Something which caught my eye was his lament that he had difficulty in creating from imagination, relying more on painting scenes which he saw before him:
Arles, c. April 12, 1888 My dear old Bernard, ....I sometimes regret that I can't decide to work more at home and from the imagination. Certainly—imagination is a capacity that must be developed, and only that enables us to create a more exalting and consoling nature than what just a glance at reality (which we perceive changing, passing quickly like lightning) allows us to perceive.He was a great artist, living a tortured life. I wonder where he is now, and whether he is still painting.
A starry sky, for example, well—it's a thing that I should like to try to do, just as in the daytime I'll try to paint a green meadow studded with dandelions.
But how to arrive at that unless I decide to work at home and from the imagination? This, then, to criticize myself and to praise you.
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure he is. Still somewhat tortured, but doing much, much better!
I would venture this: Vincent was far less "tortured" than simply murderously in love with colors. He painted what he saw - something many artists cannot do. He was "there," communicating what he saw. And he painted more than 2,000 paintings toward the twilight of his lifetime.
Yes, that's what I venture now. Perhaps, he has even found another medium; one that lends itself to the imagination more easily. IMHO -- Ron Kule
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