Becoming Van Gogh

My wife and I recently visited the Denver Art Museum's exhibition entitled Becoming Van Gogh.

This exhibition featured over 70 paintings and drawings by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist, Vincent

Willem Van Gogh, in addition to the works by artists he responded to. Stages of his personal artistic style

were highlighted as periods of development, as he sought to master draftsmanship by understanding

and incorporating the limitations and challenges of materials and techniques, as well as fervently

copying prints and studying nineteenth century drawing manuals and lesson books. Van Gogh believed

that he must first master black and white, prior to working with color and he worked diligently to learn

the essentials of figure drawing and representing landscapes in the correct perspective prior to painting.

He mastered the language and theory of color, among a myriad of influences, to develop his personal,

signature and largely self-learned style.

Arriving at this exhibition, most of what I had seen about Van Gogh was very mainstream. The

Starry Night was instantly recognizable and I knew little else about the ordinary genius behind these

works. I found myself drawn to many images that I most likely would have never seen, had I not learned

about the artist before viewing his works. Learning about Van Gogh as a person and the road he traveled

to become a legendary craftsman was fascinating to me. I focused on several of my favorite paintings

during this visit to explore the vantage point of the formal elements in his works: The Potato Eaters

(lithograph) (1885); La Berceuse (1888); The Night Cafe (1888), The Starry Night (1889) and Cypresses

(1889).

Vincent Van Gogh was a particularly emotional artist, conveying much of his inner environment

and experiences through his works. As he traveled through life, he was inspired by many geographical

locations and environments as well, evolving his personal style and expression of himself through his

artistry. Though he worked in many different styles in his career, Van Gogh is regarded primarily as a

Symbolist, indicating the subjective is paramount to the objective