Van Goghh

– There Are Several Van Goghs Essay, Research Paper

Art historian Griselda Pollock, in her documentary entitled The Legend of van Gogh, stated that .there are several van Goghs.. To agree or disagree with this statement, one must firstly understand the point Pollock is attempting to get across. One could interpret this opinion as meaning that there are various artistic styles and several facets of van Gogh.s life that can be critically analysed; having this understanding of Pollock.s attitude toward van Gogh, it would be difficult not to agree with her.

Using phraseology similar to that of Pollock, one could say that there are four van Goghs: the failing peasant, the successful sophisticate, the eccentric meaningful lover, and the van Gogh of the present day. All who have knowledge of the artist would know how complex his life was, and so it is not incredible to believe that he was all these things during his relatively short life. (Born in 1853, he died at the age of only 37, in 1890.) An alternate definition of Pollock.s statement is the following:

He was prolific and protean: He was a scholar and a sufferer, an art-world pro and a destitute outsider, an evangelical bohemian, both sordid and sublime. There are as many ways to see his pictures as there are ways to read his life. Some are stolid brown and gray. Others seem to detonate in a shrapnel burst of color, as if his world had begun to fly apart. Some are piercingly original. Others closely imitate other artists’ art. Apparent in these paintings . from “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam” . are the combustible components that he mixed in his art.

Firstly, van Gogh as the failing peasant. Van Gogh was not always a painter; although many claim he realised his artistic potential early in life , he did not seriously consider devoting his life to it (de Grausen , Eurie ). There is little known information about the artists first fifteen years, yet it is possible to find out the basics: after a few years of education in Holland, he left his studies at the age of 15, and never returned to them. In 1869, he joined a firm of art dealers in The Hague, called Goupil & Cie. (The van Gogh family had been involved in the art world for many years: both Vincent.s uncles, Cornelius and (Vin)Cent were art dealers, as was, of course, Vincent.s brother Theo.) Vincent kept his job at Holland for seven years, after which he was transferred to the London office. Enamoured by the different climate of London, Vincent remained there for two years, during which time he visited various galleries, admiring British artists and writers. Having been transferred for the second time (this time in 1875 and to Paris), van Gogh began to see that his life was turning into ennui; he hence left Goupil & Cie and revisited London. Vincent van Gogh.s instability in this job was the first sign pointing to failure being evident.

Realising he could no longer continue his position with Goupil & Cie, van Gogh looked elsewhere for opportunities he could take advantage of. He found a job as a teacher in charge of about 24 young students at Reverend T. Slade Jones. school in Isleworth. It was at this time that van Gogh considered that he could be destined to spread the word of God. He spent many hours reading the Gospel, attempting to ameliorate his relationship with God. Van Gogh requested to Jones that his responsibilities be broadened, asking to be transformed from a teacher to a clergyman. Jones accepted his request and van Gogh gave his first sermon in October 1876. A Biblical quote van Gogh cited in this sermon goes as follows:

Much strife must be striven

Much suffering must be suffered

Much prayer must be prayed

And then the end will be peace.

This excerpt relates inextricably to van Gogh.s life, as will be discussed later on in the .today.s van Gogh category..

Van Gogh was very fervent when it came to his studies of religion, yet when it came down to it, the reality was that his sermons lacked a vital feeling of life. Like his father Theodorus, Vincent had a passion for preaching; he lacked, however, a gripping and passionate delivery (Brooks ). After this short stint in Isleworth, van Gogh travelled to Laeken, where he failed to qualify for the mission school. Nonetheless, he persuaded prominent men at the church to allow him to have a trial period in one of the most impoverished regions in Europe, the coal-mining district of The Borinage, Belgium. Van Gogh began to work there in 1879 and became so attached to all the people there that he went to the extent of become poverty-stricken himself just to relieve them of their desires of both food and money. Although van Gogh had gracious intentions, the Church disapproved of his severe actions, requesting that he leave the area. He moved to an adjacent village, continuing to live in miserable poverty. One day, he felt duty-bound to visit the French painter whom he admired the most, Jules Breton; van Gogh, without ten francs in his pocket, walked the entire seventy kilometres to Courri.res, in France, to visit him. When he arrived, van Gogh felt too timid to knock on the door, and subsequently returned to his home very much discouraged, as one can expect.

Upon his return, he began to sketch his environment: the minors and their families, the harsh conditions . It was h