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Tuesday 20 June 2017

Van Gogh and The Seasons

There is a wonderful exhibition on at the National Gallery of Victoria at the moment called Van Gogh and The Seasons. It's been a very popular exhibition, so much so that they have extended the opening hours. I went along last month with what seemed like hundreds of other people but I still managed to enjoy it despite the crowd.

Van Gogh- Self portrait 1887


There are no Irises, Sunflowers or Starry nights but the exhibition explains Van Gogh's love of nature and how he portrayed the seasons. I hired one of the headsets that definitely helped block out the crowd and made the exhibition more interesting.

When Van Gogh began painting they were quite dark but his paintings changed dramatically when he moved to Paris and could enjoy the sunshine and wonderful colour.

Here are some in the autumn section.

The Green Vineyard 1888

The Olive Grove with two Olive Pickers 1889




Van Gogh is in the Post- Impressionist era but he was very inspired by the Impressionists. His paintings are so expressive and the marks he makes remind me a lot of embroidery or quilting stitches.

The Winter paintings are much more sombre but still have a lovely glow of light on the horizon.

Snow covered field with a harrow 


The parsonage garden at Nuenen in the snow 1885

I only took one photo of spring.

River bank in Springtime 1887
Most of the photos that I took were in the summer section.

Trees and undergrowth 1887

A wheat field with cypresses

Wildflowers and carnations 1887

Roses and Peonies 1886

I love Van Gogh's paintings and my very favourite is Starry Night that I saw in Canberra a few years ago. It just glowed and I was quite awe struck by it, I hope to get to see it again one day.

We studied Van Gogh a few years ago with the Waverley Art Quilters and I made an embroidered quilt inspired by Starry Night.

A Starry Night by Linda Steele

Van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890, so he was only 37 when he died. What a shame he died so young and was such a troubled soul.

The exhibition is on until July 8th 2017 so there is still time to get there if you live in Melbourne or will be here visiting.

Bye for now,
Linda

4 comments:

Robbie said...

Your Starry Night is wonderful! We did quilts based on VanGogh a few years ago for our traveling exhibit. My friend did a 'self portrait' in fabric of her mother similar to VanGogh's self portrait. It was/is so cool! If I find a picture of it, I'll send you.

Linda Steele said...

I am sure many of us have been inspired by Van Gogh. I'd love to see your friend's portrait of her mother.

Gina E. said...

Thanks for your post about this exhibition Linda, I would love to see it, but being the procrastinator that I am, I will probably miss out :-( But I did see his work at the previous exhibition in Australia that you mentioned and like you, I was mesmerised by the way some of his paintings seemed to glow.

Linda Steele said...

The exhibition has been so popular, they have started to open the gallery two hours earlier to cope with the crowds.