Van Gogh paintings: titles and descriptions

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The short life of this artist was like a bright flash of lightning. Vincent van Gogh lived in the world for only 37 years, but left behind a fantastically huge creative heritage: more than 1,700 works, including about 900 drawings and 800 paintings. Van Gogh's paintings at modern auctions beat all records in terms of value, and in fact during his lifetime he managed to sell only one of his works, which, in terms of today's money, brought him an income of only 80 dollars. The conflicting emotional personality of the artist and his unusual work were incomprehensible to most of his contemporaries.

Now, many books have been written about the biography of the famous Dutchman, and his paintings and drawings take pride of place in the most prestigious art museums and galleries in the world. Let's remember the creative path of the great expressionist and the magnificent paintings of Van Gogh, unlike any other.

Three creative periods in the life of an artist

The creative path of Vincent van Gogh is conditionally divided by art historians into three periods: Dutch (1881-1886), Parisian (1886-1888) and late, continuingfrom about 1888 until the death of the artist in 1890. Such a short creative life, only 9 years long, was destined for this man. The canvases painted during these time intervals differ greatly among themselves, both in plots and in the manner of writing. I would like to clarify that the paintings of Van Gogh, whose names are indicated in this article, of course, are only a small part of his vast artistic heritage.

Vincent van Gogh began to engage in creativity much earlier than 1881, but then he was mainly attracted to graphic drawing. He did not receive a professional art education, although he tried several times to study as an artist. But he could not overcome the rebellious spirit in himself, his talent could not fit into any academic framework, which forced the young Vincent to drop out of school and paint on his own.

Wag Gogh paintings of the Dutch period

Having discovered oil painting for himself, the artist began to paint people, their harsh life, hard life first of all. The canvases of this period are not at all like the bright beautiful creations of Van Gogh, which subsequently brought him deafening posthumous fame. Here are the characteristic works of those years: "Potato Eaters", "Weaver", "Peasant Woman". The color palette of these paintings is dark and gloomy, like the life of poor people.

You can see how the artist passionately empathizes with his characters. Van Gogh had a very responsive, kind and compassionate soul. In addition, he was very religious, for some time he even servedChristian preacher. He understood all the commandments of the New Testament literally. He walked in the simplest clothes, ate poorly and lived in the poorest shacks. At the same time, he came from a very we althy family and, if he wanted, he could continue the family business (trade in paintings and art objects). But that was not Vincent van Gogh, he was good at painting, but not selling.

Paris period

In 1886, Van Gogh left his native Holland forever and came to Paris, where he tried to study painting, visited exhibitions of fashionable painters, got acquainted with the work of the Impressionists. The paintings of Toulouse Lautrec, Monet, Pizarro, Signac, Renoir made a huge impression on Van Gogh and had a considerable influence on the further formation of his creative style of writing. Van Gogh begins to pay great attention to color, now he is attracted not only by people, but also by landscapes and still lifes. The artist's palette becomes brighter and lighter, Van Gogh's talent as an excellent colorist begins to appear in the works of the Parisian period.

In Paris, the artist works like a man possessed, however, as always. Here are some typical paintings by Wag Gogh painted at this time: "Sea in Sainte-Marie", "Bouquet of flowers in a blue vase", "Seine embankment with boats", "Still life with roses and sunflowers", "Blossoming almond branch", " Gardens in Montmartre", "Roofs of Paris", "Portrait of a Woman in Blue", etc. Van Gogh's Parisian period was veryfruitful, during these years the artist painted about 250 paintings. Then Van Gogh meets Gauguin, their friendship and creative union becomes very valuable to him. But the characters of the two creators are too dissimilar. And it all ends in a quarrel that leads Vincent to a nervous breakdown. It is to this difficult period of life that Van Gogh's painting "Self-Portrait with a Cut-Off Ear and Pipe" belongs.

