Delacroix, Christ asleep during the Tempest, c.1853
‘…one of the subjects that Delacroix has caressed the most…’ (a critic, 1864)
The magnificent Delacroix painted fourteen variations on this theme. The message in this biblical story - Trust in Divine Providence. *raise eyebrows* …hmm, perhaps he was onto something…
When van Gogh saw one version of these paintings he wrote in a letter that it had a symbolic language of colour. He also wrote (1887):
Oh, what a beautiful picture that is by Eug. Delacroix, Christ in the Boat on the Sea of Gennesaret! He - with his pale lemon-yellow aureole, sleeping, luminous in the dramatic purple, dark blue, blood-red patch of the group of bewildered disciples - on that terrible emerald-green sea, rising, rising, right to the top of the frame. Ah, what an inspired conception!
The lovely, gentle and inspired Vincent speaks in terms of colour and emotion. The very essence of his own work. For it is how he saw the world. Through optimistic lenses of colour and emotion.
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889 / Starry Night over the Rhone
Vincent’s starry night paintings are among his most beautiful. He captures the feeling of standing beneath a blanket of stars. Their brightness and their luminescence. Their majesty. The darkness transformed by brilliant pockets of light. Dear Vincent was always searching for and finding the beauty and truth of nature.
Vincent van Gogh, A Vase of Roses / Vase with Pink Roses, 1890
Sometimes all one needs in life is the joy that only flowers can give. Their colours, essence, fragrance and forms. Thus Vincent was a great teacher of many things including how to be grateful for the pure and simple beauty of nature.
These were painted during his last days staying in the Saint-Remy asylum. Surrounded by the groans and screams of the asylum’s patients, dear, sensitive Vincent was still able to appreciate and focus on the wonder of nature. An amazing show of strength of mind and of character.
Letter to his sister Willemina, 1890
The last days in Saint-Rémy I worked like a madman. Great bouquets of flowers, violet-colored irises, great bouquets of roses.
Vincent van Gogh, Peach Trees in Blossom (Souvenir de Mauve) / various Trees and Orchards in Blossom, 1888
Anton Mauve, established and respected painter of the Hague School, was Vincent’s Master Teacher years earlier, and Vincent his devoted pupil. Peach Trees in Blossom (Souvenir de Mauve) was in memory of him and sent to his wife.
Letter to his brother and closest friend Theo, early March, 1888
…we will send a picture to Mme. Mauve in memory of Mauve, with a letter from us both…
Vincent was in Arles at the time. In March when the seasons changed in Arles, the fruit trees were in glorious blossom. Cherry, apple, pear, plum, apricot. It inspired Vincent greatly. The idea of him, being so excited and full of inspiration, giving his heart and soul to painting, in such a paradise… is moving.
Letter to Theo, early April, 1888
I’m in a fever of work since the trees are in blossom and I want to do a Provencal orchard full of enormous brightness.
Another letter to Theo, mid April, 1888
This morning I worked on an orchard of plum trees in bloom; all at once a fierce wind sprang up, an effect I had seen nowhere else but here, and returned at intervals. The sun shone in between, and all the little white flowers sparkled. … I went on painting at the risk and peril of seeing the whole show on the ground at any moment — it’s a white effect with a good deal of yellow in it, and blue and lilac, the sky white and blue.
Letter to trusted friend Emile Bernard, late April, 1888
I am working on nine orchards: one white; one pink, almost red; one white-blue; one grayish pink; one green and pink. Yesterday I overdid one of a cherry tree against a blue sky; the young leaf shoots were orange and gold, the clusters of flowers white, and that against the green-blue of the sky was wonderfully glorious.
Feast your eyes on the drawings of a Master Draughtsman. Vincent van Gogh. The man that said ‘the root of everything is drawing’.
‘I have restrained myself greatly and confined myself to drawing, precisely because I know so many sad stories of people who threw themselves into it rashly (painting) - sought the answer in the process and woke up disillusioned without having made any progress… I have fallen in love with drawing, instead of regarding it as a burden.’
And so he drew, our Vincent. He drew… and he drew… and he drew. Until he mastered it. His passionate nature, perseverance, courage and humility of spirit guided him and lit his way.
Vincent van Gogh in London
Vincent van Gogh was Dutch. As a young adult he worked for the art dealers Goupil & Cie travelling between the Hague, Paris and London. In June1873, when only 20 he came to London to work for their branch in Covent Garden. In August and for about a year he lodged in a house in Brixton SW9 at 87 Hackford Road. It was a typically English Victorian house. (The house just sold for £565,000 a few days ago - what an acquisition) From his letters he seemed happy there. He made excursions with his German friends, went rowing on the Thames and visited gallery after gallery.
English painting didn’t really appeal to him at first - although there were exceptions. He admired Turner and Constable. (Impeccible taste Vincent) He read the poetry of Keats which ‘was the favourite of the painters here and so I found the time to read him’. (Exquisite taste Vincent). He copied out in one of his letters The Eve of Saint Mark.
He signed the visitors’ book in the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Which still exists. To see that signature suddenly makes the whole story real. He really did hold the pen, lean over the table and sign his name in that book. He really was in London. He really did walk the streets of Covent Garden. He really did go from gallery to gallery looking at the art. It really did happen. He was a real person. He had real thoughts and feelings about what he saw here. He felt real emotions and had real opinions about things. While here. In London.
And now when I think of the Dulwich Picture Gallery I think of Vincent. And I imagine him there….looking at paintings by Rembrandt and Poussin.
Images:
Signature of Vincent van Gogh in the visitors’ book at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Monday 4th August 1873
Plaque on house where Vincent van Gogh lived 87 Hackford Road, Brixton, SW9 in 1873/4
Vincent van Gogh, sketch of the house he lodged at in Brixton, 1873/4
