tasks 2, 7,8 - Vincent Van Gogh

 Van Gogh was greatly influenced by Paul Gauguin, a friend who lived with him in his 'Studio in the South' (what he hoped would become a artist commune). Only a year after meeting and even less since moving south, Van Gogh had an attack of insanity/epilepsy and was admitted (a second time) to a hospital. In the last three years of his life, he produced his best work - his most vivid, most strange and bright.

 Starry night was painted during Van Goghs second stay in hospital and was painted from memory, as opposed to his normal technique of painting from life; usually striving for realism, this was a major change of direction for him - even tho he stay with it. Painting from memory allowed the painting to be less realistic, to be more emotion based. The painting is incredibly popular, because/and so many people feel they can relate to the swirling patterns.

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html

"Legacy

Van Gogh's renown steadily increased after his death, and his revolutionary approach to painting had a strong influence on the next generation of artists. The Fauves and the German Expressionists adopted both Van Gogh's use of color and gestural style, and later Abstract Expressionists such as Pollock and de Kooning made use of Van Gogh's experimental technique of sweeping, expressive brush strokes. He demonstrated that painting was not merely a study of the visible world, but also an expression of the artist's emotional response to his surroundings. His life of mental illness and instability created an image of a tortured soul who later captured the imagination of the world. His art and life have also inspired numerous films, as well as classical and popular music. Van Gogh painted 900 paintings and made 1,100 drawings and sketches, while only selling one of them in his career. Sharply contrasting his lifetime of poverty, Van Gogh's paintings have now sold for tens of millions of dollars and are some of the most rare and sought after acquisitions in the art market." http://www.theartstory.org/artist-van-gogh-vincent.htm

"Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885). In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
 In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting."http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/overview.html

His work was fanciful and escapist. His original plan to bring people joy through his work has been realised since his death in the late 1800s. His bright colours and slightly impressionist style earned is work the respect it originally deserved.

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-van-gogh-vincent.htm
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/

A Pair of Shoes was painted in 1888. Much of Van Gogh's work was created in these last few years of his life.
The shoes may represent a need of money and funding for life. They are central, keeping your attention with them, he's making the ordinary interesting. The simplicity of the painting makes it all the more interesting, wondering why Van Gogh decided to paint the shoes. His distinctive style of painting with lines is clearly visible, adding extra depth to the piece that would not necessarily be there if it were painted exactly hows the shoes and floor really were. The paving/tiling suggests the shoes are either in a kitchen or outside - possibly not allowed into the rest of the house and muddying the floor. They look like workers shoes - from the field or other dirty workplace.