Van Gogh
jake
his paintings are so fantastic? To me they're nice and bold in texture
but why are they so famous?
What makes him so special?
Carlos Solórzano
Dennis L. Dykema
Van Gogh paintings are special for several reasons:
1. They are easy to identify. That is most people can spot one from a
ways off. This feature makes them well known and exceedingly popular
because few people have to worry about exposing their ignorance by
declaring "there's a Van Gogh!"
2. The stories of his painful and tragic life are well known and his
suffering can easily be seen in the agitated brushwork and bold colors
of his paintings. This also makes people feel like they know and can be
sympathetic for the man and his condition.
3. He only sold one painting while he lived. This is a great story of
posthumous retribution for being overlooked by the critical community in
his own day. This makes most people relieved that even the experts can
be wrong about the work of an artist, and that the innocent and
uneducated evaluation is as valid as that of a learned scholar.
4. Van Gogh's work, (and that of Gauguin), did indeed make way for
valuing powerful personal and emotional expression in works of art. Of
course this had to be legitimated by Freud in the early 20th century.
This makes people believe that artists are as wierd as the work they
do. It makes non-artists feel that they are completely normal.
5. Van Gogh is an easy study. It's easy to see how he identified with
his surroundings in the gloom of his early career in the mining region
of Belgium. Then when his brother convinced him to move to Paris, his
work quickly took on the color and light of the Impressionists. And
finally it's easy to observe the apparent deterioration of his mental
state as his late works take on more and more expressive agitation,
revealing his life-long struggle with his human impulses warring against
his notions of religion.
and 6. They bring big bucks when they go on auction.
Hope this helps explain.
ToeKnee
by the Art Community.
His (popular) fame is due to 2 reasons,
1. His (let's call it tragic) life story makes for good drama.
2. The rest of the world has learned to decode and acclimatize itself
with his
particular dialect of the visual language.
emat...@tomatoweb.com
jake <bc...@scn.org> wrote:
> So I got a book of paintings done by VanGogh and I'm trying to find why
> his paintings are so fantastic? To me they're nice and bold in texture
> but why are they so famous?
>
> What makes him so special?
>
> --
> Jake
> bc...@scn.org
> http://www.dbhq.com
>
One of the first great museum blockbuster exhibits was a Van Gogh
Retrospective held in the late '50s. Prior to this Van Gogh was relative
unknown in the US. I'd have to check, but this traveling exhibit started in
NY and showed in three or few art museums nationwide. It may have been
mounted in some European Museums also. I saw the exhibit myself at the Los
Angeles Museum of Art. You really should try to see some Van Goghs in person
-- they are very difficult to reproduce via seriography (SKIRA) or
lithography.
Erik Mattila
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Billy B. Bodine
whims of inefectual pseudo elitist.
This has been a under current in our country ever since the pilgrims
landed on plymouth Rock. Some knucklehead is deciding the taste, and in
many cases the fate, of struggling souls.
Stories of struggling, or better torchured souls, is sterile fodder for
the gluttonous masses hungry for dama and ammusement.
This is how we end up with Jerry Springer and Howard Stearns instead of
Thoreau and Vangoghs.
-N.
<sola...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> He had a good ear for painting.
>
> jake wrote:
>
> > So I got a book of paintings done by VanGogh and I'm trying to find why
> > his paintings are so fantastic? To me they're nice and bold in texture
> > but why are they so famous?
> >
> > What makes him so special?
He was a fantastic artist. I saw the Van Gogh show in D.C. (works from the
Van Gogh Museum) last month, and was blown away. I have seen a good amount
of VG in the US and Europe (including the two retros a the Met), but
without having the works constantly in front of my eyes, I tend to
abstract them in my imagination (and in reproduction) and I get jaded: I
forget how rich they actually are. I have seen alot of art, particularly
in NYC in 1998, and that show was easily the finest exhibit of painting I
saw this year.
-N.
--
N
To reach me, remove _xxx from my address.
Marilyn
Marilyn
>
> Jake,
>
> Van Gogh paintings are special for several reasons:
>
> jake wrote:
>
> > So I got a book of paintings done by VanGogh and I'm trying to find
> > why
> > his paintings are so fantastic? To me they're nice and bold in
> > texture
> > but why are they so famous?
> >
> > What makes him so special?
> >
> > --
> > Jake
> > bc...@scn.org
> > http://www.dbhq.com
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
Whoops,
Van Gogh's fame:
Van Gogh guaranteed himself posthumous fame by writing many, many
letters to his brother,
detailing his painting career step by step.
Van Gogh's paintings:
If you have to ask why are they so special then you have missed something.
He broke new ground in painting with expressionist technique, and he used
colour, breaking all the rules, for dramatic effect and mood.
M.
David
Fairly elitist sounding. I happen to like Howard Stern (note the spelling).
I listen to him every morning. AND I have the most comprehensive Van Gogh
website in the world at www.vangoghgallery.com
In all things, a sense of humour . . . . . . . .
DB