Beyond Impressionism at the National Gallery - Gauguin and van Gogh - Part 2

Note: This is a continuation from Part 1: Beyond Impressionism at the National Gallery - Pissarro, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec.

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A Vase of Wild Flowers by Adolphe Monticelli - 1870

Wow.  I find this really fascinating and absorbing. It's like the painting has a pulse with those heavy impasto brushstrokes. They demarcate the contours and shapes, and always the colours to further separate elements. It feels quite abstract and modern. It's even more vivid & animated in person close-up. It has such a freshness.

Monticelli was a French artist who seems to have known the major artists of his day - even including our darling Oscar Wilde! Also, I think there's an obvious connection between this painting and Van Gogh. And so, it seems that Monticelli had a significant effect on Van Gogh (but died before Van Gogh became aware of him).

But, this painting isn't really concerned with a vase and flowers; instead: it is the combination of its texture and striking & lustrous colours. The table, I think, is intended to give depth and an extra dimension to an otherwise flat surface. 

So engrossing and beautiful.

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A Vase of Flowers by Paul Gauguin  - 1896

Gauguin painted this still-life in Tahiti. 

Those flowers don't look English or European. Such lovely whites, Lilly-like reds, and exquisite drooping blues. There is a radiant orange-yellow colour surrounding the flowers (halo-like). The net effect is evocative of the sweetish, acidic and warm fragrant of wild flowers and pulpy orange fruits: i.e. the tropical.

I love how messy and untidy the flowers are; as if just caught in the fields. It has that authenticity. I like how he painted a few fallen flower petals surrounding the vase; and the vase itself is imposing in its elegance and geometric designs.

Beautiful.

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Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window by  Paul Gauguin - 1890

An interesting homage to Cezanne. The fruit is classic Cezanne.

The Breton tankard seems to have some depiction on its front; but not sure what it is. 

Interesting also the rooftop vista at the top of the painting. It suggests a window opened.

It's nice.

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Les Terrasses de Monte Cassino by John Russell  - 1889

Painted in Cassino - in the south of Rome - by Russell and his wife.

The landscape has 2 sets of complementary colours: pink foreground and blue mountains, and yellow fields and a turquoise-blue river. It's quite abstract, and involves a nice interaction of colours.

Not sure I really warm or like this painting though.

I do like this heavy and messy brushstrokes.

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A Wheatfield, with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh - 1889

Masterpiece. 

This was amazing. 

I've been reading Shakespeare's Macbeth recently; and how I've been enthralled by it. Rupert Graves (of I, Claudius) is reputed to have said: "The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good—in spite of all the people who say he is very good." I've often had to put the book down, smiling-to-myself, amazed at just how crafty and insightful and deep Shakespeare is. Nothing quite comparable; and there is something of that in Van Gogh here too. 

In my quiet moments, when I think about my life and the future on the horizon; I honestly don't think England has much by way of encouraging prospects. Our country is in decline; and has been for some time. So, for me, the only true redemption & beauty is through art and literature (and of course my close ones). Paintings like this really uplift me. Remind how much beauty there is. There's something almost spiritual about it; a testament to the beauty of our world. 

I think Van Gogh makes this painting breathe. We can almost feel the wind through the wheatfields, blowing through the clouds in the azure sky. The impasto brushwork really animates the painting and gives it vitality. The whole canvass undulates, moves and swirls. Kinetic, and you can feel the environment. It's just so effective. The pastel colour palettes of citron-orange-yellow is just so rich and gilded that it almost radiates its sunbeams. Your eyes are naturally drawn to it, and there's a feeling of tranquillity and calmness to it all. Indeed, I think the Provencal cypress conifer towers in the painting like a church spire. I know that Van Gogh was devoutly religious in his younger days. I wonder whether the painting has the quiet reverence typical among the devotional - especially since Van Gogh had become an anchorite towards the end of his abbreviated life. 

According to the National Gallery, Van Gogh referred to this depiction as his "best" summer painting. He painted it while in the asylum at Saint-Remy in France. He was 36 when he painted this and died the following year.

In the close-ups below, Van Gogh feels like he is really sculpting and moulding the paint. I spotted an area of the canvas (in the sky) which has no paint; while other areas have so much paint that the blobs contrive a 3D-like feel. This fact combined with his vivid and poignant colours - and the painting's natural pulsation and rhythmic motion - makes for a captivating canvass.

Those swirling clouds!!

Enormous elegant cypress tree - flame-like - dancing in the breeze.

Amazing. Warmth, nature, fecundity, calm, peace.

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Two Crabs by van Gogh - 1889

Amazing.

I do love that vivid contrast in colours; that bronzy-firey orange-red colour rampant against the arsenic-green sea-like swirling surface.

The subject-matter apparently comes from woodcuts inspired by Hokusai which was reproduced in May 1888 in 'Le Japon Artistique'. Sp many of the impressionists seem to have been influenced by Japanese art and the way the subject-matter could be 'detached' from its background.?

The bottom crab is more 'natural' (with less affectation), while the top one is raised (in an elevated suspended position). Having said that, the profusion of colours make the crabs just so much more beautiful than real life. The splashes of orange with strokes of yellow and red creates such compelling vivid creatures. 

