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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

#71

Post by pcurve »

deeg wrote: post #69
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.

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.

What's wild is some of his painting appear to be thick without using a ton of paint. It's amazing to think that most of his work was done in a span of couple years.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#72

Post by KANahas »

briandear wrote: post #66
golemotron wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN might be the best place to ask. What lights do galleries use? They make the paintings pop.

My house is essentially an art gallery — I had a museum lighting expert do all of the lighting installs and the key thing is going to be the width of the light (correctly focusing the light so it doesn’t spill outside of the painting much,) then color temperature. The focus of the light is key — by lighting the painting and not lighting the walls around it, that makes it pop a lot more than typically area lighting co…

Another huge aspect is the CRI/CQS of your light sources. CRI (Color Rendering Index) and CQS (Color Quality Scale) try to quantify how faithfully colors are represented when a subject is lit.

Generally a higher CRI equals a higher quality light source. A halogen/incandescent lamp has a perfect score, 100. High end LED sources are usually in the range of 95-98, but that number can be gamed, which has lead to the creation of CQS.

https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/is-color-quality-scale-bette...

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#73

Post by borbulon »

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…

I could spend days in front of just one of his real works.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#74

Post by briandear »

KANahas wrote: post #72
briandear wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My house is essentially an art gallery — I had a museum lighting expert do all of the lighting installs and the key thing is going to be the width of the light (correctly focusing the light so it doesn’t spill outside of the painting much,) then color temperature. The focus of the light is key — by lighting the painting and not lighting the walls around it, that makes it pop a lot more than typically area lighting co…

Another huge aspect is the CRI/CQS of your light sources. CRI (Color Rendering Index) and CQS (Color Quality Scale) try to quantify how faithfully colors are represented when a subject is lit. Generally a higher CRI equals a higher quality light source. A halogen/incandescent lamp has a perfect score, 100. High end LED sources are usually in the range of 95-98, but that number can be gamed, which has lead to the crea…

CQS is super important. That was a key tool for selecting the LED that we did. Thanks for bringing that up!

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#75

Post by AlbertCory »

I've been to most of the world's great art museums, but I haven't been there. (Or the Hermitage, but that's off the table at the moment /s) What are some lesser-known museums I need to add to the list?

I have one for you: https://folkartmuseum.org/. You can see the whole thing in an hour. If you think Van Gogh lacked formal training: these people had none whatsoever.

This is really a great thread, HN'ers. Very literate, educated, and well-composed.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#76

Post by bookofjoe »

Misdicorl wrote: post #65
golemotron wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN might be the best place to ask. What lights do galleries use? They make the paintings pop.

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.

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#79

Post by Vinnl »

AlbertCory wrote: post #75

I've been to most of the world's great art museums, but I haven't been there. (Or the Hermitage, but that's off the table at the moment /s) What are some lesser-known museums I need to add to the list? I have one for you: https://folkartmuseum.org/ . You can see the whole thing in an hour. If you think Van Gogh lacked formal training: these people had none whatsoever. This is really a great thread, HN'ers. Very liter…

I (and someone else too) already mentioned the Kröller-Müller elsewhere, but if you're in the Netherlands anyway, I'd recommend the Mauritshuis as well, and close to it is also the Escher museum if you're into that. I assume the Rijksmuseum is already crossed off :)

Re: Vincent van Gogh's paintings and drawings

#80

Post by julienchastang »

I went to a exhibit of van Gogh's lesser known works in Denver some years ago. For me, it really humanized him. As I recall, he learned his craft partly through a mail correspondence class. On display were some of his studies or "homework assignments" which I found particularly moving. He was seeking a path to a better life just like everyone else.
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