Art Exhibit /Santa Barbara Museum of Art : "Through Vincent's Eyes - Van Gogh and His Sources"

 

A recommendation from my dear friend and Santa Barbara native Janice Ingrum, sent me on a Saturday adventure up to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art to catch this show- "Through Vincent's Eyes- Van Gogh and his sources". This beautifully curated exhibit featured 20 pieces by Van Gogh along side art of his contemporaries and literature of the time, to site what may have influenced is style. 

Described beautifully on the museum's website, 

"By juxtaposing celebrated artworks by Van Gogh with works by the many artists he admired, the show seeks to foreground both Vincent's indebtedness to and radical departure from the art world of his day. The exhibition also taps into Van Gogh's literary imagination by displaying first-editions of novels by Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Leo Tolstoy and Edgar Allan Poe to conjure up the fictional worlds that enflamed Vincent's inner eye." 

Van Gogh is known for his rich use of texture in his paintings and the images he depicts seem to jump off the canvas in three dimensions. Viewing his works alongside that of his contemporaries, it was easy to see how his unique way of working with paint made him somewhat of a revolutionary of his time. Did he waste precious paint? Were his works as much sculpture as paintings? 

"Hospital at Saint-Remy"(Oct 1889) is a great example of his use of rich textures, as the pine trees seem to come alive and you can almost feel the breeze blowing through them. Painted during what was both a very manic and productive period for Vincent, he completed over 150 works in just one year during his stay at the psychiatric hospital, Saint-Paul-de-Mausole at Saint-Remy de Provence. Many of his most beloved works were painted during this period, including "Starry Night"  and "Almond Blossom".

The exhibit also featured some of Vincent's more traditional works, including "Vase with Poppies"(summer 1886) and "Roses"(May 1890).  These paintings, a style more in fashion at the time, where meant to be sold to art lovers for home decor.  While beautiful, I can only imagine these paintings felt limiting in the mind of Van Gogh.  

No Van Gogh trip is complete without at least one self-portrait and I was excited to see this one that was new to me, Self Portrait with Pipe, the painting was featured as the main image for the exhibit. 

Painted in Paris in 1886, you see Vincent in what appears to be a more confident stage in his life, inspired by the work of Adolphe Monticelli (1824-1886), a French painter that inspired Van Gogh, with his use of dark color and thick application of paint.

If you have never been to Santa Barbara,CA , I highly recommend taking the trip. It's just a 2 hour drive north of Los Angeles, on the enchanting 101 freeway, with ocean views and lush scenery. A city so beautiful and rich in its California style, and featuring this incredible museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art. 

I am hopeful that reading this will inspire you to take your own art and museum adventures, so I will be including links to the home museums of each painting in the titles, so you can check them out for yourself.

Thanks to my 'ride or die' travel buddy and "budding art fan" Denise Fanelli, who is always willing to take a trip with me, and the lovely Janice Ingrum, for telling us about this amazing exhibit.

Just for fun:

My goal is to see all of Vincent's paintings in person, so I have started a log to keep track of each of his 900 paintings that I have seen, in my Van Gogh Tracker, so far I am at 99/900.

I picked up the most incredible poster on Racoonsociety.com , which visually charts all 900 of Van Gogh's paintings. I have this framed in my home, where I will be noting each painting that I see in person as sort of a visual check list. If you are a nerd for charts like me, check out https://theraccoonsociety.com/ 

Till next time, may your life imitate art, 

Love,

Kathie -N- Vinnie