A WEEKEND WITH VAN GOGH

"

A WEEKEND WITH

V/AV

Text by Rosabianca Skira-Venturi

Translated by

Ann Keay Beneduce

/ t's the

weekend!

Only

week

has passed since

train that

to Paris,

brother

stepped off the

brought

where

me from Aries

hurried to

my

Theo s apartment. And

you were, a tiny baby, in your

cradle! I was so happy to see you
there

you, the son of my brother

love so
in

much, whose

me has made

it

whom I

loyalty

and

possible for

belief

me

to live

During my lifetime I have

written hundreds and hundreds of letters to him,
and to do
but now,

my work.

this

weekend,

am writing

just to you. I

want to tell you about myself and about my great

work as a painter, so that some day, when you go to
school, you will be proud to say: I am the nephew of

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Right now
sur-Oise.

am

living in Auvers-

a village not far from

It's

with

Paris, right in the countryside,

fields

of bright yellow wheat and old

houses with thatched

some

roofs,, as

homes, which

fancier

well as

also like.

have given your parents a picture,

Branch of an Ahnond Tree in Bloom

(page 9), which I painted especially
for you; in

have put

it I

tenderness and

all

my hope

my

that your

and

will be beautiful, harmonious,

full oi light.

been like

My

that: I've

hard times. But

I

am

work

halo around the moon in a starry sky.

life

had some very

convinced that

like

am

been

about that

have done some

must

whether they
tired; I've

has not always

doesn't matter, for

it

that people

life

it

respect,

or not. Today

ill,

but

later. First, I

I'll tell

want you

you
to

look carefully at this blossoming

almond branch.
piano and that

know

it is

that your parents have

always near you. That

a little getting used to.

is

hung

good,

as

this canvas

above the

my style of painting

takes

always use strong colors, so strong they almost scream

each other. In this painting, the vivid blue of the background makes the

at

color of the flowers

greener.

meant

Sometimes

to

on

don't

my

and the green

brilliant,

of the

stems and leaves even

put a harsh red next to a violent green. These colors are

be shocking

them with
I

more

want

to

make people

notice

my paintings and

care!

mix

colors

on

my palette;

paintbrush and then

make

instead,

take a bit of each color separately

dots of it on the canvas, or

little

swirls or hatch-

marks, whatever makes that part of the canvas lively and brings the
stones,

look at

and people to

life.

You have

seen the portrait

trees, flowers,

have done of myself painting,

with

my palette held

notice

how

painted

firmly in

my hair?

my
I

hand

did

it

{Self-Portrait with Easel,

in all colors,

beard very red. Looking at this painting, you can

complexion
nature

and

which

is

that

am

even

tell

little

that

page

Did you
and made

6).

green dots,

have red hair and a ruddy

sturdy and broad-shouldered. But you can also see

not always charming

as well as

passionately, even violently.

my

how I go about my

my

profession:

real

10

In Auvers, where
I

am now

living,

have just done a picture showing a

corner of the village: a path leads to a

staircase

which climbs up

roofed houses.
scene,

it

seems

some

to

As you look

red-

at this

as if everything in

it is

on the move. The people's bodies twist

as they

almost skip along the path,

and the rocks and

trees take

shapes in the strong light.

on strange
always

paint quickly, for everything can look

different a

moment

later. I feel

strong emotions while

a living,

moving

try to capture

instant

an

held suspended at the end ot

paintbrush.
as if

You might

instant

my

say that

paint

were fighting a battle against

time, which passes

11

very

all

too quickly.

In

my letters

father

often

to your

made

sketches of what

was

working on, with

Httle

notes to explain them,

sort of like the notations

on

a piece of music: blue here,

here,

and so on.

mind

the scene

I
I

could picture in

wanted

the sketches show,

my

to paint and, as

had already decided

on the composition. But painting

something

else entirely.

amuse you

to to

Someday

it
it

was

may

compare these sketches

with the actual paintings. For instance,

what became of the

cat in

my painting

Springtime (Page 13)? Let's just say

back inside that house with the red

it

went

roof.

Fields of wheat

The Reaper

(this page)

and Wheatfield with Cypress {page

My artistic elders,

13).

the Impressionists, often painted outdoors, trying to

capture and reproduce their immediate sensations or impressions of Hght and

color.

So did

to paint

I.

But

it is

its vital force. I

the

power of nature

like to

while lying on the ground.

show

it

that interests

me most

close up, almost as if I

want

were painting

study the drifting clouds in the sky and gaze at

the enormous sun. Look, you can see the twisted trunks of trees

amid

stalks of

wheat bent over by a violent wind, a wind so strong you can almost hear
whistling as you look at

my painting. Oh,

strong wind of Provence!

14

the wind!

The

it

mistral, the harsh,

/ like to

draw with a pen

from a sharpened

But
yet:

ynade

reed.

haven't told you about this

Hved

for

two

years in that heat,

that brilhant light, and that fierce

wind.

lived in Provence, in southern

France. If you

you

go

to this beautifial area

will certainly recognize the scenes

and landscapes that

painted.

Here
Let's
lie

pause for a moment.

quietly asleep. All that

But

in a

am

at age 13.

You must know

that

am

mean

saying must

envy your peacefulness

very

little to

few years I'm sure you will understand me. After

me. That's not very original, however,

family! For example, there

as there

all,

as

you

you right now.

you

are

named

after

many Vincents in our

great-uncle who made his

have been so

was your distinguished

As
hard-working, middle-class Dutch

fortune as a publisher of reproductions of works of art and as an art dealer.

your father will

tell

you,

we come from

family that had a strong sense of duty to others and

inevitably tragic.

