education and entertaining goal of the project:
sharing insights over the paintings of the artist will be an important part of the animation. the letters are going to be a crucial part: using some of his words as well. The overall animation is going to deal with is last years in the south of France his mental health and artistic development. All the artworks I am going to recreate in 3D are going to be from this period and are somehow intertwined with each other.
Paintings in arles I am going to include as well as some initial research I have found where I have found very useful information
Sunflowers
These were painted to decorate the spare bedroom at the Yellow House, to welcome the arrival of Paul Gauguin.
Van Gogh started his series of Sunflowers on Monday 20 August 1888 and finished on the Friday
Self-portrait
Differently from what happened in the 15th and 16th centuries, Van Gogh with his several self-portraits didn’t want to celebrate his image or his role of artist, but rather tries to describe on canvas his own personality and his sufferings.
Each self-portrait by Van Gogh might be linked to a precise moment in his life, but the element common to all is that in every painting the face and the background are the key to observe what is hidden in his mind.
Actually, the artist is interested in what those eyes hide and each self-portrait need to be admired in its entirety, because the background and his facial features are a whole with what Van Gogh tries to express.
the contrast between the apparent calm of his face and the swirling lines of the brushstrokes.
There’s a contrast between the vortexes of colours and the expression of his face so still and restrained.
It seems that the artist is imposing strict discipline on himself, which however explodes in his way of painting.
https://www.theartpostblog.com/en/self-portrait-by-van-gogh/
Starry Night
“I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.” Vincent van Gogh
The painting is based on van Gogh’s view from his room in the mental asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It was painted from memory during the day, as he was not able to paint from his room. But he was able to create sketches in ink and charcoal.
Although it is one of his most famous works, he initially considered the painting to be a failure based on his letters to Theo.
In a letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote that the “starry night is more alive and more richly colored than the day”. This may explain his exaggerated use of of color.
this painting marks an interesting area somewhere between realism and complete abstraction. Van Gogh pushed the colors and style in order to depict his unique interpretation of the world, but not so much as to lose all qualities of realism and representation. You know exactly what the subject is, but it is far from what you would see in life.
This area in painting allows for some personal expression, without departing too far from representational art standards.
Bedroom in Arles
He then relaxed by temporarily abandoning his studio for a shopping expedition in town. Although notorious for his shabby clothes, he returned with “a black velvet jacket of quite good quality for 20 francs” (a surprising purchase in the sweltering heat)—and a large yellow straw hat. Both items may appear to be hanging behind his bed in the painting he made of his bedroom two months later.
After two years in Paris, Vincent van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France on February 20, 1888. He rented a room in the Carrel Hotel-Restaurant where he would stay for three months. In May he moved to a room on the top floor of the Café de la Gare. At the same time, he rented the four-roomed Yellow House in the Lamartine Area and began using it as a workshop He settled entirely in Yellow House in September.
Van Gogh invites his painter friend Gauguin to work together in Arles. Theo van Gogh, who runs a gallery in Paris and sells both his brother’s and Gauguin’s works, works to fulfill this request.
Van Gogh wrote the following letter to Theo concerning this painting depicting his bedroom while he was waiting for Gauguin to come:
“This time it’s simply my bedroom, but the color has to do the job here, and through its being simplified by giving a grander style to things, to be suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In short, looking at the painting should rest the mind, or rather, the imagination.”
“The solidity of the furniture should also now express unshakeable repose.“
“I’ll work on it again all day tomorrow, but you can see how simple the idea is. The shadows and cast shadows are removed; it’s colored in flat, plain tints like Japanese prints.“
The painting was a reflection of a completely colored feeling. The subject was the bedroom, the motif was rest… But all the items in the bedroom are placed in order to create a strong perspective effect. Half the window is open, sloping furniture, pictures hanging on the walls, it gives an impression as if dangling into the room, this gives the picture a tension. The effect of loneliness and abandonment in the picture outweighs the demands. This unusual perspective practice was not only the conscious personal choice of Van Gogh. The architectural structure of the room was also influential in this. The room had an unusual curvature formed by two walls with 120 and 60-degree angles.
It didn’t take long for their joint work to cause their distortion. Their close relationship of two months ended when Van Gogh cut his left ear as a result of the crisis. Gauguin left Arles. Van Gogh had voluntarily entered himself at Saint Rémy’s Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum after he was hospitalized in Arles.
Clearly Van Gogh was pleased with his work. He created five different versions of his bedroom, 3 in oil and 2 in letter sketches. The 3 paintings vary only slightly in minor details.
https://www.pivada.com/en/vincent-van-gogh-bedroom-in-arles
After Vincent’s suicide his doctor, Paul Gachet, drew a simple tribute—a poignant single sunflower
Dr Paul Gachet was at Van Gogh’s beside for the two days from 27 July 1890, when he shot himself to his death following two days later. Three weeks afterwards, Dr Gachet—an amateur artist—visited Theo in Paris, presenting him with a symbolic drawing inscribed “Le Tournesol” (The Sunflower). This poignant sketch has not been widely reproduced. That month, Dr Gachet planted sunflowers on the grave. For those close to Vincent, the flower that turns towards the sun had already become inextricably linked with the artist whose career was cut short in his prime.