Jenny and I recently attended a Van Gough exhibition at the NGV. We went in a trip organized by the Benalla Gallery and we traveled by bus leaving at 8AM and returning at 5PM. It was an enjoyable day. Because we already had tickets we did not have to queue for long when we got to the gallery. The bus journey from Benalla to Melbourne seemed to not take long either. Van Gough’s pictures are not his best but this is a small criticism. I would for once like seeing some of Vincent’s killer pictures but the exhibition does show how Vincent progressed. Most of the pictures are early but there is one of his very latest. As is normal with artists Vincent collected a lot of drawings etc from magazines, newspapers etc to give him inspiration and maybe they just caught his attention so he cut them out of newspapers etc and a good third of the exhibition was examples of what he had collected and maybe stacked in a corner for looking at later. But because he had collected them they were thought to be important so were kept by his estate. Some were interesting. Mostly not though. More importantly Vincent collected and was obviously influenced by Japanese wood prints and there was also a room of Japanese Prints. The Gallery owns the best Hokusai print of them all – The Great Wave and fishing boats in front of Mt Fuji - and this print was in the exhibition. The others came from all over the world and were in effect a world class exhibition of Japanese Prints. This exhibition was impressive on its own accord. These woodcuts – sometimes rolled off in great numbers for the masses are obviously of a high artistic standard and are well worth seeing. What can we discern from them? Do they give an indication of Japanese life at that time? I don’t know. Maybe. They do comply with the universal art standard – do you feel you understand the artist? The answer is definitely yes. This aspect of Japanese Art somehow made its way around the world and the world was intrigued. And still is. But this is surely because it is simply good art. You cannot help but being impressed. Vincent’s exhibition starts with his early drawings and progresses from there. No one can say Vincent suddenly appeared as a ready-made genius painter. He worked at it for a long time. He was extremely prolific. He did lots of drawings. He tried hard to get it right. Don’t let me mislead you – he did have talent – but he was hardworking as well. You cannot help but admire him. Some of his pencil drawings are exquisite and draw on your heartstrings. He did lots of drawings in pencil, pen, charcoal and ink and they are all good. Sometimes he is obviously copying to a certain extent other great artists or is giving his version of their paintings. Probably just to see if he could I assume. Or to work on his style. When he started using colour you can see how he was influenced by the Japanese woodcuts. In one or two he more or less recreates the previous Japanese woodcut or he transposes the subject of the Japanese print into a local scene. The exhibition does not have many of what I call Vincent’s killer paintings. Only one – maybe two. This does not lessen the value or enjoyment in any way however. Vincent experimented with many styles before he settled on his own distinctive way. He was of course well known in Art circles when he was alive. He was respected by other artists. He knew all the Impressionist painters and he tried to set up an Artists Colony in Arles. Unsuccessfully unfortunately. Some of his early works are extremely commercial. He tried to produce paintings that would be attractive. Some are obviously set up to be attractive to the viewer. eg The Shepherd and his sheep. As he progressed he was able to bring into his paintings the essence of the subject landscape without giving a complete reproduction of the image he was painting. His landscapes around Arles completely show the viewer just what the landscape looks like. Of course he could do portraits as well. And he would have abandoned or painted over any painting that did not come up to scratch. As we know he was extremely prolific. This exhibition emphasizes how Vincent liked the seasons. It also shows how he could experiment. Eg. The Green Vineyard. This is almost a recreation of a Japanese print done in impressionist style. In fact it is exactly this. He even has Japanese women parading through the vineyard with their parasols. The question is: why do we like Vincent’s paintings? Why do we think he is a genius? Why are his paintings so valued? The short answer is that they are valuable because they are so good. We recognize their goodness immediately. They are attractive. We understand them. We are drawn to them. Our heart goes out to his paintings. We agree immediately that this is the painting of a genius. I also think that good painters can organize paintings to fit on the page in a way that the eye finds attractive. This is their genius. It looks easy to the eye. It pleases our brains. There is a balance to the painting. Our eye travels round the painting in a measured way – slowly and happily – without stress. Vincent learned how to put paint daubs on a canvas that depicted images we understood and sympathized with. No matter what his emotional and mental problems were they did not interfere with his work. He kept on producing no matter what his circumstances. He was hard working and prolific. He had a fight with Gaugin and in a fit of jealousy and disappointment he cut off his ear. But what else did he do? - he went home and painted a self portrait. Nothing interfered with his work. He knew what he was doing. Good on him I say. When I went to France I went to Arles because even though I only had a limited knowledge of Vincent's life I knew he had lived in Arles. And I must say I was not disappointed. There are no paintings of Vincent's in the Arles Gallery. There are no blue plaques in the town. But when you move around the country you keep turning up in Vincent's paintings. Suddenly you look around and you are in the middle of a painting. You recognise it immediately and totally. Its both amazing and thrilling. We love what he did. Our appreciation of his pictures are our belated judgment of his work. How he would have handled our uber fandom is hard to say.
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