Vincent Van Gogh Documentary film 2025
Title: Van Gogh by Vincent
Release Year: 2025
Genre: Drama, Documentary
Runtime: 46 minutes
The documentary film "Van Gogh by Vincent" explores the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh through eight of his most iconic self-portraits. The movie provides a unique perspective on Van Gogh's career, which lasted only ten years but produced some of the most iconic works in art history.
The film tells the story of Van Gogh's life and artistic journey, using his self-portraits as a narrative device. The movie likely explores themes such as:
-
Van Gogh's struggles with mental health: The film may touch on Van Gogh's experiences with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
His artistic development*: The movie could explore Van Gogh's early days as an artist, his influences, and his growth as a painter.
The significance of self-portraits: The film may analyze the importance of self-portraits in Van Gogh's oeuvre and what they reveal about his inner world.
Cast
Since "Van Gogh by Vincent" is a documentary film, it likely features:
Narrator: A voice actor or actress who guides the audience through the story of Van Gogh's life and art.
Art historians and experts: The film may include interviews with art historians, curators, or other experts who provide insights into Van Gogh's life and work.
#VanGogh, #VincentVanGogh, #Documentary, #ArtHistory, #SelfPortraits, #movies, #film, #movie, #cinema, #films, #hollywood, #actor, #s, #love, #art, #cinematography, #netflix, #horror, #actress, #moviescenes, #music, #filmmaking, #cinephile, #tv, #horrormovies, #bollywood, #comedy, #movienight, #photography, #cine, #instagood, #instagram, #director, #moviereview, #drama, #AdultMovies, #RomanceMovies, #SexMovies, #XXX, #XX,
Title: Van Gogh by Vincent
Release Year: 2025
Genre: Drama, Documentary
Runtime: 46 minutes
The documentary film "Van Gogh by Vincent" explores the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh through eight of his most iconic self-portraits. The movie provides a unique perspective on Van Gogh's career, which lasted only ten years but produced some of the most iconic works in art history.
The film tells the story of Van Gogh's life and artistic journey, using his self-portraits as a narrative device. The movie likely explores themes such as:
-
Van Gogh's struggles with mental health: The film may touch on Van Gogh's experiences with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
His artistic development*: The movie could explore Van Gogh's early days as an artist, his influences, and his growth as a painter.
The significance of self-portraits: The film may analyze the importance of self-portraits in Van Gogh's oeuvre and what they reveal about his inner world.
Cast
Since "Van Gogh by Vincent" is a documentary film, it likely features:
Narrator: A voice actor or actress who guides the audience through the story of Van Gogh's life and art.
Art historians and experts: The film may include interviews with art historians, curators, or other experts who provide insights into Van Gogh's life and work.
#VanGogh, #VincentVanGogh, #Documentary, #ArtHistory, #SelfPortraits, #movies, #film, #movie, #cinema, #films, #hollywood, #actor, #s, #love, #art, #cinematography, #netflix, #horror, #actress, #moviescenes, #music, #filmmaking, #cinephile, #tv, #horrormovies, #bollywood, #comedy, #movienight, #photography, #cine, #instagood, #instagram, #director, #moviereview, #drama, #AdultMovies, #RomanceMovies, #SexMovies, #XXX, #XX,
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Of all the artists who have ever lived, none are better known than Vincent van Gogh.
00:17He is celebrated around the world.
00:20His life and his work stand apart from any other painter,
00:23filling galleries, books and movie theatres, and selling every type of merchandise.
00:28In the public imagination, he is an icon of art, of loneliness and of the avant-garde.
00:38But how much do we really know about Vincent?
00:43Arguably, the answer lies in the pictures he painted, not of the world around him, but of himself.
00:52These works tell the story of Vincent van Gogh's artistic and emotional journey.
00:58In this film, for the first time, art historians sit down to decipher eight of van Gogh's most revealing self-portraits,
01:07taking us as close as we'll ever come to understanding the man behind the icon.
01:12In his own lifetime, Vincent van Gogh saw little success.
01:25It was only after his death that people began to discover his work.
