Van Gogh Today

Biopic
I love the new management of the Garden Theatre in downtown Princeton.  Now that it's a non-profit movie house, it offers art films, National Theatre Live from London and other performing arts screenings, classic films, as well as first-run films.  Here's the link if you are interested in learning more about it or becoming a member: http://princetongardentheatre.org/

Recently, an artist friend and I attended "Exhibition on Screen: Van Gogh," which we loved - see link for more info:  http://www.exhibitiononscreen.com/vincent-van-gogh-a-new-way-of-seeing  .  The film was made in collaboration with Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the artist's death.  It is a fascinating film, and left me thirsty to learn more about Van Gogh.

Biography
So, in my attic, I searched out an old volume that I've had for over twenty years, but for some reason, could never get into: "Van Gogh" by Pierre Cabanne.  I tried to read it when I bought it, which I think was sometime around 1986 (when it was first published in the US; it was originally written in French in 1961) and again around 1997, when I lived in Provence and visited Van Gogh's old haunts of Arles and St. Rémy.  After seeing this film, I was finally ready to read it.

As is always the case, for practical purposes, the book goes into a lot more detail than the movie does.  Now, after reading the book, I feel as though I understand this master who, aside from his artwork, is best known for sensational tidbits like his madness, and for cutting off his ear and sending it to a prostitute.  (In fact, he only sliced off a bit of his earlobe.)  I absolutely recommend both seeing the movie and reading the book!

The book selectively quotes many of Van Gogh's hundreds of letters to his brother Théo extensively, and I am very impressed by how matter-of-factly Van Gogh wrote of and spoke of his mental illness, although he never called it such, referring to it most often as his "nervous condition" or "madness." Regarding his illness, my favorite quote from a letter is, "...I am losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing.  And little by little can come to look upon madness as a disease like any other."  Van Gogh was a modern thinker in many areas, not just art.

Currently Showing
To add a third dimension to my recent study of Van Gogh, I came across this article in last week's issue of The Guardian:  (Sorry, but I can't figure out how to rotate the image.)

What a coincidence!  A very clever person decided to curate a joint exhibition of works by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, who was born only ten years after Van Gogh was born, and the Dutch artist, both of whom lived in France but never met. And of course, Van Gogh died much earlier.  The exhibit is currently in Oslo (where I hope to visit next summer, alas too late to see the exhibition) and then travels to Amsterdam.  I never would have thought of showing them together, but in reading this article, it's surprising that they have never been shown together before!

That's all for now - Thanks for reading!  Please follow my blog and comment below!