Here is a selection of 18 Vincent van Gogh paintings as described by Vincent in his letters to his brother Theo. All words heard in this video are excerpts from the 900+ letters written by Vincent. This video seeks to give fresh insights into the nature of his art, intellect, and personality. Far from being the stereotypical mad artist often portrayed by the media, it should be obvious that Vincent had a profound clarity of mind when it came to his art and what he sought to convey through his work. As his talent developed over the years, Vincent achieved a unique ability to see through nonessentials and go straight to the heart and soul of his subject matter, as well as an unsurpassed talent for translating it emotionally to canvas with an unprecedented passionate use of color. His incredible determination, even in the face of public indifference to his work and the mental challenges with which he was plagued, never stopped his extraordinary creative energies. I would like to thank my husband, John Schumaker, for helping me put this video together and also for his perceptive and psychological understanding of Vincent. Incidentally, as background music, Cheryl Shantz plays Gymnopédie No. 1 by Eric Satie followed by the Piano Solo in the 2nd Movement of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major.

Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter. This term relates to a group of late 19th and 20th-century artists. Among them were Cézanne, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Countering the Naturalism of the former Impressionists, they emphasized form, line, and color while drawing on the artists’ emotional relationship to the subject. This became a forerunner of Expressionsim. Vincent’s artworks are a vast assortment of self-portraits, portraits, still lifes, landscapes, olive trees, cypresses, wheat fields, and sunflowers. He wrote letters mainly to his brother Theo and these were fine examples of his artwork since they contained many sketches he was working on at the time. The French artist Jean-François Millet had a big impact on Vincent throughout his life especially Millet’s fondness for peasant scenes. Vincent did not seriously pursue art until his mid-twenties and was largely self-taught. From that point on, until his death, he created over 2100 pictures. Art critics and the public paid little attention to his work until after his death. Vincent sold only one painting during his lifetime, that being “The Red Vineyard” for 400 Francs (approximately $1000 today). Sadly in 1890, aged 37, Vincent’s suicide marked the end to a life of suffering loneliness, poverty, anxiety, and mental illness, as well as an end to one of the greatest geniuses of the art world.

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