01:29And with it, a myth was born.
01:32So van Gogh's career is incredibly short.
01:34He's painting for about a decade, but even within that decade, the famous van Gogh's occupy maybe four or five years.
01:43So it's a really, really, really short career.
01:45He was very lucky in that his brother, Theo, who's an art dealer, essentially supported him for his entire artistic career.
01:52And supported him both physically by paying for his rent, his materials,
01:57but also emotionally by providing him with support for what he was doing.
02:02He was probably Vincent's closest friend, ally, family member.
02:09And they corresponded through letter for the best part of Vincent's life.
02:15People started to connect with Vincent's work really quite soon after his death.
02:19And in the first two decades of the 20th century, there were quite important exhibitions of his work,
02:25some of which remain the biggest exhibitions of his work, containing hundreds of paintings all at once.
02:30He was famously shown in 1910 at Roger Fry's exhibition, which was Manet and the Post-Impressionists,
02:35and it caused a furor at the time.
02:38The effect of his work is felt more or less internationally by the middle of the 20th century.
02:44So it becomes a really important touchstone for loads of artists, especially painters, but not just artists.
02:51But what also happens to Van Gogh is that the figure of Van Gogh starts to gradually eclipse his work.
02:58So by the 50s, you have the movie Lust for Life, which is a melodrama of its time
03:04about a concept of artistic genius that was becoming very popular in the 50s.
03:14And so our contemporary idea of Van Gogh, which we're always kind of trying to challenge and sort of tweak,
03:37is formed by these cinematic representations.
03:40And there are loads, I mean, Lust for Life is the most famous, but there are lots of cinematic
03:45and televisual representations of Van Gogh.
03:47Most of the time they do the same thing, which is to present him as a certain kind of figure
03:53that's a little bit like a rock star, which is a bit true and mostly not true, I think.
03:58I think his self-portraits are hugely important in understanding and appreciating his work.
04:04I think he chooses what to portray to people.
04:09And I think that's why learning about the portraits and looking at the portraits is so crucial
04:13and actually understanding what he wanted to show us.
04:17Van Gogh painted at least 35 self-portraits.
04:20A great number of artists have made self-portraits throughout art history,
04:23among them Rembrandt, who we know Van Gogh really admires.
04:27A good question as to why Van Gogh made so many self-portraits.
04:31There was an absence of models.
04:33There are really kind of practical reasons why he made so many absence of models.
04:37He had some bad luck with, he would pay models who wouldn't turn up for sittings.
04:42But Vincent was incredibly poor.
04:44Being an artist model was a profession and he couldn't afford to pay them.
04:47So he would turn to himself, he would turn to the mirror.
04:50I think another reason why he did so many self-portraits was also it allowed him to really look at himself,
04:57not just physically, but inside his mind.
04:59And there's a lot written about Van Gogh and his mental state of mind.
05:03And in this sense, he was able to be really introspective.
05:07He was looking at himself in a mirror for prolonged periods of time.
05:11He's famous for his series of sunflowers, for his landscapes,
05:14but he probably never painted them as often over such a long period of time.
05:20Whereas the self-portraits are a series that he knew the most intimately
05:24and arguably that he could control the most because he was that subject.
05:29I think creating a self-portrait gives you a deep understanding and view of yourself,
05:38which is why I don't do many of them, because I find them so deeply personal.
05:45They are a gateway into really delving into your subconscious.
05:53So it is the ultimate in therapy.
05:58What we get in these eight self-portraits by Van Gogh
06:01is a sense of who he thought he was and how he wanted to be perceived by other people.
06:08Vincent Van Gogh is born on the 30th of March, 1853, in Zündert,
06:20a village in a southern province of the Netherlands.
06:24But it isn't until the age of 27 that he reaches a crossroads in his life.
06:30It's now that he decides to fulfil his dream of becoming an artist.
06:35Van Gogh's early life was relatively comfortable.
06:38He was from a middle-class family.
06:40He was the eldest of six children.
06:43Before he became an artist at the age of 27, Van Gogh tried many different careers.
06:47He was a bookseller, a teacher.
