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| Brochure produced by The Cleveland Museum of Art |
Friday’s lecture solidified for me why Van Gogh was an important
painter. Lecturer, Shackelford described how Van Gogh painted many self
portraits during his career that were different – not repetitions that the
Cleveland Museum of Art show will focus on. Van Gogh painted his portrait using
many different colors – the hues red that reflected his red hair color and
shallow, yellows that reflected his illness. Most of his portraits were painted
as a mirror image; hence, Van Gogh had his pallet in his right hand and painted
with his left. Therefore, Van Gogh did not reverse the image; he kept it as is
while he painted himself. I never thought about the “mirror image” as the
reverse of what was real – Van Gogh was right handed.
I learned something new while I listed to Dr. Shackelford’s
lecture.
Moreover, Van Gogh’s inspiration for his self portraits with
easel was from Rembrandt’s self portrait as he stood by an easel. Rembrandt’s
version was soft and used a brown pallet, while Van Gogh’s bold colors
immediately awakens the viewer attention. Van Gogh’s other inspiration for his
“dot” brush strokes is similar to Seurat’s pointillism. And what I already knew
is that Van Gogh painted himself due to the expense of using models – it was
easier to paint yourself in the mirror and experiment with different colors and
brush strokes.
Shackelford’s lecture also introduced other paintings from Van
Gogh such as his “Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin” in two versions (this
is in the exhibit). One version is brightly painted with orange, blues and
bright green where the other version is muted – using brown tones. For me, I
prefer the brighter version where I can see Van Gogh happily mixing these
colors and excited by his subject. Moreover, I love the “sunflowers” for the
same reason – the vibrant yellows take over the canvas and you’re instantly
propelled into the painters thinking process. Van Gogh draws you into his
subject matter no matter what.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is fortunate to have “The Large Plane
Trees” where this subject matter has been repeated. I love the dominance of the
trees in the blue, purple and maroon brush strokes in the bark that makes Van
Gogh brilliant by using unorthodox colors, in my opinion. If you look close,
you can see tiny “red diamonds” where Van Gogh painted on a table cloth with
this pattern. Again, his funds were limited –hence canvases are costly.
When I do my pastel drawings, I integrate Van Gogh’s ideology
when I use purples and reds in my plants–experimenting with color to create a
“stop and stare” for the viewer. He is a step above other artists when he uses
a “swirling method such as ‘Starry Night.’” Moreover, that is what draws me in,
a new paint stroke, thick use of paint that is almost a glob onto the canvas or
color choice. Van Gogh is a master.
After Shackelford’s lecture, I am even more in awe with Van Gogh
for his creativity – constantly trying to improve himself. He created these
repetitions so he can learn by doing – it was his creative process to become a
better painter. In his process, all of his versions are elegantly and
beautifully painted.
I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Cleveland Museum of Art
to distribute the audio guides. It was the first Saturday for the Van Gogh
exhibit and it was crowded. As I stood by my perch, I can see the four
repetitions of Van Gogh’s “Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin” and they are
all remarkable in their own right. You can see the bright colors from a
distance where I just stood and stared. Van Gogh’s brilliance will always be
cherished by me. The museum owns three, where I wish we had more but the pieces
are stellar.
If you love Van Gogh or not, you will be in awe as you gaze upon
his brilliant canvases. I’m looking forward to seeing the show, alive and in
person.
