Yet 130 years after his death, there is no artist more widely known and widely loved worldwide. His paintings and images are everywhere, and even people who know nothing of art know of Vincent Van Gogh.

Perhaps the most loved Van Gogh paintings are his three paintings of the starry night.

Vincent was amazed by the stars of night. He saw his world underneath the same stars we see. He didn't know nearly as much about the nature of the cosmos as we do, but we still share that same sense of awe that he felt. For this reason, his paintings of the Starry Night are meaningful to us.

Self Portraits ... There are at least 43 of Vincent's self portraits. Because he was poor, Vincent could not afford models, so he painted himself.

Aside from keeping his brush busy with practicing technique and other artistic ideas, Vincent's self portraits provided him an opportunity for some self-therapy, some deep introspection. When we look at a Van Gogh self portrait, we see Vincent as he saw himself, his internal self.

The self portrait which may have provided the most insight into who Vincent was is his Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Vincent severed part of his right ear after he had a falling out with his studio partner, Paul Gauguin. Their dream had been to found an art colony in Arles in the South of France dedicated to to the compositional principles found in Japanese prints.

In this portrait, over Vincent's left shoulder is a Japanese print. Over his right, a painting is sketched out on his easel. His blue cap seems to hold his bandage in place. His blue green eyes seem focused. His green and blue coat hangs on him like an artist's smock. After the trauma of his argument with Gauguin, Vincent seems determined to get back to work.

Linda and I visited London's Courtauld Gallery late on a weekday afternoon. The two of us were alone in the gallery with this painting for ten minutes. On the opposite gallery wall was Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. What an experience!

Portraits of Others ... Vincent painted the people he knew, again because he could not afford models. These portraits allow us to see the people in his life as he saw them. They allow us to know Vincent and those in his life more intimately, and how Vincent's community was important to him.

The Bed Chamber in Arles ... Vincent painted three versions of his bed chamber in Arles. He wrote his brother Theo that he did not apply rules for accurate perspective and left out shadows so that the resulting image would resemble a Japanese print. The result is a visual poem of the tight small intimate space where Vincent slept and more importantly, the place where he dreamed.

We saw Bedroom at Arles (to the right) as part of the "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post Impressionism Masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay" at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, in 2011.

Places along the Way ... Vincent was not widely traveled. He painted scenes in his native Holland, scenes in Paris and locations during his brief time in the South of France in Arles.

Through these paintings, we gain further insight into the world in which he lived. During his time in Paris in the artist haunts of Montmartre and the suburbs north of Paris.

After his time in Arles, Vincent admitted himself to the Saint-Paul de Mausole mental asylum at St. Remy, a little over 20 miles NE of Arles. He admitted himself to the hospital, but may have been guided to that decision by his friend Joseph Roulin.

He remained a patient at in the hospital for nearly a year, May 1889 - May 1890. He then returned to Paris. The last months of his life, he was cared for by Dr. Gache in Auvers-sur-Oise where shot himself in late July of 1891.

Still lifes ... Still lifes were not a major focus of Vincent's painting, but they are consistent with his tendency to paint things familiar to him. Lilacs, roses, anemones, Imperial Fritillaries and common fruits were like Vincent himself, common and ordinary, yet exquisitely beautiful. Vincent's still lifes were anything but still. The vibrancy of moving color and shape is as present as it is in his other work.

Linda and I have seen many Van Gogh paintings, but we've not yet visited the Netherlands, home of the greatest number of Van Gogh paintings. We look forward to seeing the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

The Potato Eaters is one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings. Originally, critics didn't like it. It is dark; the figures were painted in earth colors with course faces and bony working hands.

Van Gogh was honoring these farm folk. He pictured them with the hands of laborers, bony calloused hands which tilled the earth. The potatoes being served were the product of their hard earned labors. The colors were to appear as dark and dusty, like the peel of a potato.

According to myth, Wheatfield with Crows was Vincent's last painting. The stormy dark sky, the crows and the dead-end path were believed to be Vincent's way of depicting the approaching end of his life. But, in fact, he created several paintings after this one. He did want the wheatfield under stormy skies to represent sadness and extreme loneliness.

What we do know of his death is this. On July 27, he shot himself in a nearby wheat field or barn. The shot did not hit any organs, but lodged near his spine. After the shot, amazingly he was able to walk back to town for treatment. Doctors could not remove the bullet because it was lodged near his spine. Doctors then left him alone in his room with Vincent smoking his pipe. The next day, his brother Theo arrived finding Vincent in good spirits. But Vincent soon began failing due to an infection. He died the early hours of July 29, 1890. His grave can be visited. It located NW of Paris in Gare d'Auvers, the town Vincent called home the last months of his life.

Here is a fanciful scene from a 2010 episode of the TV series Dr. Who,entitled "The Doctor and Vincent."

The Doctor (Matt Smith) and his assistant Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) escort Vincent Van Gogh (well portrayed by Tony Curran) from 1890 Paris to the Musee d'Orsay in the present day.

There Vincent sees people admiring his paintings and overhears a glowing critique from a Dr. Black (Bill Nighy) of how Vincent and his art are revered and loved.

Most of the artists discussed here lived after Van Gogh, but San Francisco painter Meyer Straus was born in 1831, 22 years before Van Gogh in 1853, Carl Dahlgren was born in 1841, 12 years before Van Gogh, and Hugo Anton Fisher was Van Gogh's contemporary, born a year after Van Gogh in 1854. Hugo Anton Fisher exhibited at the Paris Salon in the early 1870's, long before Van Gogh arrived in Paris.

Like Van Gogh, these artists from our collection believed agricultural scenes to be worthy landscapes. In different styles, mediums, and subject matter, here is a selection of our farm related landscapes.

The first group of paintings are oil on canvas or artist board. The second group are watercolors, with one oil pastel and a charcoal drawing. Each photo is a live link to the artist's page on our site where you can read about each artist and see all the works we have by them.

Linda Sorensen will participate in Art @ the Source 2022 with 7 other artists at Atelier One in Graton, 2860 Bowen Street. Two other Graton studios will be open nearby. Linda has been busy creating new work and will be there to welcome you. The dates are June 4-5 and June 11-12, 10am to 5pm. The main preview exhibit is at Sebastopol Center for the Arts from May 22 to June 12. If you don't receive the catalog in the mail you can request one or find at visitors centers, etc.

The nine Graton artists (upcoming Art @ the Source 2022 Catalog)

Linda's new Etsy shop: Linda Sorensen's shop on etsy.com, focuses on giftable small original paintings, and a few giclee prints on canvas of some of her favorite larger paintings. The two pictured here are among her 6" by 6" "mini"s, framed as shown on the Etsy site. Etsy's platform provides an easy-purchase, fast-shipping option as an alternative to contacting Linda or our fine art gallery (which are of course equally welcome).
Link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lindasorensenpaints

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art

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