Your grandfather,

my

father,

felt

that

human

destiny was

was a perfect example of this: a

deeply religious Protestant, he was appointed pastor, or priest, in a depressed,

burned-out region

in the

can you believe that? For

north of Holland.

many

long months

also
I

wanted

to

become

a pastor

tried to help the poverty-stricken

people in a mining area on the border between France and Belgium, a bleak
region,

its

pale light

filled

with coal dust from the mines.

16

The

faces

and gestures of these people reminded

of characters described in the Bible.

them

at their

strokes. "I

work and

at

me

painted and drew

home, using

thick, black

wanted these pictures to make people think

about a way of life very different from that of 'civilized'

people like us,"

wrote to Theo. "A painting of

peasants should smell of lard, of ripened wheat, of

apples, even of manure; that's a healthy aroma,
especially for city dwellers."

4'

and black pencil are what I use to drau these

workers and their wives at their everyday tasks. This is
their country: a land of tall chimneys and mountains of coal.
Graphite

'

Living in this region of poor miners and trying as hard as

comfort them was so hard for

I

went back

There

me

to live for a while at

that finally, exhausted

my parents' home

in

and depressed,

Nuenen, Holland.

did a lot of paintings and drawings of these hard-working people.

Using strong black strokes combined with browns and dark

to recapture

existence
all

so

sun,

could to

on canvas or paper the heavy atmosphere of their

no one
it

tried

painfial

even spoke at the family dinner table because they were

worn out from

when

tans,

tried to

work in the dry earth. Even the

brought them no pleasure.

their back-breaking

come

out,

20

There was a garden outside of the rectory where

several

you

drawings of it

see that

in

sketched a

if

to paint,

little
I

one wants

how

can

such a drab li^ht?

black ghost. But don't be afraid,

turned into something decorative.

one go on living in

Here

could dream.

am

made

pen-and-ink or with a thick black pencil. In one of these

an accidental inkblot that

But,

at the age of 18!

it is

really just

hank of the Seine

River,

a favorite

Once more

And

I left

subject of the Impressionists.

home.

found myself in

22

Paris.

The

interior of a restaurant with flower petals, even on the walls.

Without giving him any advance warning, I rang your father's doorbell. And
Theo, though bowled over with surprise, made me welcome there. As he still does
today, he
Paris

worked

at

an

art gallery

seemed a wonderful

place.

and

also tried to sell

was

filled

my paintings.

At

that time,

with inspiration and enthusiasm.

came to know the whole group of Impressionist painters, some of

whom had already become famous and were earning very good livings. Others I
knew, from my own generation, had more or less the same difficulties I did: they
sold little or nothing and none of them had any money. I had no money either, but
Before long

had a marvelous brother.

23

me

So, Paris for

was

There was Camille

full

of friends.

Pissarro, the old

patriarch, with his big heart

and

his

flowing beard; he was sympathetic

and kind to me.

brilliant

And

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,

whose growth was stunted

child

with

his cruel paintings

and

But Toulouse-Lautrec,
of noble

me

lineage, gave
his friendship

when

even

was quite

a vagabond.

we made

And

very

good drinking
companions!
''Father' Pissarro.

Degas, the dandy.

The piercing gaze of Cezanne.

as a

he avenged himself

his harsh wit.

though

was the

there

Gauguin,

The
ironic

''the

king of the Incas.

elegant, witty

and

"

Edgar Degas,

sensitive genius, gave

good advice about painting, and

shy, rather

grumpy

a wickedly

me some

very

so did the

old Paul Cezanne.

An

innovative younger painter, Georges Seurat,

soon had

all

of us experimenting with his

"pointillist" technique, using little dots

But most of all

("points") of color.

Gauguin

should

tell

you about.

descendant of the Incas

pretend

Paul

or so he liked to

he was incredibly attractive, with a

distinctive profile

and a nose bent sharply

the blade of a knife.

impressed

it is

all

the

He charmed and

young

eternally penniless

like

painters, but he

was

and always complaining!

Toulouse-Lautrec played the role of a clown, laughing at himself and everyone

25

else.

Wouldn't you think

had

painted these windmills in

Holland? But actually they

are in the backyards of

Montmartre. Paris

many charming

had

still

country

corners at that time.

worked

hard there, sometimes just

painting what

from

could see

my window.

But

also

loved painting the wide

View from
cafe

the

window of a

avenues of Paris leading off

where I often went.

into the distance, as well as

the banks of the Seine, so dear

to the Impressionists.

with

This was a happy period of my

lots of visits to the studios

of one friend or another, or

to a nearby bistro for dinner. For the first time,

use bright, strong colors.

close together, like Seurat,

way

that the surface of

moving.

combined

little

began to

dots of color very

with wider brushstrokes

my canvas

might paint the

life,

in

such

almost seemed to be

interior of a gaslit restaurant, or

choose simpler subjects like some books with covers in

different shades of yellow, or

placed just so on a

moments

of great

flat

joy.

wicker

tray.

All of this brought

From morning

quite happy with what

'

some apples and oranges

to night

produced and

filled

painted,

with

admiration for the work of the other painters.

26

me

28

A friend sketched me painting.

