Sunday, April 21, 2013

Observations on Art 4.21

Tuesday wasn't only tax day in the U.S. it was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci's birthday. It was also the second World Art Day, a fact I seem to have neglected and didn't post anything. Quite honestly it wasn't the best week the world has ever seen but rather than dwell on that fact I thought some art was called for.

Vincent van Gogh painted Field with Flowers near Arles in 1888, two years before his death. What is interesting about it is that he also wrote a description of the subject in a letter to his brother Theo on the 12th of May, 1888. Van Gogh painted over 150 paintings while at Arles including View of Arles with Irises in the Foreground which was at the same location and many times the 'view' is mistaken for the 'field.' Just a bit of art history trivia for you. Both paintings are at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Field with Flowers near Arles, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
"A meadow full of very yellow buttercups, a ditch with iris plants with green leaves, with purple flowers, the town in the background, some grey willow trees, a strip of blue sky. If they don’t mow the meadow I’d like to do this study again, because the subject matter was really beautiful and I had trouble finding the composition. A little town surrounded by countryside entirely covered in yellow and purple flowers. That would really be a Japanese dream, you know."