Does anyone know anything about the work of Vincent Van Gogh?

Question

I am doing a report on him and have already written about his childhood and career but I am stuck on things about his work?

Answer 1

Hey KFC,

The Starry Night, by Vincent, is the subject of the Don McClean song Starry Starry Night.

Vincent van Gogh is well-regarded as one of the greatest and most famous artists, ever. His life and work has inspired and influenced much of art history since his tragic death in 1890. In fact, what many people today consider to be the archetypical "artist's persona" is largely a result of his influence.

Gogh, Vincent (Willem) van (b. March 30, 1853, Zundert, Neth.--d. July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris), generally considered the greatest Dutch painter and draughtsman after Rembrandt. With Cézanne and Gauguin the greatest of Post-Impressionist artists. He powerfully influenced the current of Expressionism in modern art. His work, all of it produced during a period of only 10 years, hauntingly conveys through its striking colour, coarse brushwork, and contoured forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in suicide. Among his masterpieces are numerous self-portraits and the well-known The Starry Night (1889).

Answer 2

Everyone has given good answers here, but I should point out tht Van Gogh was not an Impressionist painter, but actually comes under the heading of Post-Impressionist.

His earlier works done in the Netherlands are much darker and a fair bit gloomier than his later works. His palette lightened and became much more vivid and colourful after he moved to France, because of the strong French light, and he began to use some wonderful contrasts, in particular yellow ochre with cobalt blue. You could take an earlier painting like the Potato Eaters and a later one like the Bedroom or some of the cornfield ones and simply compare the colours used.

Answer 3

Hat's off to all those who've answered here - they're all good answers .... however what exactly is it you want to know about his work? .... why he painted a particular subject? why he used a particular method? why he used particular colours? why he applied colours in a particular way? ..... these answers are based in the research you've already done .... you will find many art critics and so- called experts giving their own opinions and explanations (many of whom will agree with each other) but I suspect you are being asked to give your own opinion .... and if that's the case - then do some critical thinking of your own .... decide to critique two or three of his paintings .... look at the time periods they were painted in - what was happening in his life at this time? (not just to him personally, but his society, the world - what was happening in the political world - was there a war going on somewhere, was a war about to be declared, how might he have been feeling about these things?) - what had happened in his life up to this time? - now you should be able to give a fairly educated opinion on at least one of those paintings ......
think about if you were asked to do a painting today about, let's say, love, and think about what's going on in the world today - how much love is there? how is it (or not) being shown), do enough people get love? and think about if you were trying to find a different way to 'paint' it by comparison to anything you've seen before .... how would you feel about it? would any of the above affect the way you painted it?
Now 'apply' the same sort of 'thinking' to Van Gogh - would he have had similar thoughts too?
Good luck.

Answer 4

He only painted for ten years, his paintings are on many subjects such as local workers i.e. the potato eaters, his most famous works are; the sunflowers, irises, starry starry night, the night cafe. The first two paintings were sold at Christies and were the highest value for artwork ever recorded(Irises the highest price over £8 million in the 1990's, I think).
He died a poor man, he gave away many paintings just to survive in exchange for food and board. He was sent to a lunatic asylum in St Remy where he painted the irises, which were in the garden of the asylum.
He painted many self-portraits and if you look carefully you can see the change in his style which depicts the amount of lunacy at the time.
He cut off his ear as part of his madness and painted a picture of himself with bandaged ear. He also shot himself and this led to his death of blood poisoning, which killed him three days later, on death certificate as suicide.
Any more let me know because he is one of my favourites.

Answer 5

If you want to know more about his work, I really advice you to read his letters to his borther Theo.
There he compulsively talks about his work and leeds you to have a better understanding of his work, it captures his soul and spirit and the combination of strength of character and vulnerability expressed in these letters explain both the intensity and sensitivity of his work, I think there is no other way of learning about his work really and it has been edited by the Director of The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.(you can find in their website some extracts and info about his work there) Hope it helps!

Answer 6

I used to do an art report on Vincent myself years ago but that was before Internet came along. I had to rent out a lot of big heavy books out of various libraries but not anymore thanks to the internet..... anyway..... here's some info that you may or may not be interested in:

Vincent Willem van Gogh (March 30, 1853 in Zundert – July 29, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise) was a Dutch draughtsman and painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist.

His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces.

He suffered from recurrent bouts of mental illness — about which there are many competing theories — and during one such episode, famously cut off a part of his left ear.

Van Gogh spent his early life working for a firm of art dealers, and after a brief spell as a teacher, became a missionary worker in a very poor mining region.

He did not embark upon a career as an artist until 1880, at the age of 27. Initially he worked in sombre colours, until an encounter in Paris with Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism accelerated his artistic development.

He produced all of his more than 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings and 1100 drawings or sketches, during the last ten years of his life.

Most of his best-known works were produced in the final two years of his life, and in the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.

The central figure in Vincent van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, an art dealer with the firm of Goupil & Cie, who continually and selflessly provided financial support.

Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards, which were published in 1914, by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo's widow, who generously supported most of the early Van Gogh exhibitions with loans from the artist's estate.

Van Gogh has been acknowledged as a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism and has had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists, and with a line that continues through to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and the British painter Francis Bacon.

Want More? Then check out EVERYTHING about him on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Van_Gogh
(Wikipedia's a fantastic site for looking up references)

It will provide you with everything you (hopefully) want to know along with some useful links to sites and so on.

Hope this helps!

Good luck with your report.

Answer 7

Yes, what would you like to know? He was an impressionist..at first he tried to be a minister like his father..but that didnt really work out..he also workedin an art gallery but he normally tried to talk people out of buying artwork and would tell them what was wrong with it..he always had a strong belief in God, loved the Bible, cared for the poor, very generous..he was NUTS..he would dip is paintbrush in turpintine and suck on it....he relied on his brother Theo for financial support who really knew he was a genius....his work speaks for itself...and thats a very vague quesion..you can email me if you want to know more..

Answer 8

Check out starry starry night

his self portrait

his bedroom picture

he was in love and chopped off his ear and gave it to the girl

the lyrics of the song "starry starry night" named after his famous painting tell of how he was misunderstood

Answer 9

why don't you look at some paintings and find out the historical setting. Like why he could paint soething like that to begin with, LIke the "potatoe eaters"

Answer 10

His most well known works are of Sunflowers