I am on the edge, the verge. There is one last great jump into the beyond before I get anywhere near the bottom… it is something akin to a diver meticulously diagnosing every current in a river leading into an enormous and exotic waterfall, every crag of rock that might tear into her if she doesn’t dive just right, if she falters just a little too far or shallow in any direction. It’s been years of study. Now real preparation begins.
She buys the suit she will dive in.
She chooses one that will move well, that will move well with her, one that is best suited. In this case, the color was inevitable. It must be functional though, and it must be right. When she saw it she thought of the peasants, your peasants, Vincent, and she knew it was right.
After all, she is a worker, a reaper of beauty.
I am gathering together my creative team. I am within a week, probably, of posting an audition notice and getting my business cards printed (finally!) and soon I will be looking at possible performance spaces. Diving boards. They must be the right size and made of the right material. The rest is details.
I also bought my first set piece. The space will look like an artist’s studio when the audience enters; there will be painter’s materials scattered. They will make our theatrical building blocks. Some of those things include paintbrushes and little bottles used to hold pigment. In the Van Gogh Museum I saw the little bottles you would have, Vincent —
Photography by Timothy Caldwell
So when I saw these bottles from an old chemistry set on sale, I knew they were perfect, and I bought them.
I will be in a mode of preparation until rehearsals begin at the end of May. May through July will be the time to practice. And then, the jump, the perfect dive, will happen 18 times between July 27th and August 31st. That is really how I see it, deep down.
I am very excited to be commencing with preparation. I’ll still be studying and planning, the script is not done, there is in fact much to do still with the script, but I am taking this moment to step back. I’ve been writing and editing non-stop for about six weeks. The juices need to marinate. I read through the script, from beginning to end, for the first time the other week. It was exciting, terrifying, disappointing, and inflaming. There is a lot of work ahead.
I take a moment, catch my breath, see the whole. It will be great, but boy oh boy I will sweat a lot between now and August.
I welcome the storm, the journey, the work, with grinning teeth.
And mostly, I remind myself over and over where I’ve come from, and where I’ve been.
“For the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together.”
So here we go, after 3 years of research, these are the primary things that drive me crazy, in order from most obvious to least obvious (but assumed somewhere in the back of people’s minds). If you ever read anything that makes any of these claims, you can be sure it’s an unreliable (or under-researched) source.
TOP TEN MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT VINCENT VAN GOGH
1. Vincent van Gogh cut his ear off.
Thanks to vggallery.com
This may seem a bit pedantic, but it was his ear lobe, not the whole ear. As slight as this oversight may seem, I notice people seem to really react when I tell them that. It’s also possible that Vincent got in a fight with Gauguin and that he cut it off. I find either scenario likely since Gauguin is not a reliable narrator, and lied about various details concerning that infamous night.
Anyway, the main point is, we do not know what happened exactly. Also – as far as the idea of Vincent giving the piece of his ear to the prostitute Rachel:this was reported in the newspaper of the town (well, they reported he gave his whole ear) and Vincent writes in his next letter of “the girl I went to when I was out of my mind.” The ear is not mentioned, however. Over all, it seems likely to me that he in fact did give her this strange gift.
2. Vincent van Gogh was crazy.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Okay, yes, he went to an asylum, and he had attacks with hallucinations where he would hear voices, and he definitely ingested paint as a way of hurting himself in the asylum, as well as eventually committing suicide. However, Vincent was not always like this. All his attacks occurred in the last two years of his life. Which is not to say he was completely stable and calm the rest of his life, but I think the rest is pretty understandable given his circumstances. Two years, out of the 37 years he lived, is about 5% of his life. Thus, the statement that he was simply crazy is not quite accurate enough for me.
