Van Gogh

I have a large, blue-framed print of van Gogh's The Starry Night hanging above my bed. I love van Gogh. I remember when I was in high school I had a moment of joy and relief in art class. Loving The Starry Night is like a DiVinci fan loving The Mona Lisa--it's a pre-selected masterpiece that has the love of millions. I didn't have an extensive art background then, and I still don't now, but I had glossed over a bit of van Gogh and other artists in my many years of art classes, and I thought I really loved him. I wasn't convinced, though, because, well, everyone loves van Gogh, right? Then, one day in high school, my teacher passed out a piece of regular computer paper with the portrait of a fisherman on it it. I was hit with one of those waves that rolls over you, first edging your shoulders back, making you sit a little taller, then prompting you to take a deep inhale that seems to cause your eyebrows to rise. It was a beautiful sketch, full of lines applied to the surface in a rush of energy and inspiration. The man's deeply lined face was full of history and character, and his hooded eyes stared straight back at me. Shadowed in harsh darkness and highlighted in the brightest shocks of white, this man was dynamic. I asked my teacher, "Who drew this?" When he told me that it was the Fisherman by Vincent van Gogh, the tension in my shoulders relaxed, my eyebrows fell, bringing my bottom lip along with them. I was relieved and excited: I did love van Gogh. It had been like a kind of blind taste test for coke vs. pepsi: the brand hadn't influenced me after all. I see a lot of work by a lot of different artists in my art classes, and I'm sad to say that I forget most of them. I didn't forget this one.

So, going to the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam wasn't an option. Even the annoyingly high ticket price (with no student reduction) couldn't keep me away from this renowned museum. I saw masterpieces that I had learned about over the years in school and lesser-known beauties that I saw for the first time.

Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890
Een oude Arlésienne 1888
An old woman of Arles
oil on canvas

Vincent van Gogh 1853-1890
Portret van Pal Gauguin 1888
Portrait of Paul Gauguin
oil on canvas, panel

I strongly recommend this museum for anyone. A serious van Gogh or other art fan will spend hours reading each explanation and caption while another tourist with only mild interest in visual arts might gloss over things, catching glimpses of lesser known works and stopping for a moment or two to enjoy the most famous works that he or she has come across before. Still, for all levels of art appreciators, this museum is well worth it. It's bright and welcoming, well set up, and diverse enough even in its focus of van Gogh that there are pieces for everyone to enjoy. While its the van Gogh museum, it features other artists as well. We didn't get to the bottom floor where there was a special exhibit of some other artist's work, but even in the main floors you see paintings by other artists that somehow influenced van Gogh in his development. This museum makes you realize how interconnected the art world is and who influences who and how.

When we were there we saw an astonishing selection of watercolors (and a few other paintings) by painters that had inspired van Gogh. I saw paintings that used watercolors in a way I had never seen before. The entire exhibit, set up in a plum colored wing of the museum that signaled its separation from the rest of the paintings, was fascinating.