Richard Van Gogh Research Paper

I chose to write about Van Gogh because he is my favourite historical figure and is an inspiration to me on many levels. I have studied and read about Van Gogh ever since about seventh grade, and never once stopped admiring his work and personality, apart from his fascinating life. For me, to write a paper about him would be very interesting and I hope to learn more about his life and career than I knew before. Some difficulties I may encounter would include not knowing for sure most of the details, and trusting mostly on books and papers written after his death.

In this response paper the event will be over Vincent Van Gogh. We went over a presentation of him. The presentation was in Art Appreciation Class at RSU. We watched a YouTube video about the starry night song and pictures of his paintings. In the music video by Don McLean Starry Starry night he sings about Van Gogh’s life.

How would it feel to live your life as a failure, but after your death be praised by all? The real Vincent Van Gogh was an artist who had nothing and gave up on life. Many people viewed him as a tenacious and mysterious artist. He died a tragic death feeling like an artistic failure due to a couple of reasons. The first reason was because there were no cures for the mental problems, such as depression, insanity, and epilepsy, that ran in the family. Because of his depression, he felt like an artistic failure, not knowing the fame he would later gain. Van Gogh died as an unknown artist with little money and no cure for an issue that was common throughout his family.

Around 1890, an artist by the name of Vincent Van Gogh who present day is one of the most renowned artists created magnificent, yet mysterious drawings which he started with just a pencil. From his pencil drawings with lines and dashes to the beautiful variations with using paint, Vincent was a genius, but was never congratulated on his work until later. Even as he was pronounced crazy, he could still create beautiful works of art which shows how even a flower can bloom in a dark forest. As his life was slowly being painted on canvas from the years of solitude and psychiatric problems he finally killed himself which a couple years later brought up his artwork through his own suicide.

While he only sold a few paintings during his lifetime, he did complete over two-thousand and one hundred works. “The public was almost entirely disinterested in the man who we now consider a genius–outside a small circle of artists, critics, friends, doctors, and family members, he was virtually unknown and unrecognized as anything other than a lonely and ridiculous madman, a failure at every enterprise he pursued so vigorously” (Callow). To understand the impact that Vincent’s work and life have had on the history of art, it is important first to examine the artistic and cultural environment with which he was used to and his relations to post-Impressionism, which is the period that his is mostly associated

Vincent William van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist who was most famous and significant figure in the history of Western art. Vincent William van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert. He was named after his grandfather and his brother who died at birth one year before he was born. His painting was notable for its beauty, emotion, and colors of depth which was highly influenced by the 20th-century art. During his life, he was struggling with mental illness and remained poor throughout his life. On July 29, 1890, at Auvers-sur-Oise, Vincent van Gogh died in France at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Vincent Van Gogh’s work of art is still modifying the way mankind sees magnificence, persona, distinction, and fashion in art. Vincent’s artwork filled the functions of art on a personal way by drawing numerous works of art of himself to possibly show what was going through his mind. Painting was his way of expressing himself and dealing with his mental illness. Vincent also filled the functions of art in a social way by the rise of feeling inside anybody who sees his paintings. Despite only selling one of his paintings, he has been a huge part of our art history today.

The artist I chose to do research on was Rene François Ghislain Magritte. Magritte was born November 21, 1898, Lessines, Belgium to a wealthy family. He had three younger brothers, his father was in the manufacturing business, and his mother was thought to be a milliner before getting married. A man painting in a crematory and his mother’s suicide in 1912 influenced Magritte’s progress as an artist. Magritte painted to find comfort from his mother’s death. In 1916, he left home and studied art at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels for the next two years. Although he was not interested in his classes, he became friends with Victor Servranckx, who taught Magritte the three styles: Futurism, Cubism, and Purism. Then, in 1921, he joined the

Vincent van Gogh was an incredible painter who was a part of the post-impressionism movement of art. Many believe his artwork and style shaped 20th-century art and many artists incorporated his painting style. Van Gogh is often regarded as on of the fathers of post-expressionism. Sadly, critics only appreciated his work after his death, by a self-inflicted gunshot, in 1880.

Vincent Van Gogh painted many figures, landscapes, cityscapes, and sceneries during the post-impressionism art movement. He used lighter palettes of reds, yellows, oranges, greens, and blues. Van Gogh also experimented with broken brushstrokes. The work of impressionists inspired Van Gogh during his trip to Paris. Influenced by a fellow artist, Gauguin, Van Gogh began to paint from memory, making his paintings more decorative and less accurate. His unique techniques inspired many artists including Matisse, Derain, Pollock, and Bacon. Each of these artists adopted/extended Van Gogh’s style to preserve his techniques.

Born in Leiden, Netherlands in 1606, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt was a 17th century painter and etcher whose work came to what has since been named the "Dutch Golden Age". Rembrandt's greatest creations are seen in his portraits of his contemporaries. Illustrations of biblical scenes and self-portraits as well as his innovative etchings and use of shadow and light. In 1612, Rembrandt attended elementary school until 1616, then attended the Latin School in Leiden. There is where he was in biblical studies and lessons on the classics. Rembrandt trained as an artist under two masters. His first was painter Jacob van Swanenburgh from 1571 to 1638 with whom he studied for about 3 years. Van Swanenburgh specialized in the vision of

Van Gogh created more than 43 self-portraits between 1885 and 1889.[231][note 13] They were usually completed in series, such as those painted in Paris in mid-1887, and continued until shortly before his death.[232] Generally the portraits were studies, created during introspective periods when he was reluctant to mix with others, or when he lacked models, and so painted himself.[222][233]

The 1800’s were a time when art merely showed our three-dimensional world on a two- dimensional plane. Claude Monet, a famous French impression painter, sought to change these Victorian standards that he so resented with his Impressionist ideals. During an art exhibition in 1874, Monet debuted his painting Impression, Sunrise which was critiqued by many other artists. One artist acridly dubbed it the title of Impression in that it did not focus on the scene at hand but instead favored lighting. However, Monet did not let this get to him and in fact, let it drive him to push for change in the art community. Monet used colors, technique, and impressionism ideals on to convey the new way that he believed art should be created.

A great artist once wrote, “If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”. This artist was Vincent van Gogh, soon to be an appraised artist known all around the world for his works, such as Starry Night. He is one of the very first artists of the post-impressionist style than is now adored in every continent. However, there is much more to the man than one painting. Creating a full timeline that stretches beyond Gogh’s life, this paper will discuss the life of Vincent van Gogh and the impression he made on the world.

In order to get an understanding of Van Gogh’s artworks, we must first get to know the very man himself. As it turns out, according to Dr. Cibelli, Van Gogh’s success was a by-product of his many hardships. As was noted in the video, “The Power of Art,” Van Gogh didn’t always have his mind set on becoming an artist. In trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, Van Gogh early in life tried to become a pastor, but was booted out by fellow missionaries. It was after this failure, that Van Gogh decided to paint as a way to express himself and make a living. Unfortunately, his paintings didn’t sell very well (seen as too dark) and he could not turn to his father for help. The rough relationship with his father, as noted by the documentary, stemmed from the fact that Van Gogh’s girlfriend was a former prostitute, and that was something his father could not accept. Luckily for Van Gogh, his brother Theo was by his side both financially and emotionally, even up until death.