It is also note-worthy that psychologists seem incapable of pinning his attacks on any singular condition or illness. A large part of his madness seems attributable to his difficult social conditions, his terrible diet, and his high intake of alcohol and tobacco. Something I read today that I found very interesting was that the gas in the lamps he used in Arles (where he first had his attacks) were 5% carbon monoxide, which is a poison capable of provoking over two hundred symptoms and a dozen illnesses including epilepsy, hallucinations, hypersensitivity, and depressions that could lead to suicide. That is to say, almost everything he suffered from.
Lastly, his suicide was executed with a cool mind. This much is known because during the last day of his life, when he was still awake (as the bullet had missed his heart), he said that if he survived he would have to kill himself again.
3. Vincent van Gogh’s madness fueled his art.
Thanks to vggallery.com
The most fabulous and annoying of the lies. It really gets my goat every time I hear it color the way this painter is represented (excuse the pun), so let me make it clear: Vincent could not paint or even write during his attacks! Between attacks, he had phases of complete lucidity in which he would finally gain back his strength enough to work. The way he saw it was that painting was possibly his cure. Vincent did not like his “madness” nor did he encourage it — he actively fought against it every day after his first attack.
4. Vincent van Gogh never sold a single painting.
Thanks to vggallery.com
BAM! This painting was sold to Anna Boch for 400 francs in 1890. Vincent died some months later. Also, Vincent got his work out there in other ways, by trading paintings with other artists (which they wouldn’t do unless they thought they were worth something), and trading his paintings for paint supplies, and sometimes meals.
5. Vincent van Gogh was completely unrecognized during his lifetime for his work.
Thanks to vangoghletters.org
Also untrue. Apart from the sale, Vincent’s work also got its first review in 1890 (when obviously, he was gaining steam) and it was incredibly positive. Vincent gave the critic, Albert Aurier, the above painting as a gift in return. Another critic wanted to write about him earlier, but Vincent had told him not to, and various artists from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to Claude Monet admired and defended his work.
6. Vincent van Gogh was entirely self-taught.
Thanks to vggallery.com
False. Vincent had several very serious mentors and tutors in painting before he took painting courses in both Antwerp and Paris. The above was painted in his class at Cormon’s studio in Paris.
7. Vincent van Gogh was poor.
Thanks to vggallery.com
While Vincent lived in poverty, his brother Theo did send him enough money to live and eat, but Vincent spent most of it on canvas, paint, and models. For long periods of time, he allowed himself little more than dry bread, perhaps cheese, tobacco, and alcohol to survive by. He chose to live poorly, and to give his all to his work.
8. Vincent van Gogh never had a romantic relationship.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Vincent lived with Clarissa Maria Hoornik, or Sien, for a year and a half. She is pictured in his drawing above. He took her in when he met her, pregnant, and already with a five-year-old daughter. She was a prostitute and had been abandoned by the father(s) of her children. He considered this the right thing to do (that any good man would do), and he became very attached to his little family in the time they spent together. He felt enormously guilty when he left her.
Later in Nuenen, Margot Begemann was another woman whom Vincent loved and who returned his feelings. When her family pressured her to end things with him, she attempted suicide. Luckily her attempt failed, but he never saw her again.
9. Vincent van Gogh was always a painter, had never considered another career, etc.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Vincent initially attempted to be an arts dealer like his brother Theo would become, and like many of the men in his family were. After that failure, he turned to the clergy for four years (to join his father’s profession) and was set on being an evangelist for some time. He dreamed of saving the souls of the poor. Of course, his passion and self-sacrifice made him unpredictable and undesirable. Again and again, he was dismissed from his religious studies and his religious appointments. Painting was his last career choice, at 27 years old. He began by drawing the mining community he tended to.
10. Vincent van Gogh had no friends.
Vincent had many friends, particularly in the last five years of his life (though it is true he spent most of his time alone). In Paris he made friends with numerous artists, but particularly Emile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, and Paul Gauguin. He also made great friends with the paint dealer Père Tanguy. In Arles, he made friends with several young painters whom he gave classes to, he expresses in his own letters that he got along very well with his neighbors, and a beautiful friendship blossomed between him and the postman Joseph Roulin. At the asylum, he had a “great friend” in sister Epiphane, and in Auvers you had, of course, Dr. Paul Gachet.
