The Real Van Gogh - The artist and his letters
20 / 03 / 2010
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words, yet in ‘The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters’ words redefine our understanding and appreciation of one of the most revered figures in the Post-Impressionist movement. Through the juxtaposition of Van Gogh's letters and his art, we see his life, work and passions illuminated as never before."
The exhibition was at the Royal academy of Arts. It was an amazing exhibition which really gave insight into what Van Gogh was all about. it was fascinating to me to see how he struggled with perspective for so long and it was interesting to see the progression through his work, as you walked through the exhibition. I found the earlier pieces of work sometimes very crude (mainly the perspective paintings in oil), and often beautiful in an almost romantic way (ink sketches and line drawings on a plain background). the later work where he really embraced colour were fantastic. I was so glad to finally see some. Among my favourites was "sower with setting sun" (below); the colours were almost luminous, the green was so vibrant against the purple fields. Another favourite was the sunflowers, as i used sunflowers among other organic forms in my art at sixth form and on my art foundation at Norwich. The colours were really beautiful which made me realise how badly most of the paintings reproduce - they were all far more beautiful in reality. Some of the colours eg. bright pink have faded over time to almost white (eg. below in "blossoming Almond tree"; the blossom were originally a much brighter pink).
Above: Blossoming Almond Tree, (Feb 1890) Vincent Van Gogh Below: Sowers with Setting Sun, (nov 1888) Vincent Van Gogh
I did enjoy letter aspect of the exhibition; although most were in dutch and french they were often illustrated with rough sketches of whichever painting he was working on at the time. These sketches, which he referred to as 'croquis' or 'scratches', were beautiful, and with a few of his earlier pieces I actually preferred them to the painting itself. Most of the letters were addressed to his younger brother Theo (an art dealer who supported Van Gogh financially and morally throughout his career) other letters were addressed to his younger sister Willemien and artist friends Anthon van Rappard, Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard. 