I visited the Van Gogh museum recently, again (my third visit actually). It was interesting as always, because one ends up understanding him more and more with each chance to see his art and know more of his life journey. I was able to see more clearly his transformation from a learner to a painter to becoming a master himself. The journey he went through to improve himself, constantly. It is easy to recognise in his earlier paintings, the student, who was experimenting with the art, but hadn't really figured out his own style yet.
Those were especially interesting for me to observe, as I am also on my own journey to learn and enjoy this art. I read about how he used different ways to paint, especially using the perspective frame which explained how he got the dimensions right (it's a learning every painter could use). I also liked his view on art, where he thought painting from reality was more important than from imagination. I am also on the same boat as him on this one.
As I walked through the Van Goghs, some of the paintings spoke to me and some not. And it wasn't always the famous ones that I stopped by the most. Some I sat and stared at for long, just because I could see what he was trying to learn and experiment with them. The earlier paintings were more about trial and error, of him trying different styles to see what worked. And the later ones were full of fast strong brush strokes and a lot more colour, inline with his mental state at that time as well as finding his own style.
I want to share a few of these pieces with you here, which made me stop and look at them.
From his earlier period:
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| Boulevard de clichy |
Boulevard de clichy (1881): This is a painting of a street in Paris, painted during the time he was learning painting in Paris. You can see how he thinks about the world already, and how impressionism is still his style, though with less aggressive strokes as his last year of paintings had. You can see him being an artist in his own right, but not Van Gogh yet.
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| View of the sea at Scheveningen |
View of the sea at Scheveningen (1882): I would never put this as a Van Gogh. It didn't have his signature bright colours. And neither those fast and furious brush strokes.
Only the calmness, even with a rough sea...so unlike his other paintings...
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| Woman sewing, with a girl |
Woman sewing, with a girl (Drawing, 1883): This was a simple drawing but the detailing expresses the light and the emotions so well, you can see the emerging talent of Van Gogh in this. And the lengths to which he practiced, to get his art right.
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| Shoes |
Shoes (1886) - I loved this painting, I don't know why. I stood in front of it staring at it for a while. The detailing, the light, the texture, OMG! These shoes look so real, you can almost see their story in the painting, how used up and worn out they were, what they had been through and where they were now. It was surreal.
Apparently when in winter he couldn't practice painting with flowers, he used shoes as an alternate model 😂. This shows the lengths to which he went, to learn and grow.
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| Garden with courting couples |
Garden with courting couples, Saint Pierre (1887) - This is again a very bright and cheery painting, showing couples in a garden in Paris. It has a very different impressionist style to it, made of dots but longer than used by other painters at that time. This was impressive, yet still not a typical Van Gogh
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| Quinces, lemons pears and grapes |
Quinces, lemons pears and grapes (1887): This was another painting showing all the practice he put in to experiment. And what an experiment, painting an entire painting in just one colour. You also see the love for yellow emerging from his palette slowly 😊. This was the one painting of the day I thought I wouldn't mind putting at home.
From his later period:
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| Trees and undergrowth |
Trees and undergrowth (1887): How many shades of green can you count in this painting? This was such a gorgeous piece - so detailed, it must have been so tough to get it together into one view. This painting takes you there, where he was.. It was also a precursor to a later painting of his on the same topic of trees and their undergrowth.
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| Landscape with rabbits |
Landscape with rabbits (1889): This is a very small painting, which was put up in a non-descript corner of the museum. What I loved here were the rabbits. So simple, yet saying so much.
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| Undergrowth |
Undergrowth (1889): There was something magnetic about this painting, it was the first one I liked that day. Its just so deep, so layered, so coloured, so vibrant. Such a unique example of his view - painting from reality was more important than from imagination. This is reality in its full grandeur - loved it.
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| Cypress and 2 women |
Cypress and two women (1890): There was something very playful, something very pronounced about this painting which I loved. He wanted to say something (Which I still don't get).
Another important aspect of this is the curves of the trees, which he has replicated in every part of the painting. I don't know what was about this one, but I drew to it.
I had a nice day at the museum, viewing the paintings in my own way. But the memory I will leave with is a scene - of a teacher with some 10-15 girls younger than 10 she had got along to show the almond trees painting. They all sat in front of it, with paper and pencils in their hands. She spoke about the paintings in Dutch to them, explained it, and then they all started painting. Their own 10-year old version of this masterpiece. Painting, chatting with each other, getting distracted and then getting back to what they were creating. I wish I had had that chance to look at art and interpret it my own way when I was younger. It's amazing to be exposed to it all early, I love it. And I am doing it now...
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