Project of A class students.
Van Gogh was one of the most influential and prolific artists that expressed his emotions in a unique way and stimulated many people to follow his art.
Despite the fact that he was a formidably skillful painter as well as a writer, his works did not receive the recognition and attention they truly deserved while he was alive.
He was born in 1853 in Zundert, Holland and died at the age of 37 in 1890. In his personal life, Vincent was an introspective child with emotional climaxes and lack of confidence, according to his sister’s confession. Being the son of a pastor, Vincent was brought up in a religious environment which followed and affected him for the rest of his life. Despite his father’s profession, Van Gogh was interested in art , a field he started working for from his teenage years. At the age of 16, he worked as an art dealer in the Hague company before joining his brother’s profession.
Theo, Vincent’s brother, was very close to Vincent and he played a very important part in his life where he continually supported him both emotionally and financially. It was Theo that prompted him to take up painting in earnest.
In 1886, when Vincent moved in with Theo to Paris, he made several acquaintances with local artistic circles which led him to discover a new arising innovative art movement called ‘Impressionism”. Edgar Degas, Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gaugin were some of the renowned painters that accompany Van Gogh until fists of disillusionment stroke him. “Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony, and music inside me.” were his words
The technique of “pointillism” (where many small dots are applied to the canvas to form a shape) was prominent in Vincent’s work and very soon he was regarded as a post-impressionist artist. The idea of this movement is to depict real life in a less accurate process where the artist play with light and darkness.
Vincent’s life, though, was no bed of roses. He was an impoverished and volatile man living in utter despair and despondency. This is the reason why he was so devoted to painting and captured the world in his own special way so that he could put his mind at ease.
“What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity. An eccentric, or an unpleasant person, somebody who has no position in society and will never have” .
It came as no surprise that he managed to paint and write the most distinguished pieces of work while he was kept in the asylum. Despite his acquaintances with other famous artists, he died in extreme poverty, having sold one painting out of the 800 he produced.
The posthumously recognition came much later and nowadays Van Gogh’s paintings are sold at extravagant prices in auctions. Unfortunately, he is another example of the many artists that perished unnoticed and despondent in life. And one of his last sayings, a few years before taking his life, depicts the grandeur of his spirit.
“I have walked this earth and out of thirty years of gratitude, I want to leave some souvenir.”
And he definitely did!
ΟΜΑΔΙΚΗ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ
ΜΑΘΗΤΩΝ ΤΗΣ Α΄ ΛΥΚΕΙΟΥ
ΣΤΟ ΜΑΘΗΜΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΩΝ
ΔΙΔΑΣΚΟΥΣΑ: ΜΑΡΙΝΑ ΚΛΕΙΤΣΑ
