November 4, 2010

Van Gogh - a priceless life

Self-Portrait, Spring 1887, Oil on pasteboard,...

Many people wondered why Van Gogh's "sunflowers" worth that much money, my answer is: they are NOT worth that much MONEY but they are priceless.

Today I discovered another website about Van Gogh's works. There were many paintings I have not seen before. Again, like over 20 years ago, that fresh striking impression just rushed before my eyes.

If I have to use just one sentence to describe why Van Gogh was one of greatest artists in history, I would say: because he simply re-created his life through his works.

Vase with 12 sunflowers
Vase with 12 sunflowers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is my understanding that art is not really about subject matters, but “form”, which includes color, line, shape, brush strokes, etc.. Through this form, artists re-create their life. So from this perspective, what we see in Van Gogh’s paintings are NOT sunflowers, NOT crop fields, orchards, etc., instead, what we see is Van Gogh himself in person - his grief, his despair, his painful struggling for life.

Van Gogh had a very painful personal life journey, died at 37, yet, he desired life, fervently, as his paintings tell us. His paintings are all his life's continuation, so Van Gogh never died!

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3 comments:

  1. Agreed, Van Gogh never died. You too will never die through your attainments.

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  2. Van Gogh was the first artist to express emotion through his work, hence the label "expressionism", as opposed to the "impressionism" of paintings by the likes of Monet, Renoir and Cezanne.

    Did you know that he sold only one painting in his lifetime, which makes the obscene prices now paid for his work even more deplorable?

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  3. @dennis hodgson,
    i am not sure van gogh was the first, but certainly he was the first who expressed in such a intense level.
    yes i do know that he had only sold one painting in his lifetime.

    ReplyDelete