Vincent: Outsider Artist or Modern Master

Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most prolific artists ever to live, however he didn’t start painting till he was nearly 30 years old and produced the majority of his major work only 2 years before dying by his own hand at the age of 37. We are aware of over 1300 drawings, watercolors and prints and 860 paintings, but he sold only a single painting in his lifetime for the equivalent of about $80. Now his paintings sell for over 80 million.

Vincent, as he preferred to be known, evident by the way he signed his paintings, originally wanted to be a minister. However, his eccentric nature was at odds with the established religion. For instance, he chose to live with the peasants in the fields rather than up on the hill at the monastery and believed in experiencing life up close and personal in order to completely understand the world we live in. This kind of departure from the insular religious life was not appreciated.

Vincent suffered early in life the unrequited love of his cousin and never had any lasting romantic relationships. The only person to ever get close to him was his beloved brother Theo. Though younger than Vincent he was his sole means of support for much of his life. Theo provided for Vincent’s materials as well as his lodging and basic necessities and even made sure he was well looked after during his commitments to various mental institutions. There is much debate regarding the cause of Vincent’s mental condition, everything from porphyria to syphilis to epilepsy to schizophrenia to bi-polar disorder, the later being the most agreed upon and likely.

Vincent’s style was initially influenced by his Dutch heritage taking inspiration from the dark works of the Master Rembrandt, whom he describing being in awe of and spending countless hours staring at his painting of the Jewish Bride. Vincent eventually traveled to France and became inspired by the French landscape and the new art movement of Impressionism. Though many people consider him an impressionist painter he was never a part of the movement nor did he fully understand it, however, his naivety and idiosyncrasies led him to develop new and eventually highly influential breakthroughs in modern art, especially evident in the Expressionist art that folllowed.

Vincent’s mark-making is highly recognizable and he exhibits a sureness of hand not easily attained, especially considering the shortness of his career. Though his inadequacy in regard to perspective and proportion is evident, his work has such confidence that a deeper level of truth is revealed. He intently studied his surroundings and his observations and interpretations of his subjects feel so intimate that one cannot but help being taken in by them. He had no formal training to speak of, rejected academic learning and was relatively self-taught.
Vincent’s style is a very direct one; he painted on location in a fast manner often completing several paintings in a day. His painterly style of mark-making was honed through his drawing and there is a direct translation between the two, he developed a stylized shorthand notation to simplify shapes and render objects that is easily recognized, it is very hard to forge one of his paintings as his handwriting is very strong. He didn’t work in layers or use transparent glazes but rather made each mark count. Unfortunately he didn’t have money for the best materials or varnishing and his paintings are fading with time and require great care to handle. During his life he was not highly regarded and some of his paintings were even used to plug up holes in chicken coups.

There are many tales and legends about the “mad” artist especially his days at the yellow house with Gauguin and the famous incident where he cut off his own ear. There are various explanations such as he wanted to give it as a gift to a prostitute, that Gauguin actually chopped it off in a fight and so on.. but the one I prefer to believe is that it was an accident. It is known that he had episodes fitting the description of a seizure. If you look at his paintings in nearly all of his self-portraits he has a beard, however in the one with bandaged ear he is clean-shaven. Considering men used straight razors at the time and he only painted from life it is highly probable that he had an episode while shaving and mutilated his own ear.

In regards to his alleged suicide one must also take a critical view of tradition. In his final works he was painting wheat fields filled with flocks of crows. One must wonder why he brought a gun with him to paint with in the first place. It has been suggested that he used it to scare away the crows while he labored in the sun. Now again if he had another episode while firing the gun and his arms seized up towards his torso he may have fired it accidentally. After shooting himself in the torso, he then drags himself into town, seeks help from his doctor, who deems the wound inoperable, then calmly smokes his pipe as he waits for is brother to arrive and say goodbye. This does not sound like the actions of a man desperately trying to kill himself. Further he was so close with his brother that there are thousands of letters between them and in his final days he does not once mention anything that would lead anyone to think he was suicidal. In the end he succumbs to his wound and dies in his brothers arms. Theo was so distraught over losing him he died only 6 months later, some say due to heartache over Vincent and the two of them are buried side by side.

Artists will always remember Vincent for his greatness and not his illness. He was truly an artist’s artist. He brought new expressions of emotion and depth to the simplest of subjects elevating the mundane to high art. He gave the freedom to many after him to have the motivation and drive to go their own way and we are all indebted to this simple man of noble vision.