Back in 1999 when I first started to paint, I soon also purchased my first book on Vincent Van Gogh. After reading much about him and his life and also learning about many of his contemporaries, I kept coming back to him. Vincent van Gogh the human being is someone I can relate to. His childhood, his conflicts with, church and society’s realities were all familiar to me. I gleaned a lot out of his letters he wrote to his brother Theo. Without his dear brother I think Vincent would have had an impossible time. Sometimes Theo was his only support. Vincent was constantly struggling with this idea that he was not good enough, in his skills. Lamenting about having to improve his drawing, especially his figure drawing.
Maybe people don’t know this but he drew a lot. Graphite and ink sketches, he did many of them. I love his drawings a lot. Vincent Van Gogh the human being was a sponge, he absorbed the lives of the people he drew. He imbued feelings into places he saw, things he found interesting. Who else could paint old worn out shoes as if they were jewels? He appeared to me, as a very thoughtful and deep person. Maybe too deep, thinking too much about things. Especially the things that he found unjust. Thinking too much about his short comings.
I see in his paintings much more than a place, a landscape or a face, a person. He really tried to capture the soul and succeeded. What is undeniable to me, is that his shortcoming and his struggle with his technical skills, makes his art so real, so very human to me. It is not academic art but is is salt of this earth.
Vincent van Gogh the human shines through in every one of his paintings and that is what made him such a great artist. Painting at a time where his style was considered unrefined, unacceptable even, a no talent wanna be artist. Society and especially the upper class in Paris gave him the side eye. Well they snubbed many of the impressionists which led to the establishments of the “Salon des Refusés” which was basically an exhibition of art that was refused by the official Paris Salon
Theo tried to sell his brother’s works but it was a futile venture.
He did sell ONE PAINTING and It was an oil landscape entitled “The Red Vineyard at Arles”!
His friend and fellow artist Anna Boch bought it for 400 Franc in 1890. It is now in Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Art.
You can see an image of the painting and read more about Vincent
https://www.vincentvangogh.org/the-red-vineyard.jsp#prettyPhoto
It really bothers me that the man had to die, for his paintings to be noticed, his talent respected, his work rewarded. The only people that seem to profit now are the ones that had nothing to do with the art’s creation. Isn’t that backwards.
The above picture and the one below show Vincent’s, what I call bold, fearless brushstrokes and his whimsical inclinations as well.
Please see my painting Red Poppies As Vincent Would Paint Them. CLICK HERE
Vincent Van Gogh Flower garden 1888
Other paintings I have done that are for sale
Watercolors after Vincent Van Gogh Starry Night
Check out the brushstrokes on this painting
Oil Painting on Linen Wetland Reflections Impressionism
Here is one of my latest paintings.
Just like Vincent I often doubt myself but with this painting I am elated.
Late Summer Thistles Impressionist Oil Painting
If you love floral still life paintings that may remind you of Vincent’s Style,
I humbly encourage you to see this painting of mine.
Heirloom Roses The Impressionists Oil Painting
