land development

Le Moulin de la Galette

Paris, March 1887

Oil on Canvas 46x38cm

Pittsburg Museum of Art,

Carnegie Institute

This is Mountmartre in Vincent’s day it was a rather rural setting and was just beginning to be developed. The building of Sacre Coeur basilica on the top of the hill had just begun you can see some scaffolding behind the big windmill. This mill or Moulin in French is the site for the very famous Renoir of the dancers. The huge old mill made it a landmark, the tax-free status, wine making, the bakery made the mill a destination for Parisians that wanted a day in the country without really leaving town. It may have formed a sentimental attachment for people like Vincent who like a rural life. There is no doubt that windmills remind everyone of the Dutch and Vincent was no different. The distance and remote view of the hill speak again of the outsider’s view. Vincent lived close to the mill with his brother Theo, on Rue Lepic, on the urban developed side of the hill. Many artists lived on this highest spot in Paris. At the same time the van Goghs lived here, Degas, Lautrec, Pissaro, Renoir; lived as well. Mountmartre, means, the mount of the martyr.  

His sermon

The Sower

Arles, November 1888

Oil on burlap on canvas,

73.5x93cm

Zurich, Foundation Collection

E.G. Buhrle

The saint of the future; the Sower. There is a halo or the rising sun behind his head as he casts seeds in the violet shadows of early morning. "As sow so shall ye reap"; this is a sermon by Vincent. The canvas is divided nearly in half sky being brilliantly painted in flecks of cadmium red to yellow hints of green and small cream clouds float lightly. The blooming plum in the foreground speaks to the Japanese influence. The subject, the Sower, is homage to Millet, who, Vincent greatly admired. The colorization is the first indication of Gauguin’s presence. The dabbled vibrant violet shadows beside warm tones and pale green is very Gauguin. Indeed, Gauguin was visiting Vincent. Vincent had hopes of a society of painters in Arles. He thought of himself as sewing the seeds for the new town on the horizon. The fabric this painting was done on was Gauguin’s preferred surface; rough burlap. It is a very pleasant painting the graceful curving branches of the plum tree echo the curves of the rising sun/halo and the movements of the farmer. There is still old fruit on the plum tree waiting to be harvested or fall to earth unused. The tree has been recently pruned and the open wound on the missing branch is close to center. Paris; he was so over that town.

Radio free Wire: Olive trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

Radio free Wire: Olive trees with Yellow Sky and Sun
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/360/Olive-Trees-with-Yellow-Sky-and-Sun.html

Olive trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/360/Olive-Trees-with-Yellow-Sky-and-Sun.html

SPF 1000!

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

Saint=Remy November 1889

Minneapolis, The Minneapolis

Institute Of Arts

The writhing struggle to emerge into the bright light of Southern France, is symbolic of Vincent’s attempts to grow past the alcoholism that has tortured him, with unhappiness and seizures. The orchard with gnarled olive trees, is like the hospital, where he lived when this was painted. The burning intense sunlight casts  transparent slim, orchid shadows on the tumultuous earth, like the fading evidence of madness. It is not easy or comfortable but the growth of the trees is visible. The cool pale distant mountain echoes the roiling rhythms of the orchard. Vincent was coming to grips with the knowledge, that he could pass beyond the confines of the earth he was planted in. The sun is so powerful a force in this painting, it seems to represent his faith in God; which had wavered during his darkest hours. He feels life stirring, perhaps for the first time in his life, which up to this point had been one depression and disappointment after the next.

Why oh why do I hate Paris?

Boulevard de Clichy

Paris, Febuary-March 1887

Oil on canvas 45.3x55cm

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum

(Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

the entire direction of this painting is down and out. All angles are directed down; the large arrow like white sky is pointing down and away. The cold emptiness of paving gives one a feeling of the distance he would have to travel to join the few stiff people close to the shops and cafes. It is pretty clear in this painting, as in others, Vincent didn’t love Paris, not in a drizzle or a sizzle…It is as foreign and remote to his mind as Nuemen his home town was. The trees are bare and thin the pale sky street and buildings, remind me of a corpse with Absinthe green shadows and pathetic sparse, hair like trees. The population is frozen too. There is no life in the crowd on the distant sidewalk. He was miserable and wanted us to know that. He may have been seeking agreement or sympathy, or just a witness to his alienation.