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Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

vangoghmuseum.nl

31–40 of 49 posts

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#31

I’ll join the others in chorus recommending an in-person attendance to the Van Gogh museum. I attended after enjoying another classic Amsterdam experience, munching through a potent hash brownie. Despite giving myself the recommended enjoyment and recovery time, the effects really kicked in just as we entered the Van Gogh Museum. It was brilliant! My beautiful wife abandoned me, because my absorption in some of the w…

My own sense of Wheatfield with Crows is that it is what Van Gogh saw when he looked at it. For me it is the closest I can come to seeing the world through another persons eyes. I have in my own life had moments when the distance between me and what I saw or sensed vanished. Hard to explain, but that separation just goes away - at least for me.

But no matter what you make of it, or how you try to understand it, that painting is to me simply the best.

I had a completely different Van Gogh experience at the Musee D'Orsay. I walked into a room and ahead of me was the Church at Auvers and Dr. Gache

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#32
post #30

Great! I've just watch Loving Vincent and this show up.

For those that don’t know, “loving Vincent “,it’s a movie done with paintings. It’s kind of spectacular and amazing. I remember and older movie called “Vincent and Theo”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_&_Theo

Theo being Van Gogh brother who would send him money and who corresponded with letters very frequently.

The Rodin museum in Paris had a couple of VanGoghs which I was instantly drawn to. They fly a little under the radar as they’re not sculptures.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Rodin

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#33
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam tells you everything you need to know about the person and his craft. It’s carries his name because it’s a whole museum building filled with his work. Literally 1000 drawings and paintings. And it’s definitely a must see in person and no matter how many times I’ve been, every visit to Amsterdam is accompanied by a visit to the Van Gogh museum. True workaholic life’s work.

Word of advice for those wanting to go to this museum: do the audio tour. You’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t.

Agreed, the audio tour was great.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#34

I’ll join the others in chorus recommending an in-person attendance to the Van Gogh museum. I attended after enjoying another classic Amsterdam experience, munching through a potent hash brownie. Despite giving myself the recommended enjoyment and recovery time, the effects really kicked in just as we entered the Van Gogh Museum. It was brilliant! My beautiful wife abandoned me, because my absorption in some of the w…

My own sense of Wheatfield with Crows is that it is what Van Gogh experienced when he looked at it. It is a painting of how his emotions colored his visual perception. For me it is the closest I have come to knowing what it is like to see the world through another person's eyes.

But no matter what you make of it, or how you try to understand it, that painting is to me simply the best.

I had Van Gogh experience at the Musee D'Orsay. I walked into a room and ahead of me was the Church at Auvers and Dr. Gachet. The two of them together was just overwhelming. One would be stunning but there were two. OMG.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#35

I’ll join the others in chorus recommending an in-person attendance to the Van Gogh museum. I attended after enjoying another classic Amsterdam experience, munching through a potent hash brownie. Despite giving myself the recommended enjoyment and recovery time, the effects really kicked in just as we entered the Van Gogh Museum. It was brilliant! My beautiful wife abandoned me, because my absorption in some of the w…

And also visit the nice Kröller Muller museum near Apeldoorn while you're in our country. They also have some Van Gogh's. Helena Kröller Muller was one of the first to recognize this kind of art. And also the place is surrounded by a beautiful forest where bikes are freely available.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#36
post #17
post #2

I used to "not get" why Van Gogh is considered to be so special. After reading his biography and his letters, I am now in the know. Van Gogh is an interesting case. He was very familiar with the art world, even before he started drawing and painting. He worked as an art dealer and traveled a lot when he was young. Where it gets interesting is when he sets out to become an artist himself. Over the course of only ten y…

> I used to "not get" why Van Gogh is considered to be so special. After reading his biography and his letters, I am now in the know. Funny thing is this was the reality of his lived experience as well. He sold three (though there is some debate it was four) paintings in his life. The majority of them to his brother, and the rest by his brother. He died a relative unknown leaving all of his paintings to his brother.…

It’s crazy that even back then , a man with his talent had productivity was largely ignored by society.

I lament the thousands of latent van goghs today that just didn’t get noticed in todays hyper competitive and hyper attention-focused society.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#37

I’ll join the others in chorus recommending an in-person attendance to the Van Gogh museum. I attended after enjoying another classic Amsterdam experience, munching through a potent hash brownie. Despite giving myself the recommended enjoyment and recovery time, the effects really kicked in just as we entered the Van Gogh Museum. It was brilliant! My beautiful wife abandoned me, because my absorption in some of the w…

And also visit the nice Kröller Muller museum near Apeldoorn while you're in our country. They also have some Van Gogh's. Helena Kröller Muller was one of the first to recognize this kind of art. And also the place is surrounded by a beautiful forest where bikes are freely available.

Kröller-Müller is my favorite museum. Good mix of styles, beautifully located.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#38
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it wasn't until I saw his painting in person at the Van Gogh museum. I had never seen painting with just so much physical, 3D realism to them (the paint projects off the canvas some 5-10mm in places). I've never seen anything quite like it from that era. Some others that I've gained appreciation for over time: Rembrandt (seeing the Night Watch in person, alone, was amazing), Vermeer (he was barely known until f…

Seeing them in person makes an enormous difference. And the Van Gogh museum is spectacular. I already liked his work, but I felt like I understood it much more, including how tactile his process was. A particular piece that really blew my mind to see in person was Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" at the Prado in Madrid. It left a lifelong impression (I've returned to see it several times). What I realized was, pa…

I had the same experience with the Garden of Earthly Delights: it leaves a lasting impression. It's so incredibly weird; parts of it look like a seventies comic (or perhaps older sci-fi book cover art) instead of a half a millennium old painting.

If I may give a recommendation :-) Another painting that left a lasting impression on me was "Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele", located in Bruge, in Belgium. It doesn't have the weirdness of the Bosch painting, but it's just so incredibly detailed, and unlike the more famous Lamb of God, you can come to within 5cm of it.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#39
Next time you're in the Netherlands, don't go to the van Gogh museum, but go to the Kröller-Müller Museum instead. It is the better van Gogh. Trust me on this.

The Kröller-Müller collection was made before van Gogh has broken through. They got first pick on everything. Although the van Gogh has more works, the Kröller-Müller has the better ones. Besides the setting of the Kröller-Müller is much much nicer.

Re: Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits

#40

Next time you're in the Netherlands, don't go to the van Gogh museum, but go to the Kröller-Müller Museum instead. It is the better van Gogh. Trust me on this. The Kröller-Müller collection was made before van Gogh has broken through. They got first pick on everything. Although the van Gogh has more works, the Kröller-Müller has the better ones. Besides the setting of the Kröller-Müller is much much nicer.

It's not an either or situation. One can attend both museums. But thank you for the tip!
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