The Van Gogh Gallery Blog

Vincent van Gogh was born on this day in 1853.  In honor of Van Gogh’s birthday, I thought I would share some of my favorite Van Gogh quotes:

“An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.”

“It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to…. The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.”

Read more great Van Gogh Quotes!

The Play Vincent in Brixton written by Nicholas Wright in 2002 is currently being performed again in the UK.  The play, although fictional, is based on the time Van Gogh spent in Brixton, London in 1873.  Van Gogh was only 20 years old at the time and had not yet become an artist, but was pursuing a profession as an art dealer. The play, however, focuses more on Vincent’s relationships with his landlady and her daughter and his psychological state.  I have not seen this play, but have read that it has received many good reviews and awards including a Tony award in 2003 for Best Play.  The play can be seen in several theatres in around the UK throughout the month of April. If you have seen the play, let us know what you thought – comment and share your opinion!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the new Rubens Gallery website.  The Rubens Gallery joins the Van Gogh Gallery and the Monet Gallery among the list of expanded artist galleries in the Studio of the South suite of websites devoted to master artists.  The new Rubens Gallery covers all aspects of Peter Paul Rubens’ life and works.  Read Rubens’ biography or learn about some of his most famous works including The Raising of the Cross and St. George and the Dragon.  To make the launch possible, the Rubens Gallery worked with our partners, The Net Impact, for the web design and search engine optimization of the new website.  Explore the new Rubens Gallery now!

We have recently made some significant updates to the Van Gogh Gallery to enhance the user experience for our visitors. With recommendations from Google, we have modified the custom search making it easier for you to find the information you are looking for on our site. To use our new search, simply click on any page of the site,  type your search entry into the search box at the top of the page and click search. We have also improved our Other Famous Artists section to include enhanced images within each artist biography as well as previous and next buttons at the top of each page to make browsing artists easier. To see these new features in action, go to the Other Famous Artist page, select your favorite artist and start browsing. Thank you to Unidev and The Net Impact for helping us make these changes. We are constantly looking for ways to improve the site, so if you have any recommendations for enhancements please contact us.

We are proud to announce the launch of the new C Monet Gallery website, today.  The C Monet Gallery worked with our sponsors, The Net Impact, for the web design and search engine optimization of the new website.  Just as the Van Gogh Gallery covers all aspects of Vincent van Gogh’s life and works, the C Monet Gallery offers a wealth of information on the life and work of Claude Monet.  Learn about how Monet started the Impressionist movement with Impression, Sunrise or how he captured his Water Lilies en plein air from his garden in Giverny.  Often revered for his landscapes, many of Monet’s contemporaries were impressed by his works including Van Gogh.  In a letter to his brother Theo from 1889, Van Gogh stated, “Ah, to paint figures as Claude Monet paints landscapes!”  See what Van Gogh and everyone else is talking about and view the C Monet Gallery now! 

Van Gogh Letter Source: WebExhibits.org

Still life was just one of the many types of art that Van Gogh mastered.  Van Gogh’s early still life paintings are more realistic in style and capture the aspects of peasant life in the Borinage, Belgium.  During his later years, living in the South of France, he became more expressive with color and more imaginative depicting subjects. A recent post from Eyeconart’s blog discusses several different masters’ takes on still life including Van Gogh and how even in painting still objects each artist’s style and personality shows through.  Scroll through our gallery to see more of Van Gogh’s progression as an artist through still life.

On behalf of the Van Gogh Gallery, I would like to extend a big thank you to two of our sponsors: Unidev and The Net Impact. With the support of the IT Consultants at Unidev and the Web Marketing and Web Design teams at The Net Impact, we have been able to add additional features and information to continually enhance the Van Gogh Gallery site. To everyone who has helped make this website the number one resource on the Internet devoted to the life and work of Vincent van Gogh, Thank you!

With the holidays quickly approaching I would like to turn your attention to one of our sponsors, Restaurant Foods at Home. Without the support of sponsors like Restaurant Foods at Home, we would not be able to bring the enhanced information and upgrades to the Van Gogh Gallery site. So, for your holiday gifts consider some of the delicious gourmet cheese gift boxes that Restaurant Foods has to offer. Being that Van Gogh was from Holland, one of the top cheese producing countries in the world, and that he often dined on bread and cheese alone, cheese gifts are the perfect accompaniment to a Van Gogh masterpiece for anyone on your holiday gift list.

With interest growing in the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit, posted on earlier, I wanted to bring you more on this event especially if you won’t have the opportunity to see it in person.  Earlier this week I was contacted by ArtInfo.com about a recent podcast they released called Van Gogh: Painting the Night.  The podcast features expert commentary on the night themes in Van Gogh’s work from leading Van Gogh authorities including the curators of the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit.  In addition, excerpts read from Van Gogh’s letters allow Vincent to speak to his use of these motifs as well.  Listen to the experts’ analysis along with insight from Van Gogh himself, in Van Gogh: Painting the Night now! 

I would like to extend a big “Thank you!” to all of the visitors to the Van Gogh Gallery who have helped to make it the #1 Van Gogh site on the Internet.  I would especially like to thank Richard from The Netherlands, Sandra from Brazil and Lyn from The United States for your feedback.  Thank you for your attention to detail and helping us make this the best Van Gogh resource on the web!  It is our goal to provide the most accurate and complete online information on Vincent van Gogh’s life and Van Gogh’s works so we appreciate feedback on the site.  usa casino online

Thank you to all of our loyal visitors for visiting our webiste and responding with your questions and comments.  If you have feedback on our website to share, please contact the Van Gogh Gallery.