Who is Vincent Van Gogh, and why did his work become hugely influential only after his death?

Introduction

The thesis for this essay is Who is Vincent Van Gogh, and why did his work become hugely influential only after his death? He was one of the most renowned and influential artists of all time, but during his short life, Vincent van Gogh struggled in the dark. Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, into a religious, upper-middle-class family in the village of Groot-Zundert, Holland. He took paintings with almost no formal training after much travelling and numerous non-fulfilment work. The way the world viewed art will revolutionize His magnificent work of landscapes, quiet life, portraits and drawings in vivid colour and subjective perspective. The mission was completed by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger.

She sold some works of Vincent, lent others to exhibits and published his letters–which are also very significant–to Theo. One of the reasons why the whole world was overwhelmed by Van Gogh’s fascinating life story. This would never have been possible without Jo’s commitment. He battled depression and mental disability and created a world of photographs that was vivid and compelling. Vincente Minnelli’s biopic Lust for Life (1956) with Kirk Douglas and the peculiar Vincent of Robert Altman and Theo (1990) with Tim Roth are common retellings of his tragic story. His life inspired the 1971 hit song’ Vincent’ by Don McLean, and this year an animated feature is due. Yet the unsettling journey of the soul cannot be captured entirely by any film or album. Vincent was recognized among the avant-garde in the past two years of his life, and his art was shown at exhibitions in Paris and Brussels. His brother Theo, after Vincent died, only wished to raise the profile of the work of his brother.

Summary of Books

Book 1: Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist

Summary:

A Dutchman who cut his ear will always be remembered as Vincent van Gogh, one of the great artists of the 19th century. But this event only underlines his passion, a passion which infused his work when he began his work at the age of 27. Van Gogh tried to capture the vibrant spirit of his subject, be it painting a portrait, a landscape, or a still life. It was not unusual for others to find her work. Persevering Van Gogh. He pioneered a new technique and style as he moved from the cold climate of the Netherlands to balmy Southern France. Van Gogh had painted several great works in a ten-year career, but he was eluded by success. This failure to recognize his self-doubts and bitter disappointments increased. Yet Van Gogh is still among the artists as a giant.  Brieven aan zijn broeder, an additional Dutch by 3 volumes, to his brother in 1914, is published by van Gogh which provides a64-page first volume introduction with many unoffered details of his life.  Her references were the correspondence between the brothers and her impressions of Vincent’s interactions with Theo.  Mother of Van Gogh, Anna Cornelia Carbentus, died at the age of 87 in 1907 and is believed to be Jo’s source for Van Gogh’s new knowledge (Jordan, 2008).

Book 2: The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Summary:

Vincent van Gogh’s Letters refer to a series of letters (820) written (83) by Vincent van Gogh, 903 of which have survived. Of these, over 650 were from his brother Theo to Vincent. The set also contains letters written by van Gogh to his sister Wil and his family, as well as artists including Paul Gauguin, Anthon van Rappard and Émile Bernard. The partner and aunt of Vincent, his brother Theo, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, spent many years writing letters, first published in 1914, following her husband’s death in 1891. Theo was written “this was the man who saved the smallest scrap of paper” by Arnold Pomerans, eder of the letter collection of 1966, and it is to that function that the public owes Vincent’s 663 letters.

In comparison, letters were seldom sent to him by Vincent, and only 84 of whom were from Theo had survived. Nonetheless, much of what is known today about Vincent van Gogh is due to these letters between the brothers. Indeed, the only time when people are fairly uninformed is when they shared an apartment and didn’t have to suit. The letters play the same role as those used by the de Goncourt brothers in literacy in shedding light on the craft of the period (Ham, 2015).

Book 3: Vincent Van Gogh Paintings of Holland

Summary

Each collection spans the same time as the first two volumes of Van Gogh’s sequence of drawings. In Van Gogh’s life, it was a difficult time as he tried to establish himself as an artist–successful and in contrast to his father’s wishes. His work of the time is distinguished by his depictions of the Brabant countryside and the harsh life of the peasants there.  This is the interesting biography of the Dutch painter of the 19th century renowned in masterpieces such as Starry Night and Sunflowers for new techniques and designs. In the book, a glossary of artists, a timeline, references, bibliography and the locations of Van Gogh’s works is cited, and comprehensive primary sources are included. It also consists of a seventeen-page insert with family photos of many of Van Gogh’s works and full colour reproductions. This work focuses on the Dutch van Gogh’s work Ahis early painterly works, published by de la Faille (1928) and Jan Hulsker (1980). There is a total of 44 color reproductions taken by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in the collection section, ranging from somber silent life to landscapes to dramatic character studies, like’ The Potato Eaters,’ and each one is intensively scrutinized in the accompanying commentary (Zuyderland, 2016).

