Stranger on the earth; a psychological biography of Vincent van Gogh by Lubin Albert J

Author:Lubin, Albert J
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890, Artists
Publisher: New York, Holt, Rinehart Winston
Published: 1972-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

128 Stranger on the earth

preparations Reid decided to make himself scarce." 55 If true, Vincent may have been depressed and regarded such action as a companionable way out. It may have been an exhibitionistic attempt to obtain Reid's approval through self-sacrifice. Or, perhaps, he wished to warn Reid that he should not try to outdo him when it came to misery. In any case depression did not stop him from producing a large body of art—a point that needs to be reemphasized with each new phase of his artistic career.

During his two years in Paris, Vincent turned out more oils than drawings for the first time. De la Faille lists about 200 oils, 10 water-colors, and 40 drawings. The ideas he expressed about the use of color in his letters from Nuenen made a hesitant appearance in the last paintings from Nuenen and in those from Antwerp. In Paris, however, his paintings finally caught up with these written descriptions of his artistic aspirations. The somber chiaroscuro of the North disappeared and a vibrant luminosity took its place. He came ready and willing to be converted to the French way, and—in part, at least—he was. Here he found the techniques that put life into his work, if not into life itself. Seeing himself as a deteriorating "little old man," he tried to make pictures "in which there will be some youth and freshness, even though my own youth is one of the things I have lost." 56

Unable to hire models after leaving Cormon's studio, Vincent first turned to painting flowers, although he claimed that the figure was still his chief interest. Before long, however, he was depicting the Montmartre district, repeating in a higher key the views he had done of the Schenkweg in The Hague. Some were from his studio window, while others (according to Traibaut) were from the Place du Calvaire, an alcove off the southern side of the famous Place du Tertre high on the Butte of Montmartre that affords the best view of the whole city. 57 As in The Hague, he painted street scenes, old buildings, and factories. The windmills that adorned the Butte must have reminded him of home, and he depicted many of them, too. In 1887 he produced colorful views of the outskirts of Paris and nearby towns like Asnieres, boats and bridges on the Seine, wheatfields, and still lifes of flowers and books. The still lifes included a group of sunflowers that prepared the way for the more brilliant versions from Aries.

In Paris, too, he produced about twenty-five self-portraits, many more than at any other time, ranging from simple pencil sketches to iridescent oils. As a group they are remarkable for the tremen-

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