather than trying to imitate their physical forms. Impressionist artists did this by emphasizing certain hues, using vigorous brushstrokes, and paying attention to highlighting. Vincent van Gogh implemented this ideology to pursue his goal of depicting his own feelings toward and involvement with his subjects. Van Gogh's portraiture focuses on color and brushstrokes to demonstrate their inner qualities and Van Gogh's own relationship with them.
Le Moulin de la Galette is the title of several paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 of a windmill, the Moulin de la Galette, which was near Van Gogh and his brother Theo's apartment in Montmartre. The owners of the windmill maximized the view on the butte overlooking Paris, creating a terrace for viewing and a dance hall for entertainment.
Cottages is a subject of paintings created by Vincent van Gogh from 1883 and 1885. This is related to the Peasant Character Studies that Van Gogh worked on during the same time period.
Still Life with Straw Hat also known as Still Life with Yellow Straw Hat and Still Life with Hat and Pipe was painted by Vincent van Gogh in late November - mid-December 1881 or possibly in 1885 in the town of Nuenen.
Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. The wheat field works demonstrate his progression as an artist from the drab Wheat Sheaves made in 1885 in the Netherlands to the colorful and dramatic 1888–1890 paintings from Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise in rural France.
Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy is a collection of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made when he was a self-admitted patient at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, since renamed the Clinique Van Gogh, from May 1889 until May 1890. During much of his stay there he was confined to the grounds of the asylum, and he made paintings of the garden, the enclosed wheat field that he could see outside his room and a few portraits of individuals at the asylum. During his stay at Saint-Paul asylum, Van Gogh experienced periods of illness when he could not paint. When he was able to resume, painting provided solace and meaning for him. Nature seemed especially meaningful to him, trees, the landscape, even caterpillars as representative of the opportunity for transformation and budding flowers symbolizing the cycle of life. One of the more recognizable works of this period is The Irises. Works of the interior of the hospital convey the isolation and sadness that he felt. From the window of his cell he saw an enclosed wheat field, the subject of many paintings made from his room. He was able to make but a few portraits while at Saint-Paul.
The Montmartre paintings are a group of works that Vincent van Gogh created in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre while living there, at 54 Rue Lepic, with his brother Theo. Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières in the northwest suburbs. Of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from the Netherlands and Brussels. By the spring of 1887, van Gogh embraced use of color and light and created his own brushstroke techniques based upon Impressionism and Pointillism. The works in the series provide examples of his work during that period of time and the progression he made as an artist.
The earliest known works of Vincent van Gogh comprise a group of paintings and drawings that Vincent van Gogh made when he was 27 and 28, in 1881 and 1882. Over the course of the two-year period Van Gogh lived in several places. He left Brussels, where he had studied for about a year in 1881, to return to his parents’ home in Etten, where he made studies of some of the residents of the town. In January 1882 Van Gogh went to The Hague where he studied with his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve and set up a studio, funded by Mauve. During the ten years of Van Gogh's artistic career from 1881 to 1890 Vincent's brother Theo would be a continuing source of inspiration and financial support; his first financial support began in 1880 funding Vincent while he lived in Brussels.
Cart with Black Ox, or The Ox-Cart, is an oil painting created in 1884 by Vincent van Gogh. It has been cited as one of his important early works.
Old Church Tower at Nuenen are names given to several oil paintings and drawings created in 1884 and 1885 by Vincent van Gogh. Most reflect the way the 12th-century church looked in its better days when its spire was intact and its foundation formidable. The spire was demolished in 1792 and the church tower was in the process of being torn down and sold for scrap as Van Gogh made the paintings.
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen, alternatively named The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring or Spring Garden, is an early oil painting by 19th-century Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, created in May 1884 while he was living with his parents in Nuenen. Van Gogh made several drawings and oil paintings of the surrounding gardens and the garden façade of the parsonage.
Peasant Character Studies is a series of works that Vincent van Gogh made between 1881 and 1885.
Van Gogh's family in his art refers to works that Vincent van Gogh made for or about Van Gogh family members. In 1881, Vincent drew a portrait of his grandfather, also named Vincent van Gogh, and his sister Wil. While living in Nuenen, Vincent memorialized his father in Still Life with Bible following his death in 1885. There he also made many paintings and drawings in 1884 and 1885 of his parents' vicarage, its garden and the church. At the height of his career in Arles he made Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Memory of the Garden at Etten of his mother and sister and Novel Reader, which is thought to be of his sister, Wil.
Vincent van Gogh drew and painted a series of works of his mistress Sien during their time together in the Netherlands. In particular, his drawing Sorrow is widely acknowledged as a masterwork of draftsmanship, the culmination of a long and sometimes uncertain apprenticeship in learning his craft.
Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 and 1887 after he moved to Montmartre in Paris from the Netherlands. While in Paris, Van Gogh transformed the subjects, color and techniques that he used in creating still life paintings.
Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg is a watercolor by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh that he made in January 1882, shortly after taking up residence in The Hague.
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