A fashion swept
and

I,

Paris for Japanese

hked them

too

He owned

modest

art

woodblock prints

at that time;

very much. Look at this portrait

supply store where

many

artists

my

friends

made of Pere Tanguy.

went

to

buy paints and

canvases and everything they needed for painting. Although few of us could pay

him
not.

myself
The

included

portrait

he grumblingly permitted

did of him (in

from Brittany who has

sailor

him, the wall

is

this,

whether he liked

did two of them) shows

fact, I

just returned

him posing

from a voyage to the Far

East.

or

it

as a

Behind

covered with exotic Japanese prints, setting us to dreaming of

faraway places.

Did
Paris

the poor vagabond

and

in his

about me,

for

own

was then become

country?

must

tell

you

If
I

you

a great painter, well respected in

said yes, that

shows how

you know

Theo
dependent on him

eventually ran into a great deal of debt.

my paintings, so I was totally

fact, I still am to this day! It is a sad and difficult situation

wasn't able to find buyers for

for everything. In

little

for

both of us, in spite of the deep affection that binds us and his unwavering belief
in

me. But

enough
sake.

to

I feel

let

me say

make up

this clearly:

am

convinced that

for all the hardships

this strongly.

But what

will

Theo and

my

is

good

have had to endure for

you think about

29

painting

it, I

wonder?

its

Little

by

little, I

Always stubborn,

grew
I

tired of Paris.

had clung to

my

began to

feel rejected

ironclad conviction that

by
if

my

we

friends.

artists,

both

and poor, worked together, we would eventually find public acceptance for our
work. But no one really believed this. Everything became more and more difficult.
Even the light in Paris began to seem gray to me, always beaded with raindrops!
rich

dreamed of sun and warmth. And what place could

fulfill

these dreams as well

town in southern France, in the region called Provence?

Monday, February 20, 1888, 1 arrived in Aries after more than

as Aries, a

On

on the
in

train

fifteen

hours

No one

only to be met by a snowstorm and freezing temperatures!

And it lasted more than two

And then, when the snow stopped

Provence could remember such bad weather!

weeks.

fallmg and the ice began to melt a

mistral, the region's

began to blow. But

^
*M

made up my mind
down.

two
I?

worked

years.

drawings

experiences.

rv^>

31

it

didn't matter!

Aries, in sunlight.

had

to stay there

and

Provence

more than

many

Sometimes

but

the

famous harsh wind,

did many,

there.

very happy

in

little,

also

for

settle

paintings and

my

life

had some

there was

terrible


In spite of everything,

The

part of the country.

open to the eye

love this

fields lie

for great distances;

huge haystacks gleam

like

gold in the

sunlight; the sky, swept by the mistral,

IS

by turns tormented and

is

so transparent that each blade of

clear; the air

and bright; and the

grass looks crisp

water looks sometimes like a diamond,

sometimes

like

The people

an emerald.

here are also stunning

strong characters, with unexpected

attitudes

and original

high-spiritedness that

ideas,

and a

made me

feel

happy, too.

Naturally everyone used to gather in

the courtyard of the inn where the

stagecoaches stopped. All kinds of

people would cram themselves

together in these vehicles for the trip
to the little

town of Tarascon, about

thirty-five miles away.

These coaches

were painted in bright colors

blue,

and yellow

red,

that sparkled

against a patch of blue sky. This

is

how I showed them

in a picture

painted very quickly. They reminded

me

of an amusing book

had

read, Tartarin de Tarascon,

just

by

Alphonse Daudet, the famous writer

of Provence.

The

story includes a

talking stagecoach: "It was an old-

fashioned stagecoach, upholstered

in the traditional

manner with

Riding on a donkey up

bright blue cloth,

to

now

Alphonse Daiidefs windmill in Fontvielle.

rather faded, and

trimmed with

enormous rough wool pompoms," wrote Daudet.

you the whole story

you

will enjoy

it.

here, but

The lament of this

deported to Africa because

make you
it

it

winded

it

when you

can't tell

are older,

rickety old coach,

was better than nothing,

smile as you look at

has a plaintive,

do read

will surely

my picture. On my canvas,

look. Yet here

it

too,

goes to only a few

places, peacefliUy crossing the level plain alongside the foothills

of the Alps

nothing

like torrid Africa!

33

After several days of living in cafe-

where the bad cooking upset

hotels

my stomach,

rented a

little

{The Yellow House, right).

paint

my

install
it

wanted

to

room, get some furniture,

gas heating

welcoming place

come and

visit. It

studio for

me

exhibit

house

in short, to

make

for friends to

would

to paint in

3 Wi-^

also be a

and a place

to

my work.

Since

was painting

everything around me,

I

made

these paintings

of the corner of the

with the yellow

street

house and also

my

room (The Bedroom,

right).

have painted myself

once again. "I have tried

to

keep

wrote
colors.

34

it

to
.

simple,

"

Theo, "but the

are very acid.

"

As
I

see

it, I

feei that in this

painting

have succeeded in conveying a

feehng of peace and restfulness with

the fresh, bright colors of the walls,

the furniture and

all

the objects in the

room. The blinds are closed against

the hot sunlight, everything
order.

only have to slip into

bed to get the

"^^-^^''^rill'

[rirtllilli

--^

,.

^-^'ny|-HM'i|ii|||^^|||-fYi;-a

- 'i'

rest

is

in

my

nice

need so much.

Everyone

is

countryside.
flowers

enchanted by the beauty of Aries and the surrounding

The

blue

fields,

irises,

careRiUy plowed and neatly fenced, the

yellow sunflowers

canvas or drawing paper, or set

0/7 the plain of

C ran.

me

to

their

impact sent

writmg endless

me

letters to

trees,

the

flying to

your

my

father.

near Aries, the market -gardeners tend their small gardens.