06:50So when Vincent was 16, he was sort of taken into the family business,
06:53which was art dealing, and he was taken into Goupil art dealers,
06:56who were quite a big international art dealer that his uncle sent worked for.
07:01So he was brought to London while he had a huge interest in art and literature.
07:06And, you know, in London, this is where he discovered Charles Dickens and George Eliot,
07:09where he really kind of immersed himself into English art.
07:13I don't think he was a particularly good employee.
07:16He was quite opinionated about what his clients were buying.
07:21He was quite argumentative, which meant that he didn't last particularly long.
07:26Interesting, like a lot of things with Vincent, I think it was really his brother, Theo,
07:31who encouraged him to become an artist, who spotted in his letters that he was sketching quite a lot,
07:38that he was very good at describing things.
07:40So Vincent moves to Paris in 1886, and he comes quite unexpectedly.
07:46He arrives way sooner than he'd agreed with his brother,
07:48and he just sort of turns up after spending time in Antwerp and not quite,
07:53I don't think quite connecting with the way he was learning art there.
07:55So Paris is where it's at for him.
07:57He's got a placement at an open studio with Bernard Cornwall.
08:00He's ready for this.
08:02And here he paints himself as a man about town,
08:05someone in a smart hat, smart coat.
08:08He's a gentleman, the way he portrays himself here.
08:11This self-portrait doesn't quite look as we imagine Van Gogh's typical works.
08:16It's depicted in a much darker palette with sombre, moodier tones,
08:21and that shows that at this point he was inspired by the Dutch masters.
08:26So what's interesting is that while the influence of the Impressionists
08:29comes to bear on Vincent, it's not immediate.
08:31It's quick, but it's not immediate.
08:33So he's still making work like the Dutch school, like Rembrandt.
08:38For Vincent van Gogh, his adopted home of Paris will soon become more than just a place to live and work.
08:45He will make new friends and embrace a modern, radical approach to painting.
08:49When Vincent van Gogh first arrives in Paris in 1886, he is not the only creative in town.
09:08The city is buzzing with painters, writers and thinkers.
09:13Vincent writes to a friend in Belgium.
09:15I think his life in Paris was probably quite frenetic.
09:44I get the sense, you know, from reading letters and just from accounts,
09:48there was so much to see and create and there was a real fervour.
09:52By the time Vincent arrived in Paris in 1886, Impressionism was in full flow.
09:57And there were many young artists working in Paris who were creating really avant-garde painting.
10:04And he was exposed to that.
10:05The Impressionist movement was radical for its time because instead of creating works that were about specific objects and detail,
10:20it was more about capturing a moment, an emotion, a mood.
10:28It was through his brother Theo that he could meet other painters who were like-minded.
10:33Among these were Signac, Seurat and Pissarro, who were experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillist techniques,
10:40applying small dabs of paint to the canvas, which was a style that van Gogh then began to adopt himself.
10:47While Vincent's in Paris, we do see the influence of Impressionism start to come into his work.
10:52Some of the first pieces that show this are his still lives.
10:56The browns of the Dutch school sort of get pushed aside and Vincent's bringing in more modern palette.
11:11So we can see the influence of Pointillism in Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat,
11:16but Vincent's really putting his own stamp into this.
11:18So instead of dots of pure colour, Vincent's bringing in dashes that create a sort of swirl and a halo effect around his head.
11:26So again, he's pushing existing forms of art to create it in his own way.
11:31The really happy accident about Vincent's own appearance for the self-portraits
11:35is that he has the perfect face for a Pointillist self-portrait in that he has red hair and green eyes.
11:42The very colour of his own makeup is ideally suited for his own work.
11:46In works like Self-Portrait with a Grey Felt Hat,
11:50we can see van Gogh beginning to experiment with Impressionist techniques and those small dabs of colour.
11:56However, he's also upping the ante and adding more colour, more expressive colours and colour contrast.
12:02So we begin to get the bright orange next to the blue, which really shimmer on the canvas.
12:07While van Gogh typically worked on self-portraits in one single session,
12:12we know from technical analysis that this one was made over a number of sessions.
