On this date—July 29, 1890—118 years ago, Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He suffered from an undetermined mental illness and probably felt he was a financial burden on his brother Theo. I have always believed creative exhaustion also played a role. During the last ten years of his life, Vincent produced more than 2,000 works, including about 1,100 drawings and sketches and roughly 900 paintings. Despite this tremendous output, Van Gogh died virtually penniless.
One of his favorite subjects was sunflowers. (See July 16 posting.) On March 31, 1987, Japanese insurance magnate Yasuo Goto paid $39,921,750 (in US dollars) for Van Gogh's still life, “Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers” at auction at Christie's in London, at the time it was a record-setting amount for a work of art.
In the pariah filled world of impressionist and post-impressionist art, Vincent was the king pariah, an outcast to the end.
- Painting: "Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers" (January 1889). Today located at the Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan.
•
No comments:
Post a Comment