36

The ruins of the abbey at Montmajour.

loved to take long hikes and

to the ancient
trip to

little trips to

abbey of Montmajour,

Montmajour.

the surrounding areas. After a trip

wrote to Theo,

explored the old garden and stole

big rosebushes; the pomegranate trees with their

fat,

come back from a

some excellent figs. The

"I've just

bright orange

fruits;

hundred-year-old cypresses; willows, ash, and oaks; half-demolished

stairways; arched

windows

in ruins; lichen-covered blocks of

white stone; sections of crumbling walls here and there

among

the greenery."

at the upper-left

You can

see the

abbey

in the distance

of my painting, Le Crau (page 36).

37

the

To ?m, in J urn, everything looks golden

the haystacks, of course, but also the houses.

There are plenty of places in Aries where you would want to take a
or perhaps

sit

of these, with
park,

page

leisurely walk,

and read the newspaper. The famous Aly scamps promenade

its series

of old

Roman and

39).

38

one

tombs in what is now a public

warm, autumn tones {Alyscanips,

Christian

have painted this scene several times in

is

39

have mentioned to you

how amazing the people

are here: the women are
remarkably beautiful in
their characteristic

costumes; wearing white

scarves

and crowned with

traditional headdresses

they look like queens.

had

Madame Ginoux, who

owns the Cafe de

pose for me.
portrait

la

Gate,

"It is a

painted in three-

quarters of an hour

background pale yellow,

skin grayish, dress black,
black, black with

some

raw Prussian blue. She

upon

leans

and

is

sitting in an orange

wooden

how

a green table

chair."

That

described

letter to

your

it

is

in a

father.

These

words show you how eager

I

was

to

make

painting:
directly onto the canvas, just as they

almost as

if I

came out of the

were cutting them out of colored paper.

40

a powerful

put the colors

tubes, without mixing,

41

However, despite these

my

Sunflowers and the

tormented souls under

persuasion on

my part,

although he had
arrived

successes,

Irises that

I still

felt

nervous and anxious

loved to paint seemed to have

my paintbrush.

But then,

after lots of coaxing

Paul Gauguin finally decided to join

all sorts

even

me

in Aries,

He

of misgivings, not only about finances.

on October 23, 1888, and we spent two months

43

and

together.

Gauguin

work

set to

Ginoux, and the

Like me, he painted

at once.

interior of a cafe.

talking about painting, of the best

making

We also spent
way

tiie

lots

Alyscamps,

Madame

of time strolling around,

the only way, according to us

of

the public understand and appreciate the strong and unconventional

we wanted to express in our art. These discussions were pleasant

and I found them very comforting at first. But after a while I realized that
something was beginning to go wrong. I could no longer feel the warmth of real
friendship within Gauguin's attitude; always haughty, he now seemed withdrawn
sensations that

and

tense.

And

it

seemed

to

me

theories, his tastes, his choices

crushed.

One

off one of

room and
and
I

even

wanted

me

to

culinary ones!

submit completely to
I felt

my

evening, after a violent argument between us, in a

my earlobes.

Bleeding,

rushed out, but then had to

spirit
fit

his

being

of rage

come back

cut

to

my

remember anything more. Theo, told of this

by Gauguin, came as quickly as he could it was Christmas Eve

lie

catastrophe

that he

awoke

down.

to find

don't

myself in the hospital in Aries.

painted this portrait of myself, with

the hospital {Self-Portrait,

Man

my bandaged

with a Pipe).

It

can

head, six days after leaving

tell

you more than many big

My eyes say that, although sad, I was still

be! My beautiful dream of a life shared

words about what had happened to me.

confident in myself Sad,

might well

my friend and fellow artist, in both work and hardship, had vanished into
thin air. Some of my own behavior had sown the seeds of panic in the arrogant

with

Gauguin and he had taken cowardly flight.

But I stood firm, still believing in myself My ability to paint was not
damaged; perhaps it was even stronger than ever, and that is why look at me
carefully
I could sit there calmly smoking my pipe. My mind was made up! I
would stay on in the south of France and keep on working as hard as ever.

44

45

t^/ell, here

we

are at the

end of the

weekend. Surely you must be asleep

cradle

by now, and

am

tired, too.

in

your

Night

is

want to write to your father,

wonderful Theo who, in all the storms
and squalls of life, has never let me down. He has
always understood me and I know he always will.
(|
Now it is nearly dark. Before coming to see you,
while I was still in Aries, I painted a picture that I
like very much, and I'd like you to look at it. It is called
The Starry Night. In the picture it is dark, but the lights
falling

and

I still

"

of the village are reflected in the water. Overhead, brilliant

seem to sweep across the sky in a great, dazzling

movement. These same stars will help me find my own
peace. I know, too, that they will pass on to you my
stars

absolute confidence in

me,

art is

my painting, my art.

magic.

46

For, believe

47

The baby who was

an

engineer

he ca7ne

and a

to look

sleeping so peacefully in his cradle became

great

man when

he grew up. Little by

an

surprisingly like his uncle

uncle who, ner-

vously exhausted and at the end of his strength, fled into

wheatfield one morning

knew

nephew,

to

end his own

very well that ''art

loved his uncles paintings. Better

this love.

a great

He

created a splendid

collection

in turn,

would have

good
is

to say

will,

we

through
will

magic.

still,

he

Vincent, the
"

He passionately

knew how

museum where

to

share

everyone can see

of the masterpieces painted by his uncle, who,

said, '7

The work of Vincent van Gogh

wanted

is

life.

little,

am proud of you. " He

someday be able

and what a good place

it

human dignity. It is as if he
that, if we work at it with enough
to appreciate how beautiful the world

reflects

his painting

wrote:

can be in which to

49

live.

