I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam because I was there and it was on the bucket list. Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life. Plus, in the days before additional security was required, you could go right up to them (within reason) and check them out up close. They look like they were painted yesterday. Not everyone likes his work but I'm a fan.
Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
31–40 of 129 posts
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#32For an art noob, can someone help me understand why the perspective is off in so many of them? I know that he's a master and I don't want to contest that, but the perspective being off feels a little...amateurish? Or is that an intentional choice? If it is, would love to know the 'why' of it
noob here too, but I wanted to share what I found in one of the descriptions (“The bedroom”, which I chose while skimming through the thumbnails after reading your comment):
“The rules of perspective seem not to have been accurately applied throughout the painting, but this was a deliberate choice. Vincent told Theo in a letter that he had deliberately ‘flattened’ the interior and left out the shadows so that his picture would resemble a Japanese print”
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#33Slightly related: I've noticed first in Ghent, then in Amsterdam, that at certain moments of the day, the eddies and the waves of the water reflections in the channels are quite similar to the Van Gogh trademark lines.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#34The FAQ on that site has an entry for "Where is ‘The Starry Night’?" and its answer is at Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Where it happens that I saw it a few weeks ago, as part of a big Van Gogh exhibition with many of his paintings. I have to say that if you have a chance to go to that, or to another Van Gogh exhibition, I really recommend it. From what I understand, not everyone resonates with his work. In fact I bel…
I was never a fan of Van Gogh until I saw Starry Night in person at MOMA in NYC. The thing that jumps out at me is literally the paint on the painting. There is a lot of height to it. The paint is so thick in sections that it sticks out far above the canvas that it can cause a shadow next to it. We tend to think of paintings as 2 dimensional but Starry Night is 3D and seeing it online or in a book or poster is not th…
What I like about Van Gogh's work, is the 'vibrant energy' in his paintings. But I had to experience his work in person to come to appreciate and perceive that. Prior to my first in-person experience with his paintings, I was in the 'meh' camp. It was a similar story for me with the work of Georgia O'Keefe.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#35For an art noob, can someone help me understand why the perspective is off in so many of them? I know that he's a master and I don't want to contest that, but the perspective being off feels a little...amateurish? Or is that an intentional choice? If it is, would love to know the 'why' of it
Van Gogh was heavily inspired by Japanese woodprints, which often utilized 1-point perspective, leading to a sort of "flat" look.
When it comes to his understanding of perspective, Van Gogh was so obsessed with realism that he never drew from imagination and even used/invented his own physical perspective grid to check his work.
And for why his work might appear "amateurish": this was a deliberate style choice by Van Gogh. He was a person who wanted to disguise his expertise. In one of his letters, he notes to a fellow artist that he wants his work to draw people in who "swear he has no technique" and be so "savant" that his work almost appears naive and does not "reek of its cleverness". He's trying to fool us.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#36I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam because I was there and it was on the bucket list. Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life. Plus, in the days before additional security was required, you could go right up to them (within reason) and check them out up close. They look like they were painted yesterday. Not everyone likes his work but I'm a fan.
> Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life
This is true and big.
The paintings are nice on books and screens but are stunning in real life. There is a lot of nuance in the colours that pictures don't replicate.
Same happens to Vermeer landscapes. His "View of Delft" is just nice on screen but almost magical when seen in real.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#37Only the visible spectrum, with light coming from one direction only? Researchers will probably want more.
I am intrigued by your comment. Is there a real effort to photograph paintings in nonvisible spectrum and fuller set of angles?
Non-visible spectrum, including x-ray, is common.
It allows one to see what’s below the surface (sketches or painted-over parts)
Researchers also use all kinds of machinery to figure out how paintings were made, what materials were used, etc.
A painting by Rembrandt was put in a synchrotron, for example (https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-discover-unusual-compou...)
Fuller sets of angles also is fairly normal and must have happened for some of van Gogh’s paintings, since you can or could buy 3D prints of them (https://all3dp.com/3d-printing-van-gogh-painting/)
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#38For an art noob, can someone help me understand why the perspective is off in so many of them? I know that he's a master and I don't want to contest that, but the perspective being off feels a little...amateurish? Or is that an intentional choice? If it is, would love to know the 'why' of it
Well, you are right.
When it comes to drawing Van Gogh isn't really "a master". He began painting very late in life, didn't have a long apprenticeship and his career lasted just 10 years. Also, he lived in a cultural context (post-impressionism) that was moving away from classical notions of drawing and composition.
Besides, he wasn't the kind of guy that would spend days or weeks or months in a painting. Most of his paintings were the work of one day or afternoon on the field or beach, he wanted that quick burst of expression. That's why he was so prolific. Think jazz improvisation, not classical music composition.
The greatness of his work comes from the vibrant use of colour and brushwork, not drawing and composition.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#39I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam because I was there and it was on the bucket list. Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life. Plus, in the days before additional security was required, you could go right up to them (within reason) and check them out up close. They look like they were painted yesterday. Not everyone likes his work but I'm a fan.
Next time your in the Netherlands, check out the Kröller-Müller museum. Its collection was created by an art lover who was one of the first to appreciate van Gogh. Although its collection is a bit smaller than that of the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, it is, I think, of a higher quality.
Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings
#40I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam because I was there and it was on the bucket list. Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life. Plus, in the days before additional security was required, you could go right up to them (within reason) and check them out up close. They look like they were painted yesterday. Not everyone likes his work but I'm a fan.
> Pictures in a book or on web pages do not do justice to how vibrant the pictures are in real life This is true and big. The paintings are nice on books and screens but are stunning in real life. There is a lot of nuance in the colours that pictures don't replicate. Same happens to Vermeer landscapes. His "View of Delft" is just nice on screen but almost magical when seen in real.
HN might be the best place to ask. What lights do galleries use? They make the paintings pop.