Van Gogh’s letters show method, not madness
AMSTERDAM — While Vincent van Gogh has become almost as famed for his troubled mind as for his paintings, a new exhibition in the Van Gogh Museum seeks to remind us there was more method than madness to his style.
In honor of the publication of a new compendium of all the artist’s known correspondence, the museum has put more than 100 personal letters in which he discusses his craft on display alongside the actual paintings.
Museum Director Axel Ruger said the exhibit, opening Friday, is arranged to make a visitor feel “as if you are being led through the collection with Van Gogh giving commentary on his own work.”
Seeing the letters next to the paintings underlines Van Gogh’s professionalism, which is sometimes overlooked amid spectacular biographical details such as his mental illness, his apparent amputation of part of his own left ear after a quarrel, and his suicide in 1890 at age 37.
In the letters — known from recent books and films — Van Gogh writes about both the philosophy of painting and the technical details.
“I’m working on those peasants around a dish of potatoes again,” he said in a letter to his brother Theo on April 9, 1885, referring to one of his earliest masterpieces, “The Potato Eaters.” The note also contains a sketch of the painting.
Van Gogh, who was influenced by the Impressionists, said he felt there was “life” in the piece, which he started in the day and continued working on by lamplight on a large canvas.
“The beautiful effects of the light in nature require one to work very fast” he said, adding he didn’t feel he could yet compare with 17th-century Dutch masters such as Rembrandt.
“At the point where I now am, though, I see a chance of giving a felt impression of what I see … (but) never exactly — for one sees nature through one’s own temperament.”
The compendium includes all 820 known letters by Van Gogh, tracing his youth and late start as a painter to his spectacular blossoming in the late 1880s.
“The number of letters isn’t really unusual but the literary quality of the letters, that’s special,” said Curator Leo Jansen, one of three experts who spent 15 years on the project.
“You literally can’t find it in any other artist: he was painter and writer at the same time.”
Van Gogh’s letters were previously translated to English in 1958. The new compendium includes 20 new letters as well as complete versions of some letters previously only published in part.
More importantly, Jansen said, it gives more precise translations and includes reproductions of more than 2,000 paintings Van Gogh makes reference to. In all, it offers an unusually complete picture of the mental world of one of the world’s great artists.
For Van Gogh fans not interested in buying the 6-volume set, the entire compilation has been put online as a free, searchable database in French, Dutch and English — the three languages in which the painter wrote.
The database includes images of the sketches contained within in the letters, which are often stunning in their own right.
“Here’s a sketch of the latest canvas I’m working on, another sower,” Van Gogh said in a letter to his brother Theo, on Nov. 21, 1888.
“Immense lemon yellow disc for the sun,” he wrote. “Green-yellow sky with pink clouds. The field is violet, the sower and the tree Prussian blue. “
Van Gogh goes on to specify that he planned to put it on a size No. 30 canvas, 91 centimeters x 72 centimeters (about 36 x 28 inches.) The drawing is easily identifiable as one of several versions of “The Sower” on display at the museum.
Jansen said that letter is not at all unusual — Van Gogh often gave indications of the colors he planned to use, and sometimes went further in describing the effect he was chasing by using certain color combinations.
Though Van Gogh was a social and financial failure, selling just one work in his lifetime, “he was not a hysterical, irrational man: he was very methodical,” Jansen said.
“He chooses his goal very carefully and works toward it step by step.”
The book and Web site were published on Oct. 6; the museum exhibition opens Oct. 9, 2009 and runs through Jan. 3, 2010.
_____
On the Net:
www.vangoghmuseum.com
hi10.huygensinstituut.nl/vg/
Related News
Taiwan's National Palace Museum to open first-ever joint exhibition with ChinaOctober 2nd, 2009 Taiwan museum to open joint exhibition with ChinaTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's National Palace Museum said Friday it will open its first-ever joint exhibition with China next week, 60 years after they split amid civil war. The exhibition reunites treasures from China with those that Beijing has long said were stolen when they were taken to Taiwan.
MJ hailed Hitler as 'genius' in lost tapeSeptember 25th, 2009 LONDON - In a new tape that has surfaced, Michael Jackson can be heard saying that Adolf Hitler was a "genius". The King of Pop had made the statement to close friend Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who has been at Oxford University for 11 years.
Gore Vidal, Dave Eggers to receive honorary National Book AwardsSeptember 15th, 2009 Vidal, Eggers to receive honorary awardsNEW YORK — Congratulations, Gore Vidal. The author, playwright and political commentator will receive an honorary National Book Award medal this fall for "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters." Vidal, who turns 84 next month, is known for such best sellers as "Burr" and "Lincoln," and for the play "The Best Man."
