The celebrated VanGogh, I have heard of this famous artist for many years, and to have the opportunity to visit Amsterdam and to see his works, was a privilege in and of itself. The museum is beautifully laid out and even though the average time spent is 1,5 hrs, I could easily spend 4 to 5 hours trapped in time, looking at his thick strokes and seeing his message form with each line.
Van Gogh, grew up in a time when Amsterdam was bustling with artists, to make yourself stand out, most artists committed to a specific genre of art, from painting only portraits, still life, to painting cheese ( Amsterdam is known for its cheese :-) ). For Van Gogh, he started out painting self-portraits, particularly because he could not afford models.
Van Gogh self-portraits
All of his self-portraits had different features, and probably they were indicative of what he was feeling at the time. Interesting for me was how he named his paintings, and the Dutch straightforwardness exemplified, “head of woman”, “head of man”.
After he had focused on a bit of self-portraits, he decided to begin focusing on peasant paintings.
Peasant Portraits (Van Gogh)
He did portraits of peasants, I think it is admirable that he chose not to focus on the “ who’s who of society,” however chose to portray the backbone of society, the ones who worked in the fields and the ones were deemed as outcasts.
In his famous painting, the “Potato Eaters,” he tried to realistically represent a peasant family having a meal, several critics mention that the painting did not demonstrate the idealistic view of others.
Potato Eater (Van Gogh)
I see Van Gogh as the real deal, a person who would represent things as is and not a camouflage. As there was a comparison photo to the “Potato Eater” and in this photo, there was an unrealistic view, the “peasants” look well-off and well-dressed. He made paintings of peasants by paying homage to this so-called honest and humble existence in face of encroaching industrialization. To fully immerse himself in his paintings, he chose to live among the peasants.
Van Gogh Home
This is his home where he often worked at creating his masterpieces, and his work is quite noticeable for his thick strokes. Many of them of nature, others have bright colours, he even did Japanese paintings.
Towards the end of his life he suffered from mental illness, and unfortunately bit off a friend's ear in a dispute. Though he chose to get help at a mental institution, he eventually succumbed to his mental illness, shot himself and died two days later, July 29, 1890. His works only became popular after his death, as his family championed recognition for his works.
The VanGogh Museum is definitely a worthwhile visit, especially if you are a fan of modern and impressionist art.
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