WHERE TO SEE VAN GOGH

Although van Gogh was almost
lifetime, his

paintings

works are now among the most

and drawings

and unappreciattd during his

visited and admired of any artist. His

totally inikuowii

are distributed throughout the world, with some of his greatest

works here in the United States. You can

see his

works in the following places:

UNITED STATES
New York
Next to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, New York City
more of van Gogh's great works than any other city.

On

Fifth Avenue, at the edge of Central Park, stands the

Museum

home

to

huge Metropolitan

of Art. Their wonderful collection of European paintings includes a

whole roomful
Irises,

is

of

van

Gogh

paintings!

one of his Sunflowers, his

Here

you'll see Cypresses, Still Life with

Self-Portrait with Straiv Hat, Irises (page 43),

and

The Arlesian, Portrait of Madame Ginoux (page 41). The Met also owns several of
his drawings and watercolors, including a marvelous version of The Zouave.

few blocks north of the Met

is

the distinctive building designed by Frank

Lloyd Wright housing the Guggenheim Museum. The Guggenheim has a few
choice paintings by van
Viaduct, as well as

Gogh, including Mountains

artist's

version

is

and The

some drawings.

At The Museum of Modern

the

at Saint-Remy

masterpieces

Art, in

midtown Manhattan, you can

The Starry Night

on page 47). The

museum

also

(a detail is

owns

a few

on page

8;

see

one of

another

works on paper, including

Corridor in the Asylum and Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

You'll also
Portrait

and

of the Met's

want

to

go

to the

Brooklyn Museum. There you can see a

several of his drawings, including a

Cypresses.

50

Self-

wonderful pen-and-ink version

Washington, D.C.

On

Here you

Art.

Washington is the National Gallery of

Provence and La Mousme, a Japanese-style

the mall near the U.S. Capitol in

will find Farmhonse in

portrait of a girl
are several

from Provence. Not

important van

Gogh

far

away, in the Phillips Collection, there

paintings, including Entrance

to the

Park and

The Road Menders. You can also see van Gogh's drawing of The Moulin de la
Galette ("The

windmill of the Galette," a popular dance

hall in Paris).

Connecticut

The Yale University Art Gallery

in

New Haven has

The Night

Cafe.

Massachusetts

The

Museum

number of
Impressionist works, with several works by van Gogh. Among them are
Portrait of Joseph Roulin and La Berceuse, and some of his early paintings, like
collection of the

Weai'er with Bobbin Winder,

The Fogg Art Museum

Portrait

of Fine Arts, Boston, has a great

which he painted

at

in 1884.

Harvard University owns the spectacular

on page 34, Three Pairs

oj Shoes,

and

Self-

several of his drawings.

'
.

Pennsylvania

At

Museum of Art you can see one of van Gogh's famous

of Sunflowers. The museum also has several of his drawings; be sure

the Philadelphia

paintings
see the

to

marvelous Haystacks.

Illinois

Near the lakefront of Chicago, on Michigan Avenue, you'll find the Art
Institute of Chicago. One of the first collections of modern art in America, the
museum owns a version of The Bedroom (page 35) as well as the painting Public
Garden with Weeping
as a

Tree.

The

Institute also has

pencil-and-pen Cypresses and a Self-Portrait.

51

some important drawings, such

Maryland

When
where

you're in Baltimore, be sure to

you'll find the painting

go

to the Baltimore

Museum

of Art,

Pair of Shoes, as well as several drawings.

Texas

The Museum of Fine Arts

Houston owns Rocks with Oak

in

Tree.

California
In Southern California, head to the Los Angeles

which stands next

to the

La Brea Tar

County Museum of Art,

van

Pits. Inside you'll find several

Gogh

drawings, including Portrait ofJoseph Ronlin and The Langlois Bridge.

little east

of Los Angeles

whose marvelous

is

the Norton

Simon Museum of Art

in Pasadena,

collection includes van Gogh's Portrait of Patience Escalier

Missouri

At the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City you can

Gogh paintings, Olive Grove and Head of a Peasant.

see

two van

THE NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
To

really get to

know van Gogh, you should

Amsterdam. Housed
vast interior spaces

pictures almost
it

seem

modern building, open

in a very

on several

visit the

levels.

to talk to

Here, in a

Van Gogh Museum

to the outdoors,

warm and welcoming

one another. Situated a

little

has

light, the

outside of the

contains the prestigious collection that the engineer Vincent van

painter's beloved

it

in

city,

Gogh, the

nephew, put together so that they could be seen and studied

two hundred paintings, 550 drawings, and seven hundred letters! The
collection is comprehensive, ranging from his earliest drawings to his last
together:

paintings. There are too

many

great works here to

Portrait with Easel (page 6), Branch of an

list

Almond Tree

Bedroom (page 35), and Sunflowers (page 42).

52

in

highlights include

Bloom (page

9),

The

Selj-

The

Stedelijk

will let

you

Museum

in

Amsterdam

see Allotments on Montmartre

Goghs a trip
of La Bercei/se.

has several van

and a version

here

Otterlo

The State Museum KroUer-MuUer in Otterlo also has many great works by
van Gogh, from his earliest paintings to those he made at the end of his life.
Here you can
The Sower

find Interior of a Restaurant (page 23), Peach Trees in Blossom,

(cover), to

name

and

just a few.

