Van Gogh Vincent, Dutch painter. In 1869-1876 he served as a commission agent for an art trading company in The Hague, Brussels, London, Paris, and in 1876 he worked as a teacher in England. Van Gogh studied theology, in 1878-1879 he was a preacher in the mining district of Borinage in Belgium. Protecting the interests of the miners brought van Gogh into conflict with church authorities. In the 1880s, van Gogh turned to art, attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels (1880-1881) and Antwerp (1885-1886).
Van Gogh used the advice of the painter A. Mauve in The Hague, enthusiastically painted ordinary people, peasants, artisans, and prisoners. In a series of paintings and studies of the mid-1880s (“Peasant Woman”, 1885, Kröller-Müller State Museum, Otterlo; “Potato Eaters”, 1885, Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam), written in dark pictorial scale, marked by painfully sharp perception of human suffering and feelings of depression, the artist recreates the oppressive atmosphere of psychological tension.
In 1886-1888 van Gogh lived in Paris, visited a private art studio, studied Impressionist painting, Japanese engraving, "synthetic" works of Paul Gauguin. During this period, Van Gogh's palette became light, earthy colors disappeared, pure blue, golden yellow, red tones appeared, his characteristic dynamic, as if flowing brushstroke ("Bridge over the Seine", 1887, "Papa Tanguy", 1881). In 1888, van Gogh moved to Arles, where the originality of his creative manner was finally determined. A fiery artistic temperament, a painful impulse towards harmony, beauty and happiness, and at the same time a fear of forces hostile to man, are embodied either in landscapes shining with sunny colors of the south (“Harvest. La Croux Valley”, 1888), or in sinister, reminiscent of night nightmare images (“Night Cafe”, 1888, private collection, New York). The dynamics of color and stroke in Van Gogh's paintings fills with spiritual life and movement not only nature and the people who inhabit it (“Red Vineyards in Arles”, 1888, Pushkin Museum, Moscow), but also inanimate objects (“Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles”, 1888) .
Van Gogh's strenuous work in later years was accompanied by bouts of mental illness, which led him to the insane asylum at Arles, then Saint-Remy (1889–1890) and Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), where he committed suicide. The work of the last two years of the artist’s life is marked by ecstatic obsession, extremely heightened expression of color combinations, abrupt mood swings – from frenzied despair and gloomy visionary (“Road with cypresses and stars”, 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) to a quivering sense of enlightenment and peace (“Landscape at Auvers after the rain”, 1890, Pushkin Museum, Moscow).
No matter how often and deeply unhappy I may be, a quiet, pure harmony and music always lives inside me.
Vincent Van Gogh
For so long he has been busy thinking about the insoluble problems of modern society and, as before, is struggling with his good-heartedness and inexhaustible energy. His efforts are not in vain, but he probably will not live to see the realization of his hopes, because it will be too late when people understand what he wants to say with his paintings. He is one of the most advanced artists and is very difficult to understand, even for me, despite the fact that we are very close. He thinks about many things: what is the purpose of a person, how to look at the world around you, and in order to understand what he is trying to say, a person must free himself from even minor prejudices. However, I am sure that sooner or later it will be recognized. It's hard to say when.
Theo (van Gogh's brother)
Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. A modern three-story building with sakura trees planted nearby. Van Gogh often painted these trees.
The sky seems to echo the straight branches of sakura
From afar, you can already guess that this building is the Van Gogh Museum. There is a long line of people in the museum.
The museums have three floors. Many people. But no one smiles. The faces of people are either tired or their experiences are visible, and some have feelings that are incomprehensible to them and they simply allow them to be. Across the street from the Van Gogh Museum is another museum, the Rijksmuseum, where classical music plays and museum visitors have enthusiastic faces.
But the Van Gogh Museum is different. There are more feelings here and they are not about joy at all.
This museum houses the famous sunflowers and another painting that particularly struck me. This is Van Gogh's last work Wheatfield with Crows. It is located on the third floor, at the end of the exposition. This is Van Gogh's latest work. And that's what got my attention.
