The Many Faces of Van Gogh ...........reprinted from On The Run with Us Magazine

In June of 1890, a mere month before his suicide, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) wrote: "What fascinates me much, much more than does anything else in my métier is the portrait... I should like to do portraits which will appear as revelations to people in 100 years time." Enter the Philadelphia Museum of Art with "Van Gogh: Face to Face", the first comprehensive exhibition of portraits by one of the best-known painters in history. The exhibit, fresh from Boston, makes its final stop in the U.S. in Philly from October 22, 2000 to January 14, 2001. And while some things in life you can get over-- like owning all three Wham! albums or even knowing that there are three Wham! albums, missing this showing is something for which you may never forgive yourself.

"Van Gogh: Face to Face" features more than 70 paintings and drawings collected not only from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (go for the art, stay for the red light district), but from an international array of public and private collections as well. Many of these canvases have never been on display in the United States and probably won’t be again in our lifetime. Fortunately, you need only drive up the newly completed 95 north 33 minutes to the work of this great man, but what’s so great about Vincent Van Gogh?

................."I am a man of passions…"..................... -Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh was born in 1853 and after failing as a businessman and minister, he devoted himself to painting and drawing only during the last ten years of his short life. (Think about that all of you who struggle for direction). Yet in that short ten year span, he produced about 1000 drawings, watercolors and sketches and 1,250 paintings. For those of you who don’t have an abacus handy, that would be almost one image a day, every single day given a five-day workweek-- which he certainly did not maintain. (It’s hard to keep a steady schedule while bouncing in and out of asylums and giving a piece of your own ear to a prostitute, but what to give the hooker who has everything?).

"Vincent Van Gogh died a penniless fool, should have painted on velvet, dogs playing pool…" -The Evinrudes

While many of his contemporaries were getting paid for their work, as any successful painter would be, Van Gogh sold only one painting while living (The Red Vineyard, for you wanna be millionaires), and that was in the final year of his life. So why did he paint? The artist himself said in 1882 "I draw, not annoy people, but to amuse them, or to make them see things that are worth observing and that not everybody knows." Money, or lack thereof, was a constant concern of Van Gogh, but does not appear to me to have been his goal. In my opinion, he painted out of a means to communicate the passion, and pain, within him. His artwork was not commissioned by some wealthy person or foundation or for some much-anticipated showing of his work. Vincent Van Gogh’s painting was summoned from something deep within him, as his only means of relating to a world he couldn’t always understand. Notice how some of his greatest works were painted at the height of his mania. (Please see The Bedroom at Arles, 1888 at the Chicago Museum of Art, The Night Café, 1888 at the Yale University art Gallery in New Haven CT., and/or The Starry Night 1889 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York-- and I do mean "PLEASE SEE!").

While he didn’t have a lot of money, he most definitely had a sense of loyalty as seen in his constant letters to his brother Theo. The letters seem to be of thanks (as he was a primary means of support) and reassurance (as Vincent knew of Theo’s concerns for his sole brother’s well being). But one can also see the artist’s loyalty in the portraits of "Van Gogh: Face to Face." Van Gogh was cared for and befriended by many people in his lifetime. From the Roulin family, who he knew while living in Arles, to Dr. Gachet who cared for him in his final days. While he couldn’t give money or gifts to these people, he could paint them, and paint them like no one in history ever would. While he didn’t foresee their future significance, these paintings, many of which you will be able to see on display, were his was of saying "thank you". Certainly they do not speak like The Mona Lisa which says "hurry up and paint, Leonardo," or The Last Supper where one can actually hear St. Peter say "Judas, please pass the salt." No, each of the portraits in "Van Gogh: Face to Face," is a dialogue between the painter and his friends-- what they are saying to him and what he is hearing. This is exactly true of the five self-portraits included in this exhibit as well, what was he thinking to himself, what was he saying to the world? What each Van Gogh says to the observer will be different for everyone, but it will certainly be incredible.

..........................."If I go crazy will you still call me superman?" -3 Doors Down

Sadly, painting wasn’t enough to sustain Van Gogh. On July 27^th, 1890, Van Gogh carries his easel out into a field, leans it against a haystack, and shoots himself in the chest. He dies two days later on July 29. The last words of this tortured genius were to Theo, who rushed to be at his brother’s side, "I would like to go like this." Theo's already frail health collapses as a result of the tragedy and he dies six months later. As his final request, he is buried next to his brother, Vincent)

I don’t claim to an expert on Van Gogh. But I am an expert on what affects me, and that is most definitely the work of Van Gogh. It seems as though all Van Gogh wanted to do with his art was speak to us. I guess that’s all any great artist strives for, it just seems to this humble observer that all of Van Gogh’s works are screaming.

xoxo
.....-g

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