Book 4: Vincent Van Gogh & the Colours of the Wind

Summary

Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, “Painters teach us to see.” Yet Vincent’s contemporaries saw him, so many of them saw only a madman “dressed like a scarecrow wandering in the woods, wrapping up canvasses with his arm underneath and paintbrushes under his arm under his hands.” And now, this’ madman’ has been one of the world’s most famous painters. The text by Vincent Van Gogh and the Colors of the Wind is beautifully portrayed in a style that resembles the artist’s paintings through letters written by Theo, his dearest friend and steady encourager. The book includes 14 replicas of the original works by van Gogh. This lyrical story offers a thoughtful and new insight into the lives of one of the best-known artists in the world (Chiara Lossani, 2015). Art pays for the dealers, who in their turn supported the artists, in the Van Gogh extended family. Theo was indeed a loyal, supposed patron of his brother, up until the end of his life when he saw Vincent die because of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Theo only existed for a few more months, and Johanna, his widow, was finally turned into an icon by Vincent.

Book 5: Van Gogh: A Power Seething (Icons)

Summary

The subtitle to Vincent van Gogh’s brief and passionate biography, “A Power Seething,” comes from Vincent’s 1882 letter, which was sent by his brother Theo. Although his new call to be an artist seemed as rentable as any he sought, he had already begun to feel like a constraint: “You feel the power within you; it’s up to you to do it, and you have to do it.” Raised in a rural backwater on the Dutch-Belgian border with his younger siblings, Vincent grew up brutal and loaded with “feral energy.” After not holding a job in the art dealership of its dad, he was pushed back to study a passion for religion and sympathy towards the poor to become a minister as well as his wife. It’s been a tragedy. He left settled civilization and lived in the peasants of the Belgian coal country, an “apocalyptical paradise of black soot,” where he started to draw out as ferociously as he had done all else. A respectful portrait of van Gogh by Julian Bell, himself a painter, does not undermine the stormy nature or subordinate his art to his personality. The folly of Vincent is more sorrow than passion when it flashes (Bell, 2015).

References

Arnold, W. (2016). The Illness of Vincent van Gogh. From researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8345093_The_Illness_of_Vincent_van_Gogh

Bell, J. (2015). Van Gogh: A Power Seething (Icons). NYC: New Harvest. From https://www.amazon.com/Van-Gogh-Power-Seething-Icons/dp/0544343735

Chiara Lossani. (2015). Vincent Van Gogh & the Colors of the Wind. NYC: Eerdmans Young Readers. From https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=7PZyY3-ABIwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=vincent+van+gogh+fame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl8qKi4svnAhVElFwKHRmiAGgQ6AEIYjAH#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dietrich Blumer. (2015). The Illness of Vincent van Gogh. From psychiatryonline: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.4.519

Ham, J. (2015). The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence. NYC: New York Graphic Society. From https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=egrwzAEACAAJ&dq=vincent+van+gogh+fame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl8qKi4svnAhVElFwKHRmiAGgQ6AEIODAC

Jordan, S. (2008). Portrait of an Artist. Jordan: Paw Prints. From https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=DMCmPgAACAAJ&dq=vincent+van+gogh+fame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl8qKi4svnAhVElFwKHRmiAGgQ6AEILzAB

Rustin, T. A. (2017). Using artwork to understand the experience of mental illness: Mainstream artists and Outsider artists. From ncbi: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736519/

Shaqe, E. (2015). Best of Vincent van Gogh – by Victoria Charles. From academia: https://www.academia.edu/11666198/Best_of_Vincent_van_Gogh_-_by_Victoria_Charles

Voskuil, P. (2016). The Illness of Vincent van Gogh. From researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7724449_The_Illness_of_Vincent_van_Gogh

Zuyderland, A. J. (2016). Vincent Van Gogh Paintings of Holland:. NYC: General Books. From https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=JQKgngEACAAJ&dq=vincent+van+gogh+fame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl8qKi4svnAhVElFwKHRmiAGgQ6AEISTAE