VINCENT VAN GOGH

DUTCH POST-IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER

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BORN

MARCH 30, 1853

ZUNDERT, NETHERLANDS

DIED

JULY 29, 1890

AUVERS-SUR-FRANCE

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"VINCENT"

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and grey

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.

Shadows on the hills

Sketch the trees and the daffodils

Catch the breeze and the winter chills

In colors on the snowy linen land.

And now I understand what you tried to say to me

How you suffered for your sanity

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen

They did not know how

Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night

Flaming flo'rs that brightly blaze

Swirling clouds in violet haze

Reflect in Vincent's eyes of China blue

Colors changing hue

Morning fields of amber grain

Weathered faces lined in pain

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

And now I understand what you tried to say to me

How you suffered for your sanity

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen

They did not know how

Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you

But still your love was true

And when no hope was left in sight

On that starry, starry night.

You took your life

As lovers often do;

But I could have told you Vincent

This world was never

Meant for one

As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night

Portraits hung in empty halls

Frameless heads on nameless walls

With eyes that watch the world

And can't forget.

Like the stranger that you've met

The ragged men in ragged clothes

The silver thorn of bloody rose

Lie crushed and broken

On the virgin snow.

And now I think I know what you tried to say to me

How you suffered for your sanity

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen

They're not

Listening still

Perhaps they never will.

VINCENT

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(WATCH AND LISTEN)

AS JOSH GROBAN SINGS

THE BEAUTIFUL BALLAD

"VINCENT"

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"STARRY, STARRY NIGHT"

STARRY NIGHT

by

VINCENT VAN GOGH

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 ARTIST'S MOTHER

She lived long enough to see

her son become a world famous painter,

...sadly it was only after his death.

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During 1879-1880 Van Gogh lived in Cuesmes, Belgium working as a Layman Protestant Preacher. It was while living here that he decided to become an artist.

In the year 1880 he started painting in earnest.

This home is now a museum.

VAN GOGH

In the early 1880's Vincent attended several formal schools of art.

In fact while Shelley and I were managing the Marlborough, which was a building with 35 luxury condos in Kalamazoo, Michigan (see Blog Post #4) one of our retired senior residents had a condo which was full of absolutely beautiful paintings by her grandmother. She proudly shared the fact that her grandmother as a young woman in the early 1880's had attended an art class in which one of her fellow art students was Vincent Van Gogh.

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CAFE TERRACE AT NIGHT

Painted in Arles, France

in Mid-September of 1888.

After finishing Café Terrace at Night, Van Gogh

wrote a letter to his sister expressing his enthusiasm:

"I was interrupted precisely by the work that a new painting of the outside of a café in the evening has been giving me these past few days. On the terrace there are little figures of people drinking. A huge yellow lantern lights the terrace, the façade, the pavement, and even projects light over the cobblestones of the street, which takes on a violet-pink tinge. The gables of the houses on a street that leads away under the blue sky studded with stars are dark blue or violet, with a green tree. Now there's a painting of night without black. With nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green, and in these surroundings the lighted square is colored pale sulphur, lemon green. I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night. In the past they used to draw, and paint the picture from the drawing in the daytime. But I find that it suits me to paint the thing straightaway. It's quite true that I may take a blue for a green in the dark, a blue lilac for a pink lilac, since you can't make out the nature of the tone clearly. But it's the only way of getting away from the conventional black night with a poor, pallid and whitish light, while in fact a mere candle by itself gives us the richest yellows and oranges."

"Books have precisely the description of a starry night in Paris, with the lighted cafes of the boulevard, and it's something like the same subject that I've painted just now."

The café stills exists today

and is a "mecca" for Van Gogh fans

visiting southern France.

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In his lifetime, Van Gogh created 900 paintings and made 1,100

drawings and sketches, but sold only one painting during his career.

Most of his works were left to his brother Theo.

THEODORE VAN GOGH

Vincent's younger brother Theo was a Dutch Art Dealer. Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support, allowed Vincent to devote himself entirely to painting. 

