The Doctor visits Vincent

 

 

Vincent-van-Gogh "The Church at Auvers"

“The Church at Auvers”

 

I rarely watch the “Dr Who” series but on a recent random channel flip, an episode popped up at the point where the Doctor was at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, observing a Van Gogh painting. Seeing an ominous clue in “The Church at Auvers”, he was off on a rescue mission in his time warp “Tardis” to pay Vincent a visit in the Provence in 1890, to help him fight a threatening Krafayis creature.
Amongst the usual Dr Who wackiness, a dramatic story unfolds. Prior to this I hadn’t really studied Van Gogh’s life or paintings but it turned out to be a nice introduction full of insights. See video below.

 

Quotes from this episode – 

 

The Doctor: Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?

Curator: Well… um… big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world’s greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.

 

Vincent Van Gogh: And you see how they roar their light. Everywhere we look, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.

The Doctor: I remember watching Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. Wow, what a whiner! I kept saying to him “Look, if you’re scared of heights, you shouldn’t have taken the job then”. And Picasso, what a ghastly old goat! I kept telling him, “Concentrate, Pablo. It’s one eye, either side of the face”.

 

1881-A-Girl-Raking-black-chalk,-watercolour-58-x-46-cm

 ‘A Girl Raking black chalk’  – Vincent Van Gogh

Watercolour, 1881

 

 

1882-Woman-Miners-Carrying-Coal-watercolour-&-white-on-paper

 ‘Woman Miners Carrying Coal’  –  Vincent Van Gogh

Watercolour & white on paper, 1882

 

 

 

02.-1886-Self-Portrait-with-Dark-Felt-Hat-at-the-Easel-oil-on-canvas-46.5-x-38

 ‘Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel ‘ – Vincent Van Gogh

Paris, Spring 1886

“To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time, smoke one’s pipe, and drink one’s coffee in peace.”

 

“Love many things, for therein lies true strength
And whosoever loves much performs much
and can accomplish much,
and what is done in love is done well” 

– Van Gogh

 

1884-Avenue-of-Poplars-at-Sunset--oil-on-canvas

‘Avenue of Poplars at Sunset’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1884  Oil on canvas

 

 

 

1885-Lane-with-Poplars-near-Nuenen-oil-on-canvas

 ‘Lane with Poplars near Nuenen’  –   Vincent Van Gogh

1885 – oil on canvas

 

 

 

1885-The-Potato-Eaters-oil-on-canvas-81.5-x-114

‘The Potato Eaters’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1885  – oil on canvas 81.5 x 114.5 cm

 

 

1886-In-the-Bois-de-Boulogne-oil-on-canvas-46.4-x-36

 ‘In the Bois de Boulogne’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1886 – oil on canvas

“I experience a period of frightening clarity and in those moments when nature is so beautiful, I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.” ….Van Gogh

 

 

 

1886-Vase-with-Red-Poppies-oil-on-canvas-56-x-46

‘Vase with Red Poppies’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1886 – oil on canvas

 

 

1887-Four-Cut-Sunflowers-oil-on-canvas-60-x-100-cm

‘Four Cut Sunflowers’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1887 – oil on canvas

“….. even if it was absolutely true,
then I should like to show by my work
what such an eccentric nobody
has in his heart.

this is my ambition,
based less on resentment then on love
in spite of everything”  ….. Van Gogh

 

 

 

Wheatfield-with-Crows---Oil-On-Canvas-by-Vincent-Van-Gogh--1853-1890--Netherlands

‘Wheat Field With Crows’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1890

 

 

1887-Frtillarias-in-a-Copper-Vase-oil-on-canvas-73.5-x-60

 ‘Frtillarias in a Copper Vase’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1887 oil on canvas 73.5 x 60.5 cm

 

 

 

winter-garden-1884-Vincent-van-Gogh-(Dutch,-1853–1890),-Winter-Garden,-1883

‘Winter Garden’ –  Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

 

1888-Les-Alychamps-oil-on-canvas-Vincent Van Gogh-

 ‘Les Alychamps’  –  Vincent Van Gogh

1888   oil on canvas

92 x 73.5 cm

 

 

 

Van-Gogh Mulberry-Tree-

 ‘Mulberry Tree’  –  Vincent Van Gogh

1889 oil on canvas

 

