He only painted for ten years-but in those ten years painted 900 pictures. In his lifetime he didn't sell one of his paintings. His brother supported him. He only became famous when a couple who couldn't conceive decided to buy his paintings as a consolation. Then--the infamous Japanese, then German I think citizens paid $45 million for the Sunflower paintings. He often traded his paintings for food and women.
Van Gogh was bipolar and suffered many illnesses. He was sickly, had poor habits, had venereal disease from sleeping with prostitutes but was a genius painter. The reason we know so much about him is because his letters to "friends" were found. Sad thing was he had no friends.
If you look at one of his most famous paintings, The Potato Eaters, the people look ugly. Poor, not happy, not well. Who would buy a painting of themselves if they were not portrayed nicely. Some commissioned his paintings but were then disappointed when they saw he did not portray them in a positive light, (but the truth).
Our tour guide joked he was the original "selfie" king. he painted himself because no one could criticize for painting an ugly subject.
He brushed in an impressionistic way but with "dots" made to look like a whole scene. Unfortunately we didn't see Starry Night, but saw many sunflowers and self portraits. I enjoyed learning about him.
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| In the cafeteria, they had herb decorations/centerpieces in the middle of each table. |
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