I get used to the picture, I try to become its structure, as Lyubov Mikhailovna taught us.
The first thing that attracts attention is the yellow spot. Wheat field. Excited, restless, anxious. It is not clear the direction of movement of the ears, they seem to be rushing about. Yellow, heavy, multidirectional strokes.
Black crows, as if they suddenly appeared, and they were not in the picture. An ominous dark blue sky. This dark blue sky seems to absorb the light areas of the sky and soon the whole sky will become just as dark and gloomy. The yellow contrasts dramatically with this dark blue.
Or maybe, on the contrary, bright areas give hope?
And finally, the road, meandering, red-brown, like naked muscles without skin. At the limit, you can't live that long, you need protection, you need skin to survive. And she is not. This is madness. You can't live like that.
Every artist paints with "his own blood"
Heinrich Wölfflin
In his painting, Van Gogh does not depict a natural phenomenon, he tells us his own state, exposing his feelings through the images he has chosen. We come into contact with his soul and get to know his spiritual pain, living through his state through the images transmitted by him.
The exact movement of the master's hand, aimed at creating a heavy pasty smear, conveys to us the tense state of every cell of his body. Through this dramatic contrast of blue and yellow, we also have an internal tension.
This is a great work of art, because it contains a colossal amount of spiritual forces. This power penetrates us, and we have the opportunity to feel his naked pain.
Looking at this picture, we learn to be aware of the strong inner throwing and inner search for the truth of a great artist.
Suffering can be depicted. Through the plot, through the color, the character of the stroke.
Apparently, Van Gogh wanted to convey this idea of transferring the state when he wrote to his brother Theo that he had found an art form that would be understood in the future.
Van Gogh conveys to us through his state, through form and color, how much life and death are next to each other.
In his work there is no place for “relaxation”, positiveness with a glass of wine and enjoyment of life. It has no place for a smile that they say "everything in life is ok."
His painting is about something else.
Pain and connection with something Higher through this pain.
"Suicide Note" - this is what critics call this picture. Van Gogh committed suicide after working on this painting.
In such a state, he could not continue life, for him it was already unbearable. It is difficult to continue living in a state of excess tension, because there is no security, there is no “skin”, the “muscles” are bare, and physically it is impossible to live like this. After all, the skin should protect the muscles.
How can we comprehend this state, which we may not be able to comprehend in ordinary life?
Answer: "Through art, through feeling."
As Lyubov Mikhailovna taught us, “It is important to become this road, this color, this structure, and then there is a chance to live in the moment that which is not given to live in everyday life.”
This is how we become spiritually richer, more multifaceted, this is how the inner search for truth awakens in us.
In life, we need to experience different feelings. But are we open to these feelings?
Or maybe we are still afraid of this nakedness and pain? Maybe we are still closing ourselves off from them and do not feel how our bodies are becoming more and more constricted, and our senses are becoming more and more constrained.
I now understand what Lyubov Mikhailovna wanted to convey to us, telling us that understanding art is a spiritual work to which we are not yet accustomed, that art is not open to everyone, and you need to try to comprehend it little by little, and then it will will begin to open before us.
Nature has always occupied a special place in the work of landscape painters. Especially willingly, the artists depicted the sea, mountains, forest landscapes and endless fields, including wheat. Among these paintings, in a special place is the creation of the outstanding Van Gogh "Wheat Field with Cypresses".
History of creation
Van Gogh created his canvas at the end of the 19th century. At this time, the great artist was in a terrible state: at that time he had already spent almost a year in a psychiatric hospital. The master was tired of his imprisonment, and this painting was his attempt to return to art. Wag Gog began to spend a lot of time drawing. He was especially attracted and reassured by the image of nature. Having begun to draw fields (wheat especially occupied the author), the artist began to often add trees to his compositions. He especially liked to depict cypresses.
