Dutch Post-Impressionist painter
Vincent Willem van Gogh
was born,
March 30, 1853
in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands
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One of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history.
In just a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits,. Characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art.
Amazingly, he wasn’t commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to suicide at age thirty-seven.
An artist with a huge following and bibliography and a very recognizable style, who has inspired artists, musicians, film directors and so many of us!
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So here’s a glimpse of this master’s work & a few words
❝ Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter’s soul.❞
❝ Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.❞
❝ Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.❞
❝ It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.❞
❝ A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.❞
❝ I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.❞
❝ The way to know life is to love many things.❞
❝ Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.❞
❝ Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.❞
❝ I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.❞
❝ For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.❞
❝ I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.❞
❝ The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.❞
❝ Conscience is a man’s compass.❞
❝ There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.❞
Self Portraits
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Can’t think of a better closing for this tribute other than
Crows*
from
Akira Kurosawa
film
Dreams
Martin Scorsese as Vincent van Gogh
*Van Gogh’s last painting
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For more information on Van Gogh:
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/art/vincent-van-gogh
https://www.vincentvangogh.org/
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gogh/hd_gogh.htm
https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-vincent-van-gogh
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/artists/vincent-van-gogh
https://www.moma.org/artists/2206
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/vincent-van-gogh
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/vincent-van-gogh
https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/vincent-van-gogh.html
https://www.sompo-museum.org/en/collection/gogh/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
Marina Kanavaki 
I always feel if people like him could just have ‘broken through’ and had a different way to interpret their unusual perceptions, they might have been able to stabilize and not kill themselves.
Ah, yes, the what ifs… as I was just saying, imagine if there was a way for him to get a glimpse of the prices his art would be sold a few years later…
sigh.
Yes!
I love celebrating birthdays with you Marina!! Hugs!
Oh, and I love celebrating them with you, my dearest friend! Many many hugs your way! 🤗❤️
This post is a good remider of why I’ve always loved Van Gogh’s work. Such a talent. I love the quotes you included as well.
Thank you, my dear Liz. Amazing how ‘fresh’ they seem every time I see them!
So glad you enjoyed this journey!
You’re welcome, Marina! I agree with you about the freshness of those painting.
👍😌
*paintings
I read it with an s! 😉
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I recognize many of these paintings.
Yet, you say he did 2100 works.
It seems there are many of his works being hoarded.
That video is quite fabulous.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
I hope that the ones he sold to fishermen to use as wrapping paper weren’t counted in these!
Thank you, dahling for taking the journey with me!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
What? he didn’t? xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Oh, yes he did too! Unbelievable but true. Van Gogh paintings wrapping fish!
🤯
Imagine he could in some magical way get a glance of the future and see the prices his paintings are worth today!
I know! His are among the most valuable.
#1 is – Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci – $450.3 Million
Van Gogh – The Deal: Sold on May 15,1990 by Siegfried Kramarsky Family to Ryoei Saito at Christie’s Auction, NY For: $82.5 million
Adjusted Price: $152 million.
I wonder if the fish came with it?
xoxoxoxo
A ha ha haaaaaa…. those guys buying them deserve the fish more than the painting. 🤣😂
🤣😂
😘😉
Thank you for this, Marina. I love that you chose many of the paintings that didn’t show up in the Immersive. And thank you so much for the movie! I had never seen it. It is brilliant.
Why, oh why do the most brilliant minds have so short a flame? Why do so many not ever know of just how brilliant they will become?
Fabulous post, my friend.
Why indeed, my dear Dale. So unfair… His flame however was so strong that in such little time he created so many masterpieces… unfathomable. So happy you enjoyed this journey and so happy I introduced A.K. Dreams to you. I’m pretty sure you’ll love all the other dreams too!
Many hugs your way! xoxoxoxoxoxo
It’s like they are too bright to be held down to our Earth… Think of Mozart…
Ooooh! There are more Dreams? I shall look into them! Love, love, LOVE.
Hugs accepted and returned! xoxo
What a poetic thought! I love it!
Yes, indeed there are more dreams. Speaking of poets, Kurosawa is a poet of image! The last scene of “Crows” when he sees Van Gogh slowly vanishing into the horizon [his painting] and crows appear, is just so moving [apart from symbolic].
I hope you find the rest of the Dreams. I’d love to hear your opinion.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Thank you! 😉
Glad to know that. And, like I said, I will go and see.,
Yes! I watched the whole thing and it was so very moving.
I will! I’ll keep you posted.
xoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Just found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXk_PLrHp8
Years ago (1993?) I rented the video tape of Dreams for a date. I liked the movie, she hated it… lol. Great little tribute to Vincent, both yours and Akira Kurosawa’s clip.
Well…. what can I say on… not liking it! 🤔
So glad you liked it and the tribute! 😉
Perhaps some people’s imaginations work in a different manner than others… (or don’t work at all 😉 )
That is true, also we are constantly being conditioned towards the ‘easy’ thinking. Not everyone can survive this conditioning! 😉
A wonderful tribute to a unique and talented painter. Currently, there are two immersive audio shows touring the US. I saw on last fall, and I should see the other this summer. Fantastic!
Ah, that’s great!!!!
Funny thing is that I was certain I had done a tribute but then I realized that he was the first one that started off this series, so it was quite short! 😉 Glad you enjoyed the journey! Yamas!
Happy birthday Vincent. He was prolific and a great painter.
He was indeed and has inspired so many!
🙏