Travelling by the Book: Searching for Van Gogh by Shirley Jones

Travelling by the Book: In Search of Van Gogh  

My love of Van Gogh paintings started with an exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery years ago.

 I had seen reproductions of his paintings in books and liked the colours and the unique style, but seeing oil paintings in the flesh was breathtaking. The texture of the paint is so much a part of Van Gogh's style, but you don't really see this in a flat reproduction. Paintings like these link the viewer straight to the past, to the vivid experience of the scene and to the mind of the painter. One painting in particular, one of his later works when he was in a distressed mental state, seemed to move before my eyes. It was beautiful and threatening - I had never seen anything like it.

I have read a lot about the man, his art and his ultimately tragic life from library books, so I was ready to experience more. The Van Gogh Museum was one of the highlights of my recent visit to Amsterdam - a whole building filled with art works by my favourite artist. I queued early on a crisp April morning and spent hours feasting on the delights inside. There are works from all parts of his life, including lots of self-portraits. He did so many of these because he couldn't afford to pay for sitters. I was shocked to overhear a woman say, "He was too cheap to pay for a model!" How could she be so ignorant of his poverty? Two tiny portraits stood out for me; one a self-portrait, the other a portrait of his beloved brother Theo, who looked quite a lot like him. The brush strokes were tiny, the expressions enigmatic, the colours leapt off the canvas - exquisite!

In late May I sought out more Van Gogh in Arles, Provence. He spent about 15 months here (from the Winter of 1888), and produced over 180 paintings and drawings. It was a very creative period and his artworks became suffused with light and colour. Some of his most famous works were painted here - think sunflowers, irises, bedroom in Arles, cafe terrace at night... I took the train from Avignon - the best way to travel in Europe. The weather was superb, hot and dusty, and I needed my hat. In fact there was an abundance of straw hats for sale, along with sunflower and iris tea towels and other Van Gogh merchandise. I walked in Van Gogh's footsteps, following the highlighted tourist trail . There were painting-size copies of Arles-related artworks at the site where he would have painted them, plus a plaque with information. Such a great idea! The warm, natural-coloured buildings often had shutters which were painted vibrant colours. There were cobbled paths, walled gardens. a ruined amphitheatre and other antiquities, and lots of little local shops to explore. I really got a sense of the play of light and the explosion of colour we see in his Arles paintings. All in all a perfect day.

Dunedin Public Libraries have lots of books on Van Gogh and Provence. Here are some of my favourites:

Provence & the Côte d'Azur: Discover the Spirit of the South of France. Janelle McCulloch

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. Vincent Van Gogh.

Sunflowers (a Novel of Vincent Van Gogh). Sheramy Bundrick.

Van Gogh on Location. Denis Thomas.

Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story. Bernadette Murphy.

Van Gogh's Imaginary Museum: Exploring the Artist's Inner World. Vincent Van Gogh

The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles. Martin Gayford