Thanks to vangoghletters.org
Well, I hope this clears some things up! If you’d like any clarification, Readers, please — ask away!
This work of art was recently brought to my attention, and I find it positively breath-taking. This is definitely my favorite artistic response to Vincent of anything I’ve seen, so I wanted to share these beautiful images with you.
Vincent, could you have imagined?
Thanks to heatherleys.blogspot.com
Self-Portrait, 1889
Thanks to vggallery.com
Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin), 1888.
Thanks to vggallery.com
I was forwarded a link to this blog which explained the work:
When asked about this project [John] Dean explained he originally set out to make a single monochrome bust. He says he was intrigued by an enigmatic self-portrait painted in Arles in September 1888 which Vincent intended to send to Paul Gauguin. ‘Van Gogh’s distinctive draughtsmanship and his technique of applying thick pigment to the canvas was almost sculptural. The image seemed to be yearning to be liberated from the two dimensional surface restraining it. I wanted to find out what might happen if it were released’ said Dean.
Thanks to heatherleys.blogspot.com
Self-Portrait, 1888.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, 1887-1888.
Thanks to vggallery.com
I have always found Vincent’s work sculptural, but these busts seem to heighten the intensity of his gaze — and certainly the fact that they are all life-sized would add a very unique element when standing in front of them. One of these busts has been incorporated into the London exhibit of his letters (click to see several wonderful scans of his letters, with sketches).
Thanks to heatherleys.blogspot.com
Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe, 1889.
Thanks to vggallery.com
Even the artist’s expression seems to divulge a kind of joyous marveling at the outcome of his work, as though he could never have dreamed the power of what he produced. From the same blog:
Once the head was made however, Dean knew that to complete it he had to incorporate the artist’s brush strokes and the striking use of colour, including yellow, turquoise and purple, from the original portrait. ‘It is unusual for a sculpture to be painted as the effect is generally merely decorative. In this case though, I realised the colours and brushwork had to be included as they were integral and essential to the work.’
I thoroughly enjoy the translation of Vincent’s impasto, or thickly laid paint, into the textural surface of these busts. I’m also a little envious of the idea of molding his face, digging my fingers into the crevices of his brushwork, and feeling and re-creating his rhythm and his facial features with my hands. It would be very close to sensation of touching his face, or perhaps touching his dream of his face…
Seeing this work reminded me of a dance I choreographed over a year ago now – it was an early experiment that proved pretty successful. One of my greatest desires with my theater piece is to translate the passion of Vincent’s methods, the speed and depth of his brushwork, the daring of his colors, into movement. As John Dean said, Vincent’s paint and images almost burst out of their frames; I think what makes people fall for Vincent’s work is that they reach toward the viewer, as opposed to other paintings that invite the viewer to look in, as though through a window. Just as Dean sought to liberate the images from their two dimensions, I seek to launch them out of their impassivity.
So today, I offer a look at one of my early forays into dances for Vincent. Three women and I worked collaboratively for three hours, and created this piece. I stayed on the outside so I could shape it, but I will be performing in my own play this summer. It was inspired by the last ten paintings Vincent created.
Reader, Vincent… enjoy. :)
(Oh, and I finished my second draft of my play last friday! Woohoo!)
"..art is something greater and higher than our own skill or knowledge or learning. [Art] is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from man's soul..."
Vincent van Gogh, letter from March 1884
Twelve years ago, like many others, I fell in love with Vincent van Gogh. I followed this love, never letting go, reading about him and visiting his paintings all I could, and I am still journeying - I hope you will join me, Reader. This path has led me to you and you to me, and both of us to beauty, to art, to life, to death and to something greater...