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FAMOUS QUOTES

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THESE ARE ONLY A FEW OF HIS SELF-PORTRAITS

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Vincent died within thirty hours of a self inflicted gun-shot wound.

Vincent's last words were, "The sadness will last forever."

Unable to come to terms with Vincent's absence, Theo's

health declined and he died six months later.

They are buried side by side.

ICI REPOSE

(translates)

"HERE LIES"

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This movie presents evidence that Vincent's death may not have been a suicide.

I had read this evidence presented many years ago, and had

always tended to accept it as probable fact.

Loving Vincent

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Loving Vincent
Directed by	Dorota Kobiela Hugh Welchman
Produced by	Hugh Welchman Ivan Mactaggart Sean Bobbitt
Written by	Dorota Kobiela Hugh Welchman Jacek Dehnel
Starring	Douglas Booth Jerome Flynn Saoirse Ronan Helen McCrory Chris O'Dowd John Sessions Eleanor Tomlinson Aidan Turner
Music by	Clint Mansell
Cinematography	Tristan Oliver
Production company	BreakThru Productions Trademark Films
Distributed by	Good Deed Entertainment (USA)[1][2]
Release date	12 June 2017 (Annecy)[3] 22 September 2017 (US)[4] 13 October 2017 (UK)[5]
Running time	91 minutes[6]
Country	Poland United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$5.5 million[7]
Box office	$1.4 million [8]

Loving Vincent is a 2017 biographical animated drama film about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the first fully painted animated film.^[9] It is written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, and is being produced by Hugh Welchman and Sean Bobbitt of BreakThru Films and Ivan Mactaggart of Trademark Films. The development was funded by the Polish Film Institute, and re-training of professional oil painters to become painting-animators on the film was partially funded through a Kickstartercampaign.^[10] The film is being sold by Cinema Management Group and financiers include RBF Productions, Silver Reel, Doha Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Sevenex Capital Partners and City of Wrocław, European Capital of Culture in 2016.

Each of the film's 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 115 painters.^[11] The film premiered at the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.^[3]

 

Contents

  [show] 

 

Plot[edit]

One year after the death of Vincent van Gogh, Postman Roulin requests that his son Armand personally deliver Van Gogh's last letter to his brother, Theo, after previous attempts to mail the item failed. Despite not having been fond of Van Gogh and recalling the incident when the deceased mutilated his ear and gifted it to a local prostitute, Armand begrudgingly accepts due to his father's affection for the painter. Postman Roulin acknowledges Van Gogh's mental illness and blames the other townspeople for ostracizing and driving him out. He also expresses bemusement about the cause of Van Gogh's death, as he had received a letter from him six weeks prior to the suicide that showed him in a calm and normal mood.

Armand visits Père Tanguy, who informs him that a depressed Theo, who suffered from syphilis, deteriorated and died shortly after his brother's death. He recalls his time in Paris with Van Gogh as well as the latter's strained family life and eventual pursuit of art after several failed career paths. While describing Van Gogh's funeral, he mentions that Dr. Gachet, who housed Van Gogh after his release from an asylum and shared a mutual love of art with him, had treated Van Gogh as family and had been visibly distraught at the funeral; Tanguy recommends that Armand get the forwarding address for Theo's widow and child from Dr. Gachet.

After traveling to Auvers-sur-Oise, Armand learns that Dr. Gachet is out on business from his housekeeper, Louise, who expresses contempt for Van Gogh. While waiting for the doctor's return, Armand chooses to stay at the same inn that Van Gogh had during his time in the area. There he meets temporary proprietress Adeline Ravoux, who was fond of Van Gogh and was present on the day of his apparent suicide attempt and eventual death. She describes him as a quiet and eccentric man who was fond of his painting and children. Like Armand's father, she admits to being surprised at his suicide, as he had seemed in good spirits and had ordered more paint to continue his art. Upon her suggestion, Armand visits the local boatman, who informs him that Van Gogh kept close company with Dr. Gachet's sheltered daughter, Marguerite. Armand meets Marguerite, who claims she did not have a close relationship with Van Gogh and rebuffs him after he suggests that Van Gogh's suicidal mood occurred after her father got into an argument with the painter and forbid Van Gogh from seeing her.

