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View of the Church of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole - Vincent Van Goh
It Is an unspoken rule, that when one visits Amsterdam they must also visit the famous Van Goh museum weather it be a lover of arts or just another traveller, this is a must see, priceless experience.
Arguably now a household name, Vincents art sometimes might fall under the radar in the cluttered lives of creatives and artists always scanning and raking the world for the smallest form of new, creative revolution. However when taking a few hours to unwind, quite the mind and take a stroll through the historically laid out museum, It becomes evident why Vincent has received this high status. Everyone has at some point come across a painting of his in their lifetime weather they knew so or not, its almost a pity to think that an artist of such magnitude is often just disregarded as another mass produced print on the back of postcards collecting dust on the counter of souvenir shops in Amsterdam.
When looking onto either one of his self portraits or a landscape, its mesmerising and almost ungraspable how people failed to see and understand his message while the artist was still alive. So many years have passed yet the paintings of his self portraits are still dripping wet with emotion, even though the paint has very much set. One of the key features which sets him apart from other artist is his remarkable technique, his characteristic almost impulsive brush strokes completely transform the two dimensional pieces in an animated moving work of art. Its almost as if when you look long enough you can almost feel the direction of the wind in his landscapes, you can hear the noise in the background of a working day in the village, you can feel the silence surround you as it did him whilst finishing up a self portrait in solitude. He conveys emotion also through his choice of tonal palettes, whilst not using extraordinary colours it is seen that he often went for muted, pastel tones which when brought together on canvas flow harmoniously into one another. Standing across “the sunflowerowers” was an overwhelming experience, however seeing the haphazard pre - sketches in a small notebook along side an ink pot an some carbon, was what was truly humbling. To see such an iconic piece of work at such an infant state, shapeless and rough it ended up on the walls of museums dedicated to Vincent decades later.
The museum also features a series of letters he wrote, or were written to him by family members, friends and professionals all available in English audio as well as dutch. Listening to the narrated letters shines a new light on the artists world, despite the widely known fact that he often struggled with depression listening to his thoughts puts that exact concept into perspective; that all great art comes from the darkest of places.
I no longer view sunflowers the way I used to, I now look for for the undertones in dried blue acrylics on paintings. The Van Goh Museum in Amsterdam is an unforgettable experience, for everyone and anyone.