12:19And I think this indicates that he was still getting to grips with this new style and technique at that time.
12:24His brushstrokes have started, they feel like they're radiating out in really thick daubs of impasto from the centre of his face.
12:32They couldn't be more different from the self-portrait painted in late 1886,
12:38where you often can't tell one brushstroke from the other.
12:42Here, you can almost isolate both each brushstroke and the colour used.
12:47What I also think is really interesting about this portrait is how he's chosen to portray himself in quite a smart suit.
12:55He's now a serious person who is working in Paris,
12:58who has absorbed some of the most radical changes in art that have ever occurred.
13:03And not only has he absorbed them, he's able to create them into his own unique style.
13:09I think this is one of the most confident images that he produces in his canon of self-portraits.
13:15People might think that the self-portraits are just for his own self-expression,
13:20but he wanted to show them and he wanted to sell them.
13:23While he was in Paris, Van Gogh took the initiative to arrange exhibitions of his work
13:27and he actually exhibited this self-portrait with the likes of Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard
13:33in a restaurant in Montmartre.
13:36However, the restauranteur gave him a call and told him that the diners were complaining about the portraits,
13:42so Van Gogh turned up and took the paintings back to his flat.
13:45For Vincent, the close of 1887 heralds more paintings and more self-portraits.
13:57But the chill of a Paris winter also brings familiar feelings of sadness and dejection.
14:03Many thanks for your letter, which I'd been looking forward to.
14:09I don't give way to the desire to write to you often or to encourage this on your part.
14:13All this correspondence doesn't always help to keep us, who are of a nervous disposition,
14:22strong in cases of possible immersions in melancholy.
14:25Here is an impression of mine, which is the result of a portrait that I painted in the mirror.
14:34A pink-grey face with green eyes,
14:38ash-coloured hair,
14:40wrinkled in forehead and around the mouth,
14:44stiffly wooden,
14:45a very red beard,
14:48quite unkempt and sad.
14:53This is what Impressionism has to my mind over the rest.
14:57It isn't banal,
14:59and one seeks a deeper likeness than that of the photographer.
15:03What's interesting about Vincent's letters to his sister,
15:08Ville,
15:09as opposed to his letters to Theo,
15:11is because his sister is not from an artist's background.
15:14He goes into much more detail describing what he's working on,
15:17and he gives a kind of,
15:19through words,
15:19a picture of what he's trying to create.
15:22In this self-portrait,
15:23we see Vincent presenting himself as a modern artist.
15:27He's wearing a blue artist smock,
15:29and the whole portrait is painted in really bright,
15:33exuberant colours.
15:34We have the bright oranges and the blues next to one another,
15:37which became his signature style.
15:39This portrait is one of Van Gogh's
15:43most confident images as an artist.
15:47He's positioned the easel right in the foreground.
15:50You cannot miss it.
15:51He's holding his palette very prominently,
15:53and there's a kaleidoscope of colours on it,
15:56which references the brightening of palette.
15:59That happened in his transformation of style
16:01from moving to Paris.
16:03I think there's a really interesting central element
16:05to the painting,
16:06in that he signed it and dated it in red,
16:10virtually in the middle of the picture,
16:12which again,
16:13I think gives a signal to how confident he is about the picture,
16:18and actually probably how pleased he is.
16:20This is the last self-portrait that we know of
16:22that Vincent painted in Paris
16:25before he then moved to the south of France.
16:27And for me, the colours in this self-portrait
16:29really indicate that search for light.
16:32We know Vincent was sick of Paris.
16:35He wanted to escape the city
16:36and reconnect with the countryside
16:38and find light and colour.
16:40I think there is hope and positivity in this work,
16:43and I think Vincent was very excited and hopeful
16:47for what was going to come next after he left Paris.
16:51And the plans that he had for an artist colony
16:53where he was going to bring together lots of like-minded artists
16:56was a source of huge excitement for him.
16:58So while he does look drawn and slightly pained in this portrait,
17:02it's actually a really exciting time in his life,
17:05and he felt that, like he was aware
17:06that this is the next big thing was coming.