FRANCE
Paris
Paris
a great

is

number

of

Amsterdam and New York where you can see

van Gogh's masterpieces. The Musee d'Orsay, housed in a

the third city

after

magnificent old train station along the Seine River, contains a vast collection of
art

from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The

paintings by van Gogh;

among them

In Paris you'll also

of Auguste Rodin.

want

to

of

go

has nineteen

are Starry Night (page 47), a Self -Portrait

full of swirls. Portrait of Doctor Gachet, a third

version of The Aries ian, Portrait

museum

Madame

to the

version of The Beclroom. and a

Ginoux.

Musee Rodin, devoted

The museum houses much of Rodin's

includes van Gogh's Portrait ofPere Tanguy (page 28).

53

to the sculpture

art collection

and

IMPORTANT DATES IN THE

VAN GOGH
1853

Vincent van

Gogh was born on March 30

Holland, near the Belgian

frontier. It

was

in

LIFE

Zundert,

OF

in the

a depressed area

south of

where the

peasants and other workers barely eked out a painful existence.

Vincent's lather was a pastor in this predominantly Protestant
region.

The van Gogh family was an

old, well-established one.

Middle-class, pious, and strict, but also entrepreneurial, the family

included priests,

businessmen, and

sailors,

art lovers.

Three of

Vincent's uncles were art dealers.

1857

Birth of Theo, the brother with

number

of letters

and patient and

throughout

whom

his

in order to live

brother and three

sisters,

and

He was

life. It

was Theo who, generous

a constant believer in Vincent's talent, sent

money he needed
family.

Vincent exchanged a great

him

the

and paint. Vincent had another

but he did not relate well to the

rest of his

dreamy child with short-cropped red hair

He loved to wander alone in the moors and

a solitary,

a bony, serious face.

heaths of his low-lying country, Holland.

1865
1869

Vincent lived

in

boarding schools, where he was very unhappy. In

1869 his parents sent him to the Hague to be a salesman at the

Goupil art gallery, a branch of a gallery in Paris. A model employee,
young Vincent was sent to work in the London office, with
occasional stays in Paris.

1875

In May, Vincent

but he

and

felt

He

to the gallery's

lonely and distraught there.

seemed
Goupil and

little else

his job at

1876
1880

was transferred
to have

He

any meaning

main

office in Paris,

read the Bible constantly

for

him. Finally, he quit

left Paris.

returned to England. After a period as a master in a dreary

school, he

became

assistant preacher in a Protestant

54

Methodist

Hoping to
he went back to the University of Amsterdam, and
but he failed and gave up his studies. He took a

parish in one of the most miserable suburbs of London.

become

a pastor,

later to Brussels,

voluntary position in an evangelist mission to help the miners in

Borinage, a sad, poverty-stricken area of Belgium, with gray light

and huge black mountains of coal. Drawn

for,

them by

to

he cared

pity,

comforted, and encouraged these workers with a devotion that

overtaxed his

own

strength. But, though dedicated, he was not a

gifted speaker and the

Church did not renew

his contract.

So he was

once again without work, a homeless wanderer.

two brothers, Vincent

"see in him something

In 1880, after a long silence between the

Theo begging him to

other than the worst sort of idler." Theo assured him of his belief in
him. Soon afterwards, Vincent wrote him anew: "And yet in this
sent a long letter to

terrible misery

which

again."

feel

my

had put down

And from

in

energy reviving.

.1

will pick

up

my

pencil,

discouragement, and will begin to draw

that time on, this was the road he

would

follow.

1881

Vincent was already deeply committed to painting and had visited

1885

the great

museums

in Paris,

London, and Amsterdam. To learn

perspective and anatomy, he apprenticed himself to a master painter

in Brussels;

then he went to the

well-known painter

Hague

to study

with Anton Mauve,

went back to live

with his parents in Nuenen, constantly drawing and planning great
paintings. In dark lines and somber colors he did a series of
a

at that

time. In 1883 he

paintings of the local peasants and workers at their daily tasks,

capturing their natural expressions and gestures. In 1885, his father

died suddenly.

Not long

after this,

of Fine Arts in Anvers, where his

Vincent enrolled

at the

Academy

work was not appreciated.

1886

Abruptly, in the beginning of 1886, Vincent decided to leave for

1887

Theo, though a bit disconcerted, made him welcome at his

apartment in Montmartre, a section of Paris where many artists
Paris.

lived.

Theo was

the director of an art gallery where, in the basement,

55

he occasionally exhibited the work of the Impressionist painters,

whom

the public

still

did not appreciate very much.

He was

eventually very successful in selling these works, but never the work

of his brother.

now found himself in Paris among all the young and notso-young artists who would become very well known a few decades
Vincent

They worked, they met, they fraternized, and they gave each
other helpful criticism. Vincent made many drawings and over two
hundred paintings: landscapes, portraits, flowers and still lifes. His
later.

colors were bright,

sometimes

violent.