Armand continues to investigate Van Gogh's death and questions why he chose to return to the inn after shooting himself in the stomach, rather than shooting himself again in the head. Later, Armand discovers that the shot that mortally wounded Van Gogh happened in a different location than what was reported, and that he had been in the company of local boys, one of whom, Rene Secretan, was in possession of a gun and had often drunkenly waved it around town. Armand visits the boatman again, who informs him that Rene enjoyed tormenting and humiliating Van Gogh. After a visit to Doctor Mazery, who examined Van Gogh, Armand also learns that the shot that killed the painter came from a distance, and at an angle that made it impossible to rule it a suicide.

Armand meets Marguerite again, who admits that she was close to Van Gogh, but not romantically, and the argument that happened between him and her father was not about her. Armand theorizes to Marguerite that a drunken Rene accidentally shot Van Gogh, who refused to reveal the truth in order to protect the boy. Marguerite tells him that no matter what happened, Van Gogh was still dead and his life mattered more than the circumstances of his death.

Dr. Gachet finally returns and promises to deliver Armand's letter to Theo's widow. The doctor rebuffs Armand's theory, telling him that depressed patients' moods can vary wildly and that he could have easily gone from calm to suicidal in six weeks. The guilt-ridden Gachet admits that he was envious of Van Gogh's talent and commitment to art, and that the argument had occurred after Van Gogh had accused Gachet of being too cowardly to pursue his passion. Gachet, enraged, accused Van Gogh of making Theo's health worse due to the financial strain caused by having to treat his brother's mental illness and support his profitless pursuit of art. Gachet posits that the accusation had driven Van Gogh to suicide in order to release Theo from the burden.

Armand returns home, and Postman Roulin later receives word from Theo's widow, thanking Armand for returning the letter -- signed, "Your loving Vincent." The credits reveal that Armand pursued a lifelong career in the army; Adeline married a local innkeeper; Marguerite remained unmarried in her father's house and kept Van Gogh's painting of her for over 40 years; and Rene Secretan admitted on his deathbed to tormenting Van Gogh, but claimed Van Gogh had stolen his gun to commit suicide. A title card notes that Van Gogh painted over 800 paintings in just 8 years, none of which sold to the public, though he would go on to be named by art historians as the father of modern painting.

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LUST FOR LIFE

1956

Kirk Douglas

Nominated

for Best Actor

An excellent movie with Kirk Douglas giving a fascinating portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh.

You can watch the whole movie on You Tube.

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As you read the following newspaper article from 1990 about the prices paid for various Van Gogh paintings, remember the article was written 27 years ago!

Can you even begin to imagine what they are worth today?

Elizabeth Taylor will sell her prized Van Gogh in London

despite an uncertain economic climate.

SUZANNE MUCHNIC

TIMES ART WRITER 

 November 05, 1990 

The economy looks so gloomy and the art market has flattened out so much that many prospective sellers of valuable artworks are waiting for a more propitious time to liquidate their treasures.

Not actress Elizabeth Taylor. She has consigned her prized Vincent van Gogh painting, "View of the Asylum and the Chapel at Saint-Remy," to the auction block. The 1889 landscape is expected to bring between $16 million and $22 million on Dec. 3 at Christie's London. The actress bought the painting for $257,600 at a London auction in 1963.

If the selling price falls within the auction house's estimate, Taylor's painting will be among the most expensive Van Gogh’s to be sold at auction, but it won't approach a record. The highest auction price for a Van Gogh--and for any artwork--is $82.5 million, paid last May by Japanese paper manufacturer Ryoei Saito for "Portrait of Dr. Gachet."

Van Gogh painted "View of the Asylum and the Chapel at Saint-Remy" a few months after he had committed himself to an asylum in Southern France. In a letter to his brother, Theo, the Dutch artist said that the painting celebrates nature with "autumn effects glorious in color, green skies contrasting with foliage in yellows, oranges, greens." 

