The image we have of artists today has been shaped by the dramatic life of Vincent van Gogh. However, this romanticised notion rarely corresponds to reality. From an early age, Van Gogh was a troubled man with a quick-tempered and restless nature. He felt that everyone was against him except his brother Theo, who supported him throughout his life, both emotionally and financially. Van Gogh was a heavy smoker and, due to his impoverished lifestyle and poor diet, his health was poor. Even in his youth, he suffered from depression, which may indicate a mental illness.

It took a long time before Van Gogh, on his brother’s advice, decided to become an artist. He tried his hand at all sorts of things: he worked as a clerk in an art gallery, was a lay preacher and even a Bible peddler. Nothing suited him and he was dismissed from every job. He also attempted on several occasions to pursue a classical art education at the academies in Antwerp and Brussels, but due to his impetuous nature he never completed any course and instead developed his skills as a self-taught artist.

Whilst working for the art dealers Goupil & Cie, who had offices in The Hague, London and Paris, he was able to visit many museums. It was only during the last four years of his short life (he was just 37 years old) that he began to produce a large proportion of his paintings with unprecedented energy. It was particularly in Arles, in the famous Yellow House, that he created many of his famous works, such as Starry Night over the Rhône (1888), The Starry Night (1889), Café Terrace at Night (1888) and Wheatfield with Crows (1890). In these paintings, Van Gogh captured his fascination with the light and colours of the South of France.

His intense drive to work was evident not only in the sheer number of paintings he produced but also in his unique painting style. The thick, wild brushstrokes, which he often arranged in regular patterns alongside one another, gave his work a dynamism that had never been seen before. Van Gogh used colours that suited the brushstrokes, such as yellow, blue and green, and managed to capture the light of the sun and stars in swirling movements that radiate an almost tangible energy. In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote about this: “…under a sulphur-coloured sun, under a sky of pure cobalt. The motif is so difficult! But that is precisely why I want to master it. For it is awe-inspiring, those yellow houses in the sun and then the incomparable brightness of the blue.”

At Remastered, you can soak up the atmosphere of van Gogh. Experience his works in Rotterdam through the eyes of the new Dutch masters.

The paintings we use can be viewed at the following locations, amongst others:

Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888, oil on canvas, 80.7 x 65.3 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands krollermuller.nl

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône, 1888, oil on canvas, 72.5 x 92 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France musee-orsay.fr

Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888, oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany pinakothek.de

Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.1 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States moma.org

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, oil on canvas, 50.5 x 103 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands vangoghmuseum.nl

Other works by Vincent van Gogh can be viewed at:

Boijmans van Beuningen Museum – Rotterdam, Netherlands boijmans.nl

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam – Amsterdam, Netherlands rijksmuseum.nl

Noordbrabants Museum – Den Bosch, Netherlands hetnoordbrabantsmuseum.nl

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, United States metmuseum.org

Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium kmska.be

Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, United States artic.edu

National Gallery – London, United Kingdom nationalgallery.org.uk

Louvre – Paris, France louvre.fr

The Hermitage – Saint Petersburg, Russia hermitagemuseum.org

Tate Britain – London, United Kingdom tate.org.uk

Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum – Madrid, Spain museothyssen.org

Musée Rodin – Paris, France musee-rodin.fr

Further information about Vincent van Gogh can be found at: wikipedia.org