He

always wanted to help his

much success) to
cafes. And everywhere

companions, so he tried (without

exhibitions of their

work

idea for an artists' union,

became too
rainy

difficult for

in

which no one

him

he was sure the sun would do

He

settled

a little

down

wanted. Finally, Paris

chose the south of France, where

him good and he would be

have a studio, perhaps together with other

1888

he proclaimed his

the light too gray and the weather too

He

so he decided to leave.

really

arrange

able to

artists.

room above a restaurant, later in

yellow house. From spring to winter, day

in Aries, first in a

white studio in a

and night, Vincent drew and painted: the countryside, the planted
fields, the plain that

extended to the foothills of the Alps, the

glorious sunflowers, the

open

to the

irises,

the fields of wheat

world wide

burning sun and the region's intense winds. In spite

certain reserve on the part of the people there, he

formed

friendships, especially with the family of the postman,

him through some

moments.
Theo, sometimes twice

of a

who

helped

difficult

a ciay. Theo sent him

Always he wrote to
money to live on and paints and canvas, and Vincent told him in
minute detail about his work, and also about his ever-present idea
for an artists' colony. His friend from Paris, Paul Gauguin, seemed
restless
he should come to Aries, wrote Vincent. At the end of
October, Gauguin arrived. The artists shared two months of
communal life, which began with rambles in the countryside and

56

ended

One

in tragedy.

day, driven to distraction

by Gauguin's

arrogance, Vincent tried to hit him. Then, running outside, he cut

off

one of his

earlobes. Unconscious, he

Gauguin

hospital.

1889

own

left.

Theo came

to the

to help Vincent.

months in the hospital, Vincent came home. He began to

work again, making a lot of drawings and many paintings. But he
After two

was exhausted, and

his increasingly strange behavior eventually

disturbed his neighbors in Aries,

who

called the police. After a short

stay in the hospital in Aries, he asked to be

in

admitted to the asylum

Saint-Remy, a small town nearby. There he had two rooms and,

much
1890

was taken

as

he continued to paint.

as possible,

In January the first enthusiastic and appreciative article about his

painting was published, and several months later one of his

paintings

probably

But the big event

his wife Jo,

whom

affectionate." So in

the only one during his lifetime

for

in

"charming, simple and

baby who bore

infant lay in his cradle." Vincent also

still

as

Vincent came to Paris and

tears in his eyes, kissed the

However, he

sold.

Vincent was the birth of a son to Theo and

Vincent described

May

was

his

"silently,

own name

saw some

with

as the

of his old friends.

preferred to live in the country.

He

found

a place

Auvers, near Paris, where he could be under the care of Dr.

Gachet,

who was

art collector,

not only a doctor but also an amateur painter, an

and a friend of artists. Vincent continued

to paint

with

passion and fervor; he especially loved the "fields of wheat spread

out beneath the troubled skies."

fields that,

He was

on July 27, he took

It

his

was

in the

own

middle of one of these

life.

only thirty-seven years old, and yet he had

an enormous legacy

body

of

left

the world

uniquely beautiful creations. Six

The two brothers

months

later his favorite brother

now

side-by-side in the small cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise.

lie

57

Theo

also died.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The following
in this
first

book.

is

a list of the titles

and locations

for

works of art reproduced

work's dimensions are given in both inches and centimeters,

by height, then by width.

Pages 4-5
View

oj

Aries (detail),

Museum

of Art,

May

1888. Reed pen and sepia ink. Rhode Island School of Design

Providence,

Rhode

Island.

Page 6
Self-Portrait with Easel 1888. Oil

on canvas,

19'/"

(65.5

cm X

50.5 cm).

Van Gogh

Museum, Amsterdam.

Page 7
Flowering tendril 1890. Pen and ink wash, 18'A

Amsterdam (Museum

1574" (47.5

X 40 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

photo).

Page 8
TheStarry Night

Museum

(detail),

of Modern Art,

June 1889- Oil on canvas, 29 X 36'A" (73.7 X 92.1 cm). The

New

York.

Page 9
Branch of an Almond Tree

in Bloom,

February 1890. Oil on canvas, 28)4

36V4" (73

X 92 cm).

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Pages 10-11
The

Staircase at Auvers,

Museum,

St.

June 1890. Oil on canvas, 20 X 28" (50.8 X 7 1

cm). City Art

Louis, Missouri.

Page 12
Sketch of Springtime on

letter to

Theo, April 20, 1888. Pen. Van

Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Photograph of Theo, around the age of 30.

V lowering Border of a Garden, 1888. Reed

Amsterdam (Museum photo).

pen, 24

58

19'/,"

(61

X 49 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

Page 13
Sprtngthjie {Fruit Trees in Bloofu, House),

1888. Oil on canvas, 24 X 227k" (72 X 58 cm). Private

collection, Switzerland.

Page 14
June 1889. Oil on canvas, 28)4 X
Amsterdam.
The

Reaper.

Page 15
A Farm in Provence (detail),

(73

36'/V'

X 92 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

n.d. Graphite, sharpened-reed pen,

Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Museum

and sepia ink on vellum. Van

photo).

Wheatfield and Cypress, June 1889- Oil on canvas,

28'/2

X 36"

(72.5

X 91.5 cm). National

Gallery, London.

Page 16
Photograph of Vincent

in

1866.

Page 17
Fanner Reaping, Back View, 1885. Black pencil, I6/2 X

Museum, Amsterdam (Museum

20'/4"

(42

X 52 cm). Van Gogh

photo).

Page 18
Head of a Peasant, 1885. Graphite, B'A X
Amsterdam (Museum photo).

8'/."

(35

X 21.5 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

Postcard of the colliery at Cuesmes.

Page 20
Woman Shelling Peas, 1885. Black
Amsterdam (Museum photo).

pencil, 16":

lO'A" (42

X 26 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

Page 21
Rectory

Garden

in

Winter 1884. Pen and graphite, 15V8

Museum, Amsterdam (Museum

2078" (39

X 53 cm). Van Gogh

photo).