17:12Bidding farewell to the friends he's made in Paris,
17:15Vincent heads south.
17:17He has big plans for the future
17:18and is excited to escape the cool northern climate
17:21for the warm, bright light of Provence.
17:39On the 21st of February, 1888,
17:43Vincent arrives in Arles, in the south of France.
17:47In Paris, he has adopted a modern style of painting,
17:50but the pace of life there is too frenetic.
17:53He hopes the serenity will restore some balance,
17:56while the warmer weather and vivid colours will fire his art.
18:02Vincent set off for the south of France
18:04in search of light and colour,
18:07but when he arrived, there was freezing conditions
18:09and the whole region was covered in snow.
18:12However, he was still inspired
18:13by these bright white fields and the light.
18:17When he got to Arles,
18:18he was almost returned to a rural setting
18:20and we know from his early childhood
18:23that he had an affinity with the rural landscape.
18:27The overarching plan for Arles
18:29was to create an artist community,
18:32so a cooperative of artists
18:34who would make work together,
18:36share the proceeds of sales
18:38and fundamentally collaborate
18:40to kind of create a new art.
18:42He had this idea for a number of reasons.
18:43I think he thought that the Japanese woodcut artist
18:46that had so inspired him
18:47and that he'd first come across in Antwerp
18:50and then when he was in Paris,
18:51he and his brother amassed an incredible collection
18:54of 19th century woodcut prints.
18:56He had the idea
18:57that this is how Japanese artists worked together.
18:59The fact that Vincent was keen to set up a cooperative
19:02shows you a very different side
19:05to one that a lot of people know
19:10and that side of being very introspective.
19:13It shows a side of community
19:18and collaboration
19:19and an understanding
19:21that in order to perpetuate
19:24this being an artist,
19:26he needed more,
19:27he needed support,
19:30not only emotional,
19:32but practical support.
19:34I think a lot of the people
19:36that Vincent was meeting in Paris,
19:38they were all struggling.
19:39Nobody had money
19:40and Vincent's brother Theo
19:42at that time was kind of dealing in art,
19:44was a businessman,
19:45knew the art world,
19:47so it's quite a pragmatic plan.
19:49Vincent van Gogh had met Gauguin
20:01while he was in Paris through Theo
20:03and he wanted this older artist
20:05to join him in the south of France
20:07and become one of the first members
20:09and even the leader of his artist colony there.
20:12Gauguin wanted Theo van Gogh
20:14to be selling his work
20:15to kind of represent him.
20:17So there is an argument
20:18that Gauguin was sort of trying
20:20to get to Theo through Vincent
20:22and kind of befriended Vincent
20:24as a way to get to Theo,
20:25who was quite an important player
20:27in the art world in Paris.
20:29So they corresponded,
20:31they exchanged portraits,
20:32this one which van Gogh dedicated
20:34to Gauguin
20:35and Gauguin reciprocated
20:37by sending a picture back to Vincent.
20:39What's really interesting
20:40is in the letters to Theo
20:43about this portrait,
20:44Vincent really believes in his own work.
20:46He says in a letter that his portrait,
20:49he is sure stands up against that of Gauguin.
20:52He's quite self-assured.
20:54It's now known as self-portrait
20:56dedicated to Paul Gauguin,
20:58but it's had other titles.
21:00I think one of them is self-portrait
21:02as a bonza,
21:03which is a Japanese Buddhist monk.
21:05And I think the link to the Buddhist monk
21:08was to showcase his commitment,
21:12his commitment to painting.
21:14In all, Vincent painted everyday life.
21:17He painted the cafe,
21:19blossom, the harvest,
21:21of course, sunflowers.
21:23It's the series of sunflowers
21:24which has become most famous.
21:27And they were created
21:28because in preparing for Gauguin's arrival,
21:31he wanted to decorate Gauguin's room.
21:34And so he painted
21:35what have now become
21:37some of the most iconic images
21:40of late 19th century art
21:42anywhere in the world.