Symbolism
Experts explain that the cypress has become for the artist a symbol of sadness and decline. Despite the fact that the tops of cypresses are directed strictly upwards, on the Mediterranean coast, these trees are traditionally considered a symbol of sadness. It was cypresses that the artist depicted in his works in the late eighties. Researchers explain this by the complex emotional experiences of the master. Moreover, the cypress trees are the only objects in the painting depicted vertically. The author specially depicted them separately from the field and highlighted them with a particularly bright color, which creates a great contrast between a clean, calm field and lone trees striving in impotence upwards.
At the bottom of the canvas are light fields, wheat or rye. It seems that they are leaning from a sudden oncoming wind. In the background are two cypress crowns fluttering like a flame. The artist himself admitted that he was very carried away by these trees. He called them great.
Compared to a wheat field, emerald grass looks very contrasting. As Van Gogh said, such fields require great observation from the artist. If you look at their outlines for a long time, you can see blackberry bushes or tall grass among the rows of wheat. So the author tried to portray them from the right edge of his canvas. In the foreground, at the very bottom of the picture, you can see the strokes depicting ripe berries on a bush.
The author depicted the sky in his picture even more unusual. In a clear clear sky, unusual curls of lilac clouds are observed. Apparently, the author intended that bad weather in the sky is the complete opposite for a calm and carefree endless field, whose wheat ears sway slightly in the wind. If you look closely at the sky, then among the raging clouds you can see a barely visible crescent moon.
Van Gogh about his painting
The master repeatedly admitted that he specially depicted the vast expanses of the field under the protracted sky. This is how, in his opinion, the sadness and longing that overwhelmed him manifested itself. Van Gogh believed that this outstanding painting was to express what he could not put into words about himself. One way or another, the painting "Wheat Field with Cypresses" is still of interest to art historians and tourists.
February 22, 2012
Year 1890, summer in Auvers. In early June, Theo and his wife and child came to Auvers for a day. Van Gogh is happy despite his unresolved financial problems. Theo tells him that some of his paintings are generating interest but have not yet found buyers. The problem for Vincent is making money for a living and paint. During his lifetime, he never sold any of his paintings.
1890; 50x100.5cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Soon, little Vincent, Theo's son, falls ill. Theo himself is also seriously ill, and in a letter dated June 30, he reflects on his future life, about a trip to Auvers previously planned for July with the whole family. Despite the soothing words of his brother, the text of the letter makes a heavy impression on Van Gogh. Vincent begins to fall into despair. Theo definitely felt his brother's reaction and wrote: "Be calm and take care of yourself so that it does not come to some kind of accident."
At the end of July comes a week spent by Vincent with his brother in Paris. Theo and Io fight over money. But Theo has been sending money to his brother for many years ... Van Gogh, angry and devastated, returns to Auvers. On July 14, he writes the celebration he saw from the window, connected with the celebration of the national holiday. There is not a single human silhouette in the picture.
Soon Vincent receives a long letter from his brother, full of warm words and assurances that in the future he can count on his help. Draws a lot again. “I am drawn to the endless fields of wheat, as big as the sea, in delicate yellows and greens.”
On July 23, Vincent writes a letter to Theo and does not mention that he is thinking about suicide. In the meantime, he had already bought a revolver. July 27, Van Gogh decides on a planned act. In his pocket is an unfinished letter to his brother: “I would like to write to you about many things, but I feel that it is useless ... And if it is about my work, then I paid for it with my life and it cost me half of my mind.”
One of Van Gogh's last paintings is Crows over a Wheat Field. The dark, restless sky merges into a single whole with the earth, three roads lead to nowhere, wheat bends under supernatural power, and mourning birds write the letters “M” on the canvas. There are no more swirls, no ordering rhythm. Hard, hard strokes of the brush create dynamics on the canvas full of restless chaos.
“This is an immeasurable expanse full of wheat under a restless sky, and looking at it, I feel endless sadness and loneliness.” In Crows Over a Field of Wheat, the brushstrokes are increasingly chaotic and directed in all directions. Van Gogh uses bronze, ocher, green, cobalt and azure. A flock of black crows gather over the horizon, giving the sky depth. We are approaching abstract fine art.
