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Forget the way that his paintings now decorate the front of chocolate-boxes, Van Gogh was one of the most hard-core artists who has ever lived. His relentless p
by Daub 3y ago
Forget the way that his paintings now decorate the front of chocolate-boxes, Van Gogh was one of the most hard-core artists who has ever lived. His relentless pursuit of 'vérité' drove his to some obsessive extremes.
- As a youngish man, he married a worn-out, alcoholic, middle-aged prostitute. It was she that likely gave him syphilis that in the end drove him insane. She eventually committed suicide.
- He was rejected from the priesthood for being a zealot.
- He started a simultaneous translation of the bible from Latin to English, German and French.
- On many occasions, attempting to create a spiritual union with the working class, he gave up his comfortable middle-class life to live a life of unreal austerity. This is where his painting 'The Potato Eaters' comes from.
- Even his own father wanted to commit him to a lunatic asylum.
He was also, quite frankly, very poorly gifted as an artist. Doubt me? Check out this drawing done when he was 27 (my 19 yo students can draw better): https://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/drama/carpenter.jpg https://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/drama/carpenter.jpg
However, he was also uniquely bloody-minded and eventually found his own way of doing things which was crafted from diverse sources (impressionism, Japanese wood block prints, Dutch genre painting etc). Contributing to this was the atelier system, which was an art school system located away from the establishment.
If he had been born post 1960, he would have been another GG Allin.
- alex_duf 3y agoWhat does "hard-core" mean in this context? Because from what you write down I can only see a miserable life heavily influenced by mental illness.
- Daub 3y agoI guess it means... committing to a self-destructive life in order to serve a creative vision: 'Dive deep, come up wealthy'. Its not the only way for a creative individual to function, but I could easily list many from the top of my head without even breaking sweat. From a broader perspective, it is an application of a 'limit case' technique: by mapping the limits one defines the whole.
- sdwr 3y agoLove the connection there! Gotta witness the breakdown to find the true boundaries.
- nemo44x 3y agoHe was also quite prolific. His output is insane for the short number of years he was active. And it’s all very high quality for the most part. He was an artist who got shit done.
- kgwgk 3y ago> As a youngish man, he married a worn-out, alcoholic, middle-aged prostitute. She was three years older than him at most and they were not married.
- Daub 3y agoI stand corrected. However the drawings of her indicate a woman who is prematurely broken by life. Google 'Sorrow' by Van Gogh... that is her. Compare that to Van G's self portraits done at the same time.
- purerandomness 3y ago> a woman who is prematurely broken by life Is this painting of a girl with her head on her arms and knees [1] your understanding of being "prematurely broken by life"? [1] https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/p0002V1962 https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/p0002V1962
- _x7zt 3y agoYou are being surprisingly hard on his natural talent. I once saw a drawing he did and was blown away by it, only to discover he was something like 12 or 14 when he did it.
- andsoitis 3y ago> He was also, quite frankly, very poorly gifted as an artist. Doubt me? Check out this drawing done when he was 27 (my 19 yo students can draw better) Come on. While your students might be able to draw better than Vincent, they are very very likely not even close to being able to create the incredible art he has made. If you haven't been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, you should go and compare against your students' work (or, against many many artists, for that matter).
- Daub 3y agoI agree. That is actually the point I was making... differentiating Being a capable painter/draftsman from being a capable artist. Check out Mary Casset... A great technician but a meh artist compared to Renoir who had a tenth the skill but ten times the soul.
- dreamcompiler 3y agoCassatt.
- mejutoco 3y agoI don't know. I do not dislike Van Gogh, and his life certainly was colourful. To me, when I think of Van Gogh, more than any intrinsically gifted artist (I think this of Dalí, for instance) I think of the time that chose him. He was ignored all his life and only later he was a hero of individuality. The romantic idea of a struggling artist. I am not saying technically it was not interesting (maybe the materic painting comes from something like his thick paint technique) but Goya, for example, could claim similar things. Overall, I think it is the best example of a struggling artist where the story of his life matters more than the paintings. I hope it does not seem insensitive.