Executed the year before Van Gogh committed suicide, the painting comes from the most vigorous and highly valued period of the artist's short career. The fact that "View of the Asylum and the Chapel at Saint-Remy" has been shown in prestigious museums around the world indicates that it is considered a notable example of his work. The Metropolitan Museum of Art included the landscape in the 1986-87 landmark exhibition, "Van Gogh in Saint-Remy and Auvers."

Taylor bought the painting while she was married to actor Richard Burton. She had begun collecting art in the mid-'50s and had been looking for a Van Gogh for 12 years, according to the auction house. Her father, London art dealer Francis Taylor, reportedly advised the Burtons to go to Paris during the auction and to bid in secrecy to keep the price down.

The Burtons hung the painting in their home in Gstaad, Switzerland, for several years. Later they remodeled their yacht Kalizma (named for Taylor's and Burton's children, Kate Burton, Liza Todd and Maria Burton) to accommodate the painting. The yacht, which was docked on the Thames River, was home to the Burtons on their frequent visits to London. They lived on board to circumvent British laws that prevented them from importing their pets.

Taylor kept the painting after her divorce from Burton. In recent years she has displayed it in her home in Bel-Air. The actress declined to explain why she is selling the Van Gogh. An auction house official would only say that the consignment was "a personal decision."

Although the auction forecast is bleak for the fall season, this is the second multimillion-dollar Van Gogh to be offered. Christie's New York will test the Van Gogh market on Nov. 14 when a 1890 still life, "Vase With Cornflowers and Poppies," goes on the block at an estimated price of $12 million to $16 million.

The Van Gogh market has gone wild in the past four years, starting with the sale of "Sunflowers" for $39.9 million to a Japanese insurance company on March 31, 1987. Five and a half months later, on Nov. 11, 1987, "Irises" sold for $53.9 million to Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond. When Bond's financial empire subsequently tumbled, "Irises" was quietly put up for sale. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu bought it earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

The "Irises" record held until last May, when it was shattered by the astonishing sum of $82.5 million paid for "Portrait of Dr. Gachet." Among other Van Gogh paintings that have commanded more than $10 million at auction are "Bridge at Trinquetaille" ($20.24 million),"Portrait of Adeline Ravoux" ($13.75 million) and "Romans Parisiens (Les Livres Jaune)" ($12.2 million).

VIEW OF THE ASYLUM AND

THE CHAPEL AT SAINT-REMY

Elizabeth Taylor paid $257,600. for this Van Gogh at a London auction in 1963.

Just 27 years later she sold it at auction for 16 million in 1990.

Imagine what it is worth today after another 27 years.

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PORTRAIT OF DR. GACHET

The highest auction price ever paid for a Van Gogh,

or for any artwork as of May, 1990.

$82.5 million paid by Japanese

paper manufacturer

Ryoei Saito.

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VINCENT VAN GOGH

BY

JOHN PETER RUSSELL

VAN GOGH MUSEUM

AMSTERDAM

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Published by

WORDS OF WILLIAM™

©2017

     William F. Carawan

      "Poetry Guy"

All rights reserved

Boston, Massachusetts U.S.A.

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 COMMENT SECTION

I interviewed and hired a blue cow (see picture below) with a one of a kind attitude! Her name is Sally, although she says "sassy" is what most people call her...and I can understand why.

She recently arrived in the USA from a very tiny country called Kows'r'blu. In fact it is so tiny...that no one seems to know where it is located. Sally says its' one claim to fame is a small population (or herd) of blue cows which are not found anywhere else in the world. She says that makes her very rare and special! And I might add...seems to be the main cause of her attitude.

Sally has agreed to manage the "Comment Section" of my blog. She will get paid by commission based strictly on the tally of comments for that months' blog post. She seems to think that her attitude will be a big help in reaching that goal. And I can only imagine that it certainly will.

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