Page 23
Interior of a Restaurant,

Museum,

Otterlo,

1887. Oil on canvas, ll\

The Netherlands.

59

22V4" (45

X 56.5 cm). Kroller-MuUer

Page 24
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

in his

studio at Eragny,

c.

1884.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Self-Portrait. 1880-82. Pencil. Private collection.

Marcellin Desboutin (1823-1902), Portrait of Degas,
Nationale, Paris.

c.

1876. Etching. Bibliotheque

Page 25
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Self-Portrait

(detail).

Charcoal and colored pencils. Drawing

Collection, Louvre, Paris, France.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), Caricatured Self-Portrait, 1885. Pencil, G'k X 4V2"

(17.5

1.5 cm).

Musee Toulouse-Lautrec,

Albi, France.

Page 26
The Window of the Restaurant Batailh. 1887. Pen and colored pencils, 21 X
39-5 cm). Van

Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Museum

15''2"

(53.5

photo).

Pages 2627
La Butte Montmartre,
Museum, Amsterdam.

Kitchen Gardens at Montmartre:

120 cm). Stedelijk

c.

1887. Oil on canvas, 37' X 47 '/V (96 X

1

Page 28
Le Pere Tanguy, 1887-88. Oil on canvas,

36'/4

X 28) V (92 X 73 cm). Musee Rodin,

Paris.

Page 29
Emile Bernard (1868-1941), Van Gogh Painting. 1887. Pencil,

^1,

5V2" (14.5

X 14 cm).

Private collection.

Pages 30-31
Roger

Viollet, Aries, general view of the arenas.

Page 32
Roger

Viollet, Aries, the plaza oj the Forum.

Page 33
Landscape With the Windmill of Alphonse Daudet at Fontvielle. 1888. Graphite and reed pen with
brown ink, 10 X 13'/j" (25.5 X 34.5 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Museum photo).

60

Page 33
The Stagecoaches ofTarascon. 1888. Oil on canvas, 287. X 367." (72 X 92 cm). The Henry and
Rose Pearlman Foundation, Inc.

Page 34
Self-Portrait,

1888. Oil on canvas,

2i\ X

19Vs" (60

X 49-9 cm). Fogg Art Museum, Harvard

University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Page 34
The Yellow Home, 1888. Watercolor,

10'/

I2V2" (25.7

X 31.7 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

Amsterdam.

Page 35
The Chair. 1888. Oil on canvas, 13 X
The Bedroom. 1888. Oil on canvas,

9/^<"

287,s

(33

X 25 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

35V2" (72

X 90 cm). Van Gogh Museum,

Amsterdam.

Page 36
La Crau.

the

Gardens of the Market -farmers. June 1888. Oil on canvas, 2878

36VV' (72

92 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Page 37
Roger

Viollet, Montmajour. ruins of the Benedictine abbey of Saint -Pierre de Montmajour.

Page 38
Haystacks in Provence. June 1888. Oil on canvas,

Museum,

Otterlo,

28'/4

36V4" (73

X 92.5 cm). Kroller-Muller

The Netherlands.

Page 39
The Aly scamps. October 1888. Oil on canvas, 36V8 X 28%" (93 X 72 cm). Private collection,
Lausanne, Switzerland.

Page 40
Roger

Viollet, Aries ian

women

in traditional costume, early

20th

century.

Page 41
The Arlesian. Portrait of Mada?ne Ginoux. November 1888. Oil on canvas, 36 X 29" (91
73.7 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

61

.4

Page 42
August 1888. Oil on canvas, 27% X
Amsterdam.

Sunflowers.

29'

h"

(96 X 74 cm). Van

Gogh Museum,

Page 43
Irises,

1890. Oil on canvas, 28)4

36Vs" (73

X 93 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New

York.

Page 45
Self-Portrait,

Man

45 cm). Private

With a

Pipe.

January-February 1889- Oil on canvas, 20 X

17/^4"

(51

collection.

Page 47
Starry Night.

September 1888. Oil on canvas, 28'

Paris, France (on loan).

62

36V4" (72.5

X 92 cm). Musee

d'Orsay,

First

published

in riie

United States of America

in

1994 by

Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

300 Park Avenue South

York, New York 10010

New

Copyright

1993 Editions d'Art Albert Skira, S.A.

<D 1994 Rizzoli International Publications,

English translation copyright

All rights reserved.

No

part of this publication

may be reproduced

in

Inc.

any form

whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Skira-Ventur], Rosabianca.

[Dimanche avec Van Gogh. English]

A Weekend with Van Gogh / by Rosabianca Skira-Venturi;

translated by

Keay Beneduce.
cm.
p.
ISBN 0-8478-1836-5
1.

Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890

Biography
I.

^Juvenile literature.

Juvenile

literature. 2. Painters

Gogh, Vincent

van,

Netherlands

1853-1890.

2. Artists.]

Title.

ND653.G7S44813 1994
759.9492dc20

94-16262
CIP

AC

Design by Mary McBride

Printed in Singapore

Ann

/ t's the weekend!

Only

the train that brought

week has passed

me

from Aries to

my brother Theo s apartment.

since

Paris,

stepped off

and hurried to

.And there you were, a tiny

baby, in your cradle! I was so happy to see you
you, the son of
my brother whom I love so much, to whom I have written
hundreds and hundreds of letters. This weekend I am writing
.

just to you.