 

Gogh_Vincent_Van_Prisoners_Exercising_after_Dore_-_Saint_Remy_1889-90__large

 ‘The Prison Courtyard’ – Saint Remy – Vincent Van Gogh

1890

 

 

 

Houses-in-Auvers-1890 Vincent Van Gogh

‘Houses in Auvers’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1890

 

 

 

The-Red-Vineyard-Van-Gogh workers in a field of red flowers

‘The Red Vineyard’  – Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Landscape_from_Saint-Rémy_-_Google_Art_Project-1889

‘Landscape from Saint Rémy’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1889

 

 

Vincent-van-Gogh-The-Paintings-(Two-Poplars-on-a-Road-Through-the-Hills)-1889-

 ‘Two Poplars on a Road Through the Hills’ – Vincent van Gogh

1889

 

 

 

Olive-grove Vincent Van Gogh- Dutch

‘Olive Grove’ – Vincent Van Gogh

 

Van-Gogh-Thatched-RoofsVan-Gogh-In-1884-

‘Thatched Roofs’ – Vincent Van Gogh

1884

 

 

1889-Avenue-with-Flowering-Chestnut-Trees-oil-on-canvas-72

‘Avenue with Flowering Chestnut Trees’ – Vincent van Gogh

1889 — oil on canvas

 

 

Green-wheat-field-with-cypress-tree - Vincent Van Gogh

‘Green Wheat Field with Cypress Tree’  – Vincent van Gogh

 

 

 

Van_Gogh_Japonaiserie Flowering Plum Tree,-1887 (after_Hiroshige),

Japonaiserie –  Flowering Plum Tree – Vincent Van Gogh

1887

 

 

 

Noi Volkov ceramic Van Gogh teapot

Van Gogh teapot – Noi Volkov

 

 

 

Van_Gogh_-_la_courtisaneThe-Courtesan-or-Oiran-(after-Eisen)-by-Vincent-van-Gogh

‘La Courtisane’  – The  Courtesan or Oiran – Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

Vincent and the Doctor : 

Vincent Van Gogh visits Musée d’Orsay to see his art in 2010

3.25 minutes,  BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arles,  1888.

Extracts from correspondence from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo.

 

My dear Theo,

I already wrote to you early this morning, then I went to continue working on a painting of a sunny garden. Then I brought it back — and went out again with a blank canvas and that’s done, too. And now I feel like writing to you again.

I’ve never had such good fortune; nature here is extraordinarily beautiful. Everything and everywhere. The dome of the sky is a wonderful blue, the sun has a pale sulphur radiance, and it’s soft and charming, like the combination of celestial blues and yellows in paintings by Vermeer of Delft. I can’t paint as beautifully as that, but it absorbs me so much that I let myself go without thinking about any rule. Today I worked from 7 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock in the evening without moving.
Because being surrounded by colour like this is quite new to me, it excites me, extraordinarily.

My colours, my canvas, my wallet are completely exhausted today. The last painting, done with the last tubes on the last canvas, is a naturally green garden, is painted without green as such, with nothing but Prussian blue and chrome yellow. I’m beginning to feel quite different from what I was when I came here, I have no more doubts, I no longer hesitate to tackle something, and that could increase still further.

I have such luck with the house — with work — that I even dare believe that blessings won’t come singly, but that you’ll share them for your part, and have good luck too. Some time ago I read an article on Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Giotto, Botticelli; my God, what an impression that made on me, reading those people’s letters! Now Petrarch was just near here, in Avignon, and I see the same cypresses and oleanders.
I’ve tried to put something of that into one of the gardens, painted with thick impasto, lemon yellow and lemon green. Giotto touched me the most — always suffering and always full of kindness and ardour as if he were already living in a world other than this
Giotto is extraordinary, anyway, and I feel him more than the poets: Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio.

Oh my dear brother, sometimes I know quite clearly what I want in life, and in painting too. I can easily do without the dear lord. But I can’t, suffering as I do, do without something greater then myself.Which is my life, the power to create. If you can’t see the beautiful days here, you will still see the paintings.
Forever yours
Vincent

 

source http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comment

  1. C jarvis
    Posted July 29, 2018 at 3:55 am | Permalink

    Did Van Gogh do ceramic pictures of boats ?

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