VINCENT VAN GOGH Paintings ART images CD crafts cards

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"There is no blue without yellow and without orange." -- Vincent

"It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures." - Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Willem Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands, the son of a pastor. His early works were influenced by his experiences as a missionary among poverty-stricken miners in Belgium and his admiration of Rembrandt. In 1886 Vincent went to live with his brother Theo, an art dealer in Paris.  During his time in Paris Vincent was deeply influenced by the new Impressionist movement, and also by Japanese printmaking, and his paintings began to show the brilliant colors we usually associate with his work.  In 1888 he moved to southern France, and here, under the brilliant sun of Arles in Provence, among the wheat fields and cypress trees, he painted most of his best-loved works, alive with swirling brushstrokes in vibrant hues of yellow and blue and green. He also painted many peaceful scenes and portraits at the nearby asylum of Saint-Remy, where he spent a year. Van Gogh died in July 1890 of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, after struggling with mental illness for most of his adult life.

Vincent Van Gogh is known to have created over 2000 paintings, drawings, watercolors, and sketches, most during a ten-year period. He also left behind hundreds of letters written to his beloved brother Theo, and these provide much insight into his life and work. Van Gogh influenced later art movements including Expressionism, Fauvism, Abstraction and much of 20th-century art. He is considered one of the greatest painters in European art history, perhaps the greatest colorist, and he is certainly among the best-loved artists in the world. 

If you ever have the opportunity, please go see Van Gogh's paintings in person, for no print or reproduction can fully convey the incredible color, movement, texture, and emotion of his work.  Perhaps we are moved by Vincent's work not only because of its beauty and brilliance, but also because we know the artist suffered so in its creation.  His art communicates his love for the beauty of this world, his awareness of the spiritual in the ordinary, his struggle with "madness," and his abiding compassion for his fellow human beings.  

(This text copyright K. Goode 2005, All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized copying or reproduction strictly prohibited by law.)