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Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

vangoghmuseum.nl

121–129 of 129 posts

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#121
post #108

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…

We are extremely lucky that the bankruptcy court did not let Detroit's creditors raid the collection.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#122
post #103
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.

> They look like they were painted yesterday. Actually, some of the pigments van Gogh used have significantly faded or shifted in color over time. https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i5/Van-Goghs-Fading-Colors-I...

That's sad. If only he had known 7 layer Flemish technique. On the other hand, then we wouldn't have his unique style.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#123
post #108

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…

> but its size ...

Interesting that you mention that. Our grandkids all got Van Gogh reproductions for their rooms(). I found it difficult to find the size of the originals and even harder to find reproductions at the same size (looking for cheap stuff on Amazon.) Worse yet, some of the repros were not the same aspect ratio indicating they had been cropped.

I'm not even close to any kind of art expert but it seems to me that the size of the original or what the artist does with an available size canvas are intentional.

() At 3 years old, our eldest grandson looked at a picture on our wall and correctly identified it as a Starry Night. We have no idea where he learned that but were impressed regardless.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#124
It must be great to see these original works in person. As other accounts have made clear. A rare spectacle.

But it's also not viable, resources-wise, for every human being to travel to (say) Amsterdam in person for a viewing, for the experience.

It will be nice when, one day, that full experience can be had, one way or another, without the cost of burning X (dozen/hundred/thousand) gallons of gas and ~ a months salary in costs per-time-per-person.

I daresay that even now, with what limited technology we have, some of the dimensional properties would be able to be somewhat (not wholly!) represented for remote viewers, well beyond what a simple photograph represents. e.g. a detailed 3d scan and dedicated viewing software, with or without HMD/VR.

The notion that highly endowed and profitable physical Art Galleries probably aren't entirely keen for that vision to proceed at pace, and certainly not as a free-for-all, does occur to me.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations on how to find the correct color temperature? Should it maybe be matched with the actual painting (how?) or dialed in to fit the rest of the room (how)?

Typically 3600-3800K. My lights are 3600K. A light meter for photography can give you color temperature, but it will always be printed on the box for your bulbs. I wouldn’t overthink it.. just as long as you stay out of the 4500K+ range (approaching daylight,) things will look great. The warmth of the 3600K range is great — anything less than that and the warmth of the light starts to affect color rendition, anything…

Thanks for taking the time!

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#126

It must be great to see these original works in person. As other accounts have made clear. A rare spectacle. But it's also not viable, resources-wise, for every human being to travel to (say) Amsterdam in person for a viewing, for the experience. It will be nice when, one day, that full experience can be had, one way or another, without the cost of burning X (dozen/hundred/thousand) gallons of gas and ~ a months sala…

Note that, already, "experiencing" the 3 dimensional aspect of the paint thickness - which is something that many in-person viewers comment upon, as one of the most striking parts of the experience - can be done at home by anybody with a web browser.

https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/462

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#127
One of the biggest lessons Van Gogh taught us is that social status can be an extremely poor representation of merit.

We can walk down the street proud in our suits and high standing, while any beggar on the street might be a Van Gogh (discovered, or not), capable of things we cannot dream of.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#128
post #113
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Indeed it is. We try to.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#129

I was once in the Orsay museum, and realized that the Van Gogh paintings are nice enough to put in the kitchen; which unfortunately is a bar too high for 99% of existing paintings in the world. For some reasons, many painters do not try to make beautiful things, or they are incapable.

Maybe they just wasnt attempting to create decoration for your kitchen.

Quite true. For various reasons, maybe they were trying to create boring or ugly things, because they succeeded.
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