Van Gogh’s Brilliance

Brochure produced by The Cleveland Museum of Art

Computer problems and projects, I have not been writing my regular blog posts. Life has gotten in the way. Now that I had the pleasure of being in the audience for the “Van Gogh: The Face in the Mirror” lecture, I’m ready to delve in. My reason for signing up for the Van Gogh lecture is my love for the painter – his bold brush strokes and unorthodox color choices. The Cleveland Museum of Art owns three Van Gogh’s and I love staring at them whenever I walk into the Contemporary Galleries. Therefore, I can’t wait to see Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit on view until May 26, 2014.

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.