Award organizers also announced Tuesday that Dave Eggers, 39, will be presented the "Literarian Award" for community service.
Hugh Grant helps dad launch art exhibitionSeptember 8th, 2009 LONDON - British actor Hugh Grant is doing all he can to promote his father, James, as an artist. The 'Notting Hill' star recently helped James, 81, launch his new art exhibition in Southampton, New York.
'90210' star Stroup says she's careful not to go over the top with her bipolar characterSeptember 8th, 2009 Stroup says bipolar role on '90210' is challengeNEW YORK — Jessica Stroup says she appreciates the challenge of playing someone with a mental disorder. The 23-year-old actress plays the bipolar Silver on the reincarnation of "90210" on the CW network.
George Harrison exhibition cancelled after rare photo theftSeptember 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An exhibition for paying tribute to the late 'Beatles' star George Harrison in his hometown has been cancelled after a rare signed photograph of the star was stolen. The 'For George' tribute opened in early August in his native Liverpool, England.
Picture This: Detroit Institute of Arts shows off collection of rare, early photos in exhibitAugust 31st, 2009 Detroit museum shows off rare, early photographsDETROIT — Sir John Herschel made important contributions to the nascent field of photography more than a century and a half ago, inventing a chemical process that allowed an image to be fixed onto photosensitive paper. So it's fitting that the first work attendees will see at a new photo exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts is an 1867 portrait of the British scientist.
Vietnamese art exhibition to premiere in HoustonAugust 31st, 2009 Vietnamese art exhibition to premiere in HoustonHOUSTON — An exhibition of Vietnamese art, with more than 100 objects never before seen in the U.S., will premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Sept. 13. It will remain on view through Jan.
Electronic love mails replace handwritten love lettersAugust 31st, 2009 MELBOURNE - Handwritten love letters have become a thing of past, thanks to electronic love mails. The immediacy of heartfelt emails or text messages has replaced the intimacy of the handwritten word.
TS Eliot a champion of lesbian fiction, father figure to younger writersAugust 30th, 2009 LONDON - Poet-playwright TS Eliot will be shown as a champion of lesbian fiction and compassionate father figure to struggling writers, when a new exhibition opens at the British Library next month. According to reports, letters written by him as a publisher at Faber and Faber suggest that he risked the wrath of the British authorities to bring out Nightwood, one of the first lesbian novels ever written.
Michael Jackson's nephew says uncle was perfectionist during hearing on memorabilia exhibitAugust 22nd, 2009 Jackson's nephew testifies at hearingLOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's nephew says his uncle was a consummate perfectionist who was concerned about his legacy. Taj Jackson's testimony at a hearing on Friday was meant to bolster his grandmother's opposition to a proposed exhibition of the King of Pop's memorabilia.
Phil Spector is writing letters about his life behind bars, fears for his safetyAugust 20th, 2009 Phil Spector writes about life behind barsLOS ANGELES — Music legend Phil Spector, in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, has been writing letters about his life behind bars — saying in a letter released Wednesday that he fears for his safety and would like to be moved to "a better prison."
Spector wrote to his friend Steve Escobar, a musician and music journalist, of his chagrin at being in the same prison as notorious murderers including Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan. He said he is working with his attorneys "to get a better prison with people more like myself in it during the appeal process instead of all these lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types....They'd kill you here for a 39-cent bag of soup!"
Spector, 69, said his spirits were up because his wife, Rachelle, has begun visiting him two days a week at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran.
Vermeer's 'Milkmaid' to be loaned to NYC museum for autumn exhibition of Dutch master's workAugust 12th, 2009 Vermeer's 'Milkmaid' to be loaned to NYC museumNEW YORK — Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece "The Milkmaid" is coming to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art for a special exhibition on the 17th-century Dutch artist. The exhibition opens Sept.
Jackson's daughter writes letters to him everydayJuly 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Michael Jackson's sister La Toya has revealed that the legend's eleven-year-old daughter, Paris, has been writing letters to him everyday after his death. "She wears Michael T-shirts every day and the walls of her room are covered with posters and pictures of her daddy.
'Beatles to Bowie' exhibition in London to display unseen celeb picsJune 26th, 2009 LONDON - An exhibition of more than 100 previously unseen images of stars from Jimi Hendrix to the Beatles are set to go on display in a National Portrait Gallery exhibition celebrating the music and fashion of the Swinging Sixties. The exhibition titled 'Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed' runs from October 15 to January 24 in London.
Loading ...
October 9th, 2009 at 9:09 am
The website hosting Van Gogh’s letters is vangoghletters.org, rather than the test site mentioned in the article.