Vincent

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Note: I moved this discussion out of the Parlour thread in Bag End- VtF]

V-man, do you happen to know the name of the painting currently in your av? I like it even more then I usually like van Gogh (which is usually a lot).

Yov, it's called simply "Road with Cypress and Star". I would say that it is one of my favorites, but that is true about so many of his paintings.

Here is a page with a larger, and more vivid, copy:

http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0683.htm

[samwarg]

I'm getting the impression that you're an art lover, Voronwë. I've never seen a real Van Gogh in the flesh, but I've heard that they'll knock your socks off. In my mind, Vincent exemplifies the way that genuis and insanity may sometimes be very close bedfellows.

[yovargas]

That painting is glorious.

[Jnyusa]

Hi, samwarg!

It was my good fortune to spend an afternoon at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Yes, they knock your socks off. I wasn't really a fan of Van Gogh until I saw the paintings in person. For all his stylism, his paintings are profoundly humanist ... even moreso than Rembrandt, I'd say.

It's as if he was going in the opposite direction from his impressionist contemporaries and could not abstract his paintings (or himself) from his subject, but stood inside their skin while he was painting them. It's hard to make words explain the feeling one gets from a painting, but with most portraits I find them good when the artist has found some essence of the person and manages to convey it on the canvas - they've found the perfect abstraction, you know? - but with Van Gogh I felt like he had to become the person in order to paint them. There's no abstraction; rather this ... urgency ... given to the most ordinary people. They really do kind of make you jump, they make your heart thump, when you stand in front of them.

Photographs of the paintings make them seem a bit sentimental, I think. But that is not the impression they give when you see them live.

Jn

[samwarg]

Hi Jnyusa, I think many artists "get inside" or "become part of" that which they are working on. I forget who it was, but I heard of one artist who was observed apologizing to the canvas after acidentally bumping it----as if he/she was talking to a person.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hi sam!

In my mind, Vincent exemplifies the way that genius and insanity may sometimes be very close bedfellows.

That is very true. And yes, his paintings really do take on a whole 'nother dimension when seen in person (literally, as his brushstrokes are so thick his paintings are actually three dimensional). He taps into the vibration of the universe in a way that no other artist accomplishes (at least for me).

[Lurker]

I took some formal painting classes until I was in university and "impressionism" for me is the easiest way to learn oil painting.

Actually, Van Gogh didn't use a lot of brush stokes but "knife/chisel strokes" from what I can remember since in impressionism in order to do it three dimensional you have to put ample amount of paint on the knife/chisel or use old brushes the ones with a few brushes left or are sticking together. (I rarely use a brush when doing impressionism.) It's a very tedious process compared to other styles since you have to go stroke by stroke esp. on the small details. Impressionism is the best medium for landscape painting, IMHO. Impressionism is not much to look at up close, it is best viewed further away from the painting.

[samwarg]

Hi Voronwë, and hi Lurker. I have seen paintings where the artist attempted to paint in the Van Gogh style, using thick blobs of paint as if they were enormous, three-dimensional pixels. I guess I'm funny about that sort of thing, but I tend to believe that some things cannot and should not be copied or imitated, like Ian Anderson's flute playing, cheap theatrical rip-offs of Poe's "The Raven" or Van Gogh's swirling skies. Maybe they're a little bit sacred in my eyes.

[yovargas]

It probably is easier to paint in a rough, imprecise style, but I haven't gotten the impression (pun not intended) that it's much easier to make that style look good. That's the hard part.

[Lurker]

Hi Voronwë, and hi Lurker. I have seen paintings where the artist attempted to paint in the Van Gogh style, using thick blobs of paint as if they were enormous, three-dimensional pixels. I guess I'm funny about that sort of thing, but I tend to believe that some things cannot and should not be copied or imitated, like Ian Anderson's flute playing, cheap theatrical rip-offs of Poe's "The Raven" or Van Gogh's swirling skies. Maybe they're a little bit sacred in my eyes.

I must admit that I have attempted copying Van Gogh's paintings.
I copied a Degas Ballerina painting (Princess face on the ballerina instead) on Princess birthday.

Yov said:

It probably is easier to paint in a rough, imprecise style, but I haven't gotten the impression (pun not intended) that it's much easier to make that style look good. That's the hard part.

I guess you are right Yov esp. if you start off learning how to paint with watercolours or acrylics, impressionism would be difficult for you to master. I'm the worst water-based painter so I took classes with a impressionist painter, most of the time I watch him use the chisel for hours unlike if I had a conventional painter instructor he would have me start painting right away.

I find it easier because if I make a mistake I can erase it right away or correct it by just taking it out on the spot even if it's already hard.

[samwarg]

No, the rough style just isn't my cup of XXXX (I'm not saying that word) Like music, I enjoy many different styles but am not able to play but a few. I'm a self-taught smooth-style painter and will likely remain that way. (Old dog, new tricks and all of that)

[Jnyusa]

No, the rough style just isn't my cup of XXXX (I'm not saying that word)

We could put it in the word filter ....

[Frelga]

Just as long as you don't replace it with coffee.

In Kindergarten, DS's class was studying the impressionist techniques and tried to recreate Starry Night with crayons. I still have the resulting artwork somewhere.

[vison]

Both my gassoons "did" the Starry Night painting in kindergarten or grade one, and both copies are wonderful. They aren't Van Gogh, but they are beautiful. The kids captured the "feel" of the painting.

My friend's grandson "did" Sunflowers by cutting and pasting coloured papers, and it was so wonderful she went and had it framed. It's really nothing like Van Gogh's, it's gone off into a realm of its own, but he used Van Gogh's picture as a jumping off point. He made the picture when he was 9, I think.

Even little kids can tell the paintings aren't as "simple" as they look.

[Primula Baggins]

I treasure a painting of "Starry Night" my daughter did when she was 10 (it's displayed in my office). It's a kid's painting, but you can see how she responded to the swirling energy of the original with her own big, brave strokes of color.

[samwarg]

"and when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night, you took your life as lovers often do, but I could have told you, Vincent, that this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I almost quote that myself, sam.

[Primula Baggins]

That is one of the loveliest songs ever written.

[samwarg]

That is a very beautiful and touching song. Don't you all think that Don McLean brought renewed interest to Van Gogh with that song? His big hit from the American Pie" album was the title song, but my favorites on that album are "Vincent" and "Empty Chairs", the latter being one of the most emotionally gut-wrenching songs I've ever heard. If you've split up with a lover or spouse and are missing them, don't listen to this song because it will have you crying a deluge in your beer. I sure did, more than once. You don't hear much about Don McLean anymore, but he wrote some songs in the early part of his carreer that showed a unique and intimate understanding of pain. I have to wonder what personal experiences he tapped into to aquire such insight.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I agree that Don McLean sparked renewed interest in van Gogh with that song. Even more I agree that he was an unusally talented songwriter, who seemed to have great success and then utterly disappear. I wonder what happened to him?