Vincent Van Gogh’s work reminds me of art class in secondary school when I was assigned to paint his Sunflowers. We were taught he was a bit of a crazy lad, but nobody told us about the love life of painter, the gossip, scandal and sex. This is why, Vincent Van Gogh Love’s Life online exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is the piece that completes the complicated puzzle that was Van Gogh.
Vincent is unfortunately known as “the guy who cut off his ear”. The Online Exhibition, although short, tells the story of a human, troubled by his fragile mind, seeking peace in the embrace of love. After seeing this, you will look at his works differently.
The exhibition is a sneak peek into what young students are never told: the pain, the suffering, the sense of non-belonging to this world that shines trough Van Gogh’s canvas.
The online exhibition opens with “Was Vincent Van Gogh ever lucky in love?” with a strange-looking lady with red punk-style hair in the background, sitting in what it looks like a café. The technique is unmistakable, all Vincent. The mysterious lady’s name is Agostini Segatori and I want to know more about her.
The viewer will realise very soon that Vincent had a harsh time with love and not in a “The Notebook” or “Romeo and Juliet” way, although there was some poisoning involved. The exhibition wants the viewer to become Vincent’s best friend and sympathise with him by telling his love stories through his paintings. This is what I have learnt.
The first woman of Vincent life was her cousin Kee Vos-Sticker. When Vincent met her, her husband just passed away. He proposed repeatedly but she answered, “No, Nay, Never”. Ouch. Maybe that’s the reason that she didn’t make it to any of his canvas? It makes you wonder, has he ever tried to paint her? If he did, how would he paint his first love that smashed his heart?
After the tragic rejection, Vincent met Sien Hoornik, a prostitute. He welcomed her and her daughter in his studio where they lived together for a while. Vincent seemed to find happiness but when Sien started her business again, he decided to leave. Her portraits are black, white and austere. They reflect the hardships of the working poor in Nederland’s in early 1880. I for one find it strange seeing a Van Gogh artwork without any colours in it.
In 1884, Vincent went back to Nuenen with his family. There, he met Margot, his neighbour. They fell in love, they wanted to get married, but the marriage was opposed by her family. Margot poisoned herself but survived, Shakespeare-esc. There are no paintings of Margot. Maybe it was too painful to transfer those feelings to canvas. To give the woman a face, the exhibition shows a picture of her.
Vincent moved to Paris. The city of love seemed to help him. It’s there that he met Agostina Segatori. She was the owner of Le Tambourin, a restaurant that Vincent frequented regularly. During this period, he made several portraits and nudes of her. Agostina was a known model and very popular amongst the Impressionist of the era. In that period, Vincent started to paint couples. The colours are bright, the places are idyllic and peaceful. Unfortunately, the relationship with Agostina Segatori became too complicated and he left.
It’s when Vincent move to the yellow Arles that he accepted his fate and decided to focus on another love, the arts. Yellow is known to be the colour of craziness. His life chapter in Arles makes you wonder if he ever found peace in the chaos, amongst the yellow walls of the town, in his contorted bedroom. Are loneliness and pain a good price for eternal fame and recognition?
With a spattering of artworks, the exhibition gives you a lot to think about. One thing is certain, Vincent Van Gogh was more than the guy who cut his ear, he was a lost soul, constantly looking for his place to fit in and trying to understand the world around him.
Online exhibition at https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/stories/his-unrequited-loves#6
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