Van Gogh - Painting Short Brush Strokes of Life

When I had put my first foot in the world of art, I was mesmerized by the paintings of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. I do not know why I loved Rembrandt, a son of a wealthy man, as I always failed to identify myself with rich men. In my virgin years I desired to become like some of the wealthiest names; but I could never identify myself with those gentlemen, as those men and I had nothing in common. But I could very well identify myself with Van Gogh, as I shared two things with him. The greatness of Van Gogh, in addition to his being a great painter, was that he always owned two things in bulk. One was his madness and another was the emptiness of his pockets. I immediately shared his pocket position, and I had shared his madness a little bit when I was preparing for the first solo exhibition of my oil paintings.

When Van Gogh had entered Paris, he did not know how he was going to make far-reaching influences over the world of art. Nor he knew that he would be remembered for hundreds of years and his life would end only at the age of 37 years. But the city of Paris was under the spell of contagious disease named 'artistic changes' in those days. The colourful lava of impressionism was at its highest temperature. Painters like Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Edgar Degas were in full swing. Van Gogh recruited himself in the group and suddenly became darling of everybody. He worked with many of these artists of towering fame.

It was the time when the lively paintings by impressionist artists done with striking colours were in demand; it was the time when cloth-less Tahitian women painted by Gauguin were hot favourites in market. For the bubbling artist in Van Gogh, too, it was the best of the times, perhaps. The master piece paintings like The Red Vineyard, The Night Cafe, and Bedroom in Arles were the direct result of the Parisian effect on Van Gogh. His colours had become brighter, and the brush strokes pleasantly short. The short brush strokes could be the symbol of his increasing mental unrest due to his deteriorating health, too.

Van Gogh was not only good in using colours. He would become famous among the ladies, too. Charming of the daughter of his land lady is one of the finest examples how he would be loved by the women. Moreover his fame is due to the efforts of a lady. She was wife of his brother Theo who made her so famous after his death.

Source : ezinearticles