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Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh - 1888

What an uplifting painting. I think I have a memory of it from my childhood, seeing it in books etc.

Van Gogh created five versions of his 'Sunflowers' between 1888--1889 during his time in Arles in France. One of them is at the National Gallery in London. Vincent sent them to have his closest friends and family as a symbol of his gratitude.

Firstly, this painting really shines. Seriously shines - incandescent, burning. It's a blowout painting bursting with life. The whole room in the gallery was dominated by this painting, and everyone was huddled around it - almost like some kind of energy force. I spent a while in front of it. People come-and-go, snapping their photos; and amid the noise and hustle of tourists, you can grab a few intimate moments with the painting. 

I am not sure about the shades of yellow here. There seems to be a subdued element to the painting. It could be the degradation of the hues; or the shades of yellow mixed with burnt sienna. I think its a reflection on mortality. At any rate, the weight to Van Gogh's brushwork combines with such zesty colours to make an amazing painting that has force. The sunflowers are in various stages of death. Drooping, languid, etiolated, and withered. I love the thick daubs which gives the uppermost flowers their soft fibrous textures, the rest seem to have their petals missing, or their flowers drooping for lack of vitality. But, there is still such beauty and refulgence in the intensity with which he painted.

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Long Grass with Butterflies by Vincent van Gogh - 1890

According to the National Gallery, during this time at the psychiatric hospital, 

he was initially restricted to working within the hospital’s precincts, although he was pleased to find these included ‘abandoned gardens’ in which ‘the grass grows tall and unkempt, mixed with all kinds of weeds’.

I think there is a balanced arrangement to this florid landscape, a certain order. We have the barest outline of a footpath (at the top right) with (perhaps?) the contour of a hedge, and a spot of lovely orange-citrinous flowerage (at the top left) blowing in the wind. There is a middle area of mild verdure, and, I think, the white blots represent those butterflies. At the fore, I think we can descry white butterflies with black outlines.

The most striking part is the beautiful verdure is at the front. The lush greenness of summer, the pullulation, and the teeming and swarming butterflies and insects amidst the flora.

Part of the charm of this painting is that Van Gogh would have really been inspired by these meadows during his recuperation; and through this painting, he shares his inspiration with us. The brushstrokes give us his butterflies, silky-white, gracefully dancing on the warm summer wind that sifts through the blooming & flowery fields. 

Beautiful.

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Van Gogh's Chair - 1888

I think this is a very personal painting, and very beautiful (again).

I assume this is van Gogh's own simple chair on some kitcheny tiles/bricks against a green door and wall. I'm not sure what those flowers are in his flowerpot - or vegetable; but those colours of yellow and green are so complementary .

The worn-down tiled floor, and the tattered and shabby yellow chair have wonderful brushstrokes. Looking closely, I noticed that he painted the chair as though its veneer was beginning to dry and peel; attesting to its use. I also love his pipe casually left there. The tiles also have zigzags in them which is an interesting embellishment.

I like it.

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Portrait of Greta Moll by Henri Matisse - 1908

Greta Moll was a sculptor and her German husband, Oskar Moll, a painter.  She posed over 10 days for this painting.

Matisse is an artist I know very little about. From reading online, he was one of the leading figures in the Fauvist movement. The fauvists (fr = "wild beasts") were characterized by wild and vivid use of colour. From what I can tell, they wanted to move away from the naturalistic and realistic form to a vivid expressionism via the use of colour and the 2D nature of a canvas. The colours were most intense when they were opposed to one another or by applying different tones of the same colour. They also demarcated the curves of the human form.

I am not sure what I think about this painting. I don't find it especially engrossing, but it is interesting.  The swirling white-and-blue background is interesting. It was supposed to give the character some heft and grandeur.   She is certainly beautiful and elegant.

Both sides of the face aren't symmetrical. Certain parts of the nose's skin are darker. And pouting lips?

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Combing the Hair by Edgar Degas - 1896

Amazing.

This painting evokes discomfort through (1) the obvious maltreatment of a young girl whose hair is being roughly brushed (if not pulled); and (2) the disorienting feeling of the misty red which gives the painting a fleeting and fragmentary sense.

The other woman seems oblivious which is an interesting element of the drama. She seems to be careful but doesn't notice the child ... This may well be a maid in the girl's chamber? Though, I do wonder whether the sedentary girl is pregnant. There is the hint of a gravid waist.  

This makes for an uncomfortable incident, and an intimate one.

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Motherhood (La Maternité) by Pablo Picasso - 1901

Interesting.

Rather like the Madonna and the Child. Picasso's mother is in rich blue (reminiscent of the Aldobrandini Madonna by Titian). The child is peaceful and sleeping. Also, naked and vulnerable. Her gaze is contemplative and calm; but she has that ridiculously elongated arm (a nod to mannerism; e.g. Parmigianino) which warps and protects the infant. It's sweet, loving and maternal.

The fields are a sort of scarlet red with a plowman and some beast in the distance. A nod either to harvesting and fecundity of both the farmer (perhaps the father?) and mother. Or, to the general condition of man in physical toil and manual labour; i.e. the workingman. 

Interesting and touching.