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Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

vangoghmuseum.nl

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Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#111

Post by boppo1 »

toyg wrote: post #108
diego_moita wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I've just visited the Detroit Institute of Arts (which is excellent, by the way; a revelation to this cynical and displaced Italian). They have a fairly unknown (at least to me) 1873 painting titled Syria by the Sea , by Frederic Edwin Church. It's a capriccio, an imaginary landscape mixing ruins of various civilization, at sunset. On a screen or a page, it's just another bucolic landscape; but its size and colors ar…

Did you get to see Cotopaxi? It's in the same room, in the center. I have the good fortune of living near the DIA.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#112

Post by Saturn5 »

swayvil wrote: post #91
deeg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, his paintings are so thick . Photos don't allow you to see how the paint was applied on top of other paint. Seeing them in person allowed me to understand that Van Gogh attacked his canvas.

Destitute outcast dressed in rags. But he could afford to slather his canvases deep with that pricey oil paint. And don't get me started on storage space. Those paintings take up room. Maybe he had a trustfund. Maybe he spent 99% on art supplies and 1% on potatoes. I dunno.

He was not rich, he mostly painted farmers and peasants and never sold anything.

His family, especially his brother Theo, was well off and they sent him an allowance to survive as well as art supplies. (I would not be surprised that they were afraid that, if they send more money he'd spent it on alchool instead of supplies)

As for space, I think he sent most of his paintings to his brother in exchange for the allowance.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#113

Post by toyg »

boppo1 wrote: post #111
toyg wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just visited the Detroit Institute of Arts (which is excellent, by the way; a revelation to this cynical and displaced Italian). They have a fairly unknown (at least to me) 1873 painting titled Syria by the Sea , by Frederic Edwin Church. It's a capriccio, an imaginary landscape mixing ruins of various civilization, at sunset. On a screen or a page, it's just another bucolic landscape; but its size and colors ar…

Did you get to see Cotopaxi? It's in the same room, in the center. I have the good fortune of living near the DIA.

Absolutely, but I had some knowledge about that, so I was less surprised by it than by Syria. It's also a more angry, sinister painting, with darker tones.

You guys should cherish the DIA, it's a gem.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#114

Post by runamok »

bane wrote: post #55
mav88 wrote: post #31

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.

My wife and I both struggled to really get into his work until we went to the museum. There's something about the way the museum presented Van Gogh, as a struggling misfit of perhaps questionable talent trying to make friends and looking for a popular counter-culture style, that really clicked with me. I didn't identify with Van Gogh per se, but I suddenly felt for him and his humanity and it peeled away those layers…

The texture of his paintings is impossible to reproduce in a print. He really slathered it on!

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#115

Post by jacquesm »

diego_moita wrote: post #36
mav88 wrote: post #31

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.

> 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.

Van Ostade as well. And Ruisdael too. Those sky paintings are just incredible and seeing them reproduced isn't even close to the real thing.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#116

Post by jacquesm »

swayvil wrote: post #91
deeg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, his paintings are so thick . Photos don't allow you to see how the paint was applied on top of other paint. Seeing them in person allowed me to understand that Van Gogh attacked his canvas.

Destitute outcast dressed in rags. But he could afford to slather his canvases deep with that pricey oil paint. And don't get me started on storage space. Those paintings take up room. Maybe he had a trustfund. Maybe he spent 99% on art supplies and 1% on potatoes. I dunno.

> Maybe he had a trustfund. Maybe he spent 99% on art supplies and 1% on potatoes. I dunno.

Then maybe read a biography?

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#117

Post by jamiek88 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #46
lizknope wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/462 has a nice page where they did a high res 3d scan + model of the painting that you can explore on there; the only thing missing I think is that you can't change the light source.

Wow that really does show the texture!

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#118

Post by kdkirsch »

bookofjoe wrote: post #76
Misdicorl wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the lighting matters but I think it is only secondary. The thing that's missing in reproductions is the physical texture of the paintings.

I'm thinking super high-end 3D printers in 10 years will solve this problem.

They’re doing this! Read about the restoration of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/operation...). Amazing tech.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#119

Post by iaseiadit »

mav88 wrote: post #31

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.

When I went to Amsterdam, I made the mistake of not booking tickets in advance. It was totally sold out the entire time I was there. Would love to have gone.

The Rijksmuseum next door was impressive, though extremely crowded.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#120

Post by mav88 »

isaacfrond wrote: post #39
mav88 wrote: post #31

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.

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.

I will, thanks!
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