Van Gogh at Arly

Gradually noisy Paris begins to weigh Van Gogh, and in the winter of 1888 he goes to Provence, to the town of Arles. Here he was to write his most brilliant creations. The beautiful nature of these places fascinates the artist. One after another, he creates such canvases as "Landscape with a road, a cypress and a star", "Hacks in Provence", "Red vineyards", "Olive trees against the backdrop of Alpille", "Harvest", "Field of poppies", "Mountains in Saint-Remy", "Cypresses" and many other incomparable landscapes - masterpieces of post-impressionist painting.

He also paints an endless series of flower still lifes. No one has ever painted flowers like Vincent van Gogh. Pictures - the famous "Sunflowers" and "Irises" - were painted by him in Provence. The artist transfers to the canvas the endless fields of Provence, filled with pure transparent air, flowering gardens, cypresses, luxurious olive groves. At the same time, he is also an excellent portrait painter. In Arles he painted many portraits andself-portraits.

Famous "Sunflowers"

Sunflowers still life is one of Van Gogh's most popular paintings. Most of us know this painting from numerous reproductions. Meanwhile, the impressionist painted not this one still life, but a whole cycle of seven paintings, which depicted sunny flowers. But one of the works died in Japan during the atomic bombing, the other was lost in one of the private collections. Thus, only 5 paintings from this series have survived to this day.

These are Van Gogh's paintings. The description and photograph of the reproduction, of course, cannot convey all the charm of the original. And yet I would like to dedicate a couple of lines to "Sunflowers". This still life just splatters with sunlight! Van Gogh outdid himself by finding many shades in yellow. Some researchers believe that the artist's mental illness manifested itself in this work, as evidenced by this unusual brightness and saturation of the still life.

Starry night painting

Van Gogh's painting "Night", or rather, "Starry Night", was written by him in Saint-Remy, in 1889. This is a large canvas measuring 73x92 cm. The color scheme of this fantastic creation of the artist is very unusual - a combination of blue, sky, dark blue and green with various shades of yellow.

The compositional basis is dark cypresses in the foreground, in the valleylies a small inconspicuous town, and above it stretches an endless restless sky with exaggeratedly huge stars and a luminous moon, as if swirling in a whirlwind of the Milky Way. This picture, like most of Van Gogh's works, must be viewed from a decent distance away, it is impossible to perceive the scattered large strokes in a holistic way.

Painting "Church in Auvers"

Van Gogh's "Church at Auvers" is also one of his most famous and popular works. This work was written in the last year of the painter's life, when he was already very ill. Van Gogh suffered from a severe mental disorder, which could not but affect his painting.

The drawing of the church, which is the center of the composition, is made with wavy, trembling lines. The sky - heavy, dark blue - seems to hang over the church and presses on it with its lead weight. It is associated in the viewer with some impending threat, it awakens disturbing feelings in the soul. The lower part of the painting is bright, showing a bifurcating path and grass lit by the sun.

Cost of paintings

As mentioned earlier, the cost of the work of the Dutch post-impressionist is very high. But even with a huge amount of money, it will be difficult to buy a canvas, the author of which is the great Van Gogh himself. Paintings with the names "Sunflowers" can currently be valued at any mega-large amount. In 1987, one of the paintings in this cycle was sold for 40.5 million at the Christie's auction.dollars. A lot of time has passed since then, and therefore the cost of this work could have grown many times over.

The painting "Arlésienne" was bought by Christie's in 2006 for $40.3 million, and "Peasant Woman with a Straw Hat" was bought in 1997 for $47 million. If the artist could live to this day, he would be one of the richest people on earth, but he died in poverty, not even knowing how dearly future generations would appreciate his work.

Artist's paintings in Russia

In Russia, Van Gogh's paintings can be seen in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage, as well as in Moscow, in the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin. In total, there are 14 works by Van Gogh in our country: "Arles Arena", "Huts", "Morning", "Landscape with a house and a plowman", "Portrait of Mrs. Trabuque", "Boats in Sainte-Marie", "White house at night", "Ladies of Arles", "Bush", "Prisoners' walk", "Portrait of Dr. Felix Rey", "Red vineyards in Arles", "Landscape at Auvers after the rain".