Statistics say that when answering a question about the most famous artist, the majority pronounces three names: Leonardo, Picasso and Van Gogh. It turns out further that Leonardo da Vinci is the universal genius of the Renaissance, Picasso is a fiction writer who has achieved fame and fortune, and only Vincent Van Gogh is a true genius of painting, with whose crazy hand God led.
The general opinion is a dubious thing, but looking at the picture âRed Vineyards in Arlesâ, one can agree with him.
One of the few sold in life
The life of prominent people is full of mysteries and myths. Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) lived a life of 37 years old for classical geniuses, he was actively involved in painting for about 10, but managed to go from a self-taught beginner to a master who turned the world of painting upside down. This causes surprise and questions for everyone who is interested in art, and does not give rest to lovers of sensations and conspiracy theories. It is believed that the Dutch master created his canvases under the influence of a mental illness, which brought him to the grave. Others present him as a calculating businessman who, together with his brother Theo, who was a successful art dealer, was looking for a way to conquer the market with an unprecedented style of painting and make a fortune.
Yes, Van Gogh's paintings are now one of the most expensive lots at auctions, one of the most profitable investments. And during his life, the work âRed Vineyards in Arlesâ was bought at the exhibition âG20â, which took place in Brussels in 1890. She was bought for 400 francs (about $ 2,000 today) by the artist Anna Bosch. According to some reports, then she sold it, because she could not write in her own style - pointillism and neo-impressionism, while Van Gogh's painting burned with paints on the wall.
This masterpiece can now be seen in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin on Volkhonka. This happened thanks to the famous collector Sergei Ivanovich Schukin, who highly appreciated the art of contemporary artists.
Writing history
In 1888, Van Gogh moved from Paris to Provence, to the south of France. In the town of Arles, he rents a small house under the studio. He was inspired by the idea of ââorganizing a commune of artists he met in the capital. In particular, he invited Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) who spent about two months in Arles, which ended in a violent conflict and an incomprehensible excess, as a result of which Van Gogh lost a part of his ear. Around this story many muddled theories and conjectures are built, it was the first vivid manifestation of a mental illness that defeated Van Gogh in the end.
But the main thing was that the period spent by the master among the bright southern colors, among the landscapes of Provence that conquered the artist, became for Van Gogh one of the most fruitful. Portraits, landscapes, the famous "Sunflowers", "Night Cafe", "Starry Night over the Rhone" - all this is written in Arles and its environs. "Red Vineyards in Arles" was the result of one walk, described by the artist in a letter to his brother Theo. The setting sun has brightened the coastal vineyard, creating for some time a world of unprecedented color combinations, which is destined to be seen and captured only by a real painter.
Description
On the coastal plot of land, at the bend of a small river, work is underway to harvest grapes. The bright sun tends to the horizon, filling the sky with blazing gold, reflecting a blinding path in the water, painting the leaves of the vineyard in the foreground with different shades of crimson. Among the field are visible figures of working women and carts. They are written in complex shades of blue and have a characteristic dark outline, now clear, then flickering in the evening air. The trees protecting the field, going to the horizon, are also written. The painting âRed Vineyards in Arlesâ is an amazing harmony of warm, hot flowers with a cold flicker of shades of blue and blue, a very complex green.
Where in the foreground there were no bonfires made of fiery vines, patches of bare earth appeared. It resembles either cooling metal or fading firewood, when flaming fire tongues are replaced by trembling scales of ash on the hilly surfaces of charcoal and ash.
In some places, the last sparks of sunlight are visible, but not blinding, but extinguished - pink, purple, peach. They smooth out those color combinations that would be a terrible dissonance if they were pulled out of the general painting canvas and shown as separate spots on a neutral background. But this smoothing does not extinguish the energy of individual strokes and strokes of various shapes and sizes. "Red Vineyards in Arles" - a seething cauldron of color and energy, the genius of the master soldered into a single harmony.
New stage
Those who have visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where the masterâs largest collection of paintings is located, say that looking at his paintings for a long time is physically difficult. This is especially true for everything that was created after the Parisian stage of life and work. The earthen, restrained flavor of the time of the "Potato Eaters" was replaced by ringing, pure colors. Such are the Red Vineyards in Arles. Vincent Van Gogh uses here special vibrations of yellow color, which encompasses the hot flames of orange and red, found in the âSunflowersâ ââand âYellow Houseâ here in the south of France.
But itâs important to know another thing - Van Goghâs work is based on high intelligence. The story of a crazy, self-taught, making senseless uncontrolled brush movements, applying arbitrary strokes and spots - this is not about him. Each picture of the Dutchman is a wise parable about the world and man, about the meaning and beauty of life. No wonder the literary work of Van Gogh in the form of letters to Brother Theodore, containing arguments about creative searches and finds, is of great value. In them, he is a well-read, educated person who owns knowledge and a theoretical base.
Everyone finds his own
Truly great works of art are multi-layered, each viewer finds his own in them, due to the preparation of the mind and soul. Van Gogh's painting âRed Vineyards in Arlesâ is a story full of energy and emotions about the unity of man and nature, about the meaning and rationality of life, about the endlessness of the flow of time.