21:47Vincent and Paul Gauguin
21:48lived and worked in this place
21:50called the Yellow House in Arles,
21:51which was a very large building,
21:53really designed for more artists
21:55to be working,
21:56but unfortunately,
21:57it was just the two of them.
21:58It became apparent quite quickly
22:00after Gauguin had moved down
22:01to the south of France
22:02that this colony,
22:04this community
22:05that Vincent had envisioned
22:06would in fact just be
22:08him and Gauguin
22:09working intensely together.
22:17Although most of Vincent's self-portraits
22:19feature the artist's head
22:20and shoulders,
22:22one iconic work
22:23stands apart from the rest.
22:26So Van Gogh's chair
22:27is a really interesting take
22:29on the self-portrait
22:30because of course
22:30he's not physically there,
22:32but he's making a statement here
22:34about his personality
22:35and his kind of outlook
22:37as an artist.
22:38I think an artist
22:39can very easily be
22:41simultaneously present
22:43and not present
22:44in the work that they produce.
22:47It could be
22:49through the objects
22:50they choose to represent
22:53or even the lack of objects.
22:58So when we look
22:59at Vincent's chair,
23:00what sort of person
23:02would sit in a chair like this?
23:04And you say,
23:05well, it's kind of rustic.
23:07You know, it's wicker
23:08and it looks like
23:09it was made by hand
23:10and it looks like
23:12not much effort
23:13was given to decoration
23:14and it's not painted
23:15and it's pretty
23:16like a farmhouse
23:18kind of chair.
23:20And that's exactly
23:21what he wants you
23:22to be thinking about
23:24when you look
23:24at the painting.
23:25Not only that,
23:26the texture
23:27of the painting itself,
23:29which is pretty coarse
23:31and rough in places,
23:33it emphasises this idea
23:34about the rural
23:36and the handmade
23:38and the dirty
23:39and everything
23:40that isn't Paris,
23:42basically.
23:43Everything that isn't
23:44sophistication,
23:46the metropolitan,
23:47the design
23:48and all of that stuff.
23:49He's basically
23:50naming his direction
23:53in this painting.
23:54This kind of image
23:55of simplicity
23:56says a lot
23:57about Van Gogh
23:58as a person,
23:59that he sees himself
24:00as a working person,
24:01that he's a working artist,
24:03that he kind of
24:04has his fingers
24:05in the dirt,
24:06so to speak.
24:07And I often think
24:07about Van Gogh's chair
24:08alongside one of his
24:09early works,
24:10The Potato Eaters,
24:11as a sort of
24:12political statement
24:13of him as a working person
24:15alongside working people
24:17in communities.
24:18He's placed his pipe,
24:19his tobacco
24:20on the chair
24:21and it's surrounded
24:22by a place
24:24that he felt
24:25very comfortable,
24:25the yellow house
24:26at Arles.
24:27And it contrasts
24:28quite clearly
24:29with what he painted
24:30as Gauguin's chair.
24:32In Gauguin's chair,
24:33it's on a sort of
24:33what looks like
24:34a Persian rug.
24:35It's a much sort of
24:36more sophisticated,
24:38richer environment.
24:39The look of Gauguin's chair
24:41immediately tells us
24:42that we're dealing
24:43with a personality clash
24:44because Gauguin's chair
24:46is quite elaborate,
24:48relatively speaking.
24:50It's quite ornate.
24:51It looks quite kind of fancy.
24:53It has a sort of
24:54class association
24:56that Vincent's chair
24:57doesn't have.
24:58Van Gogh and Gauguin
24:59argued about modern painting
25:01and while Gauguin worked
25:02in a slow
25:03and methodical manner,
25:05Van Gogh worked
25:05in a more fast-paced style.
25:08Vincent just couldn't
25:08get his head round
25:10trying to be
25:11more abstracted.
25:12He wanted to be
25:14more linked
25:15to time and place.
25:17Gauguin was quite
25:18an overbearing character
25:19who had a huge amount
25:21of self-belief
25:21and was quite keen
25:23to tell absolutely everyone
25:24what he thought
25:24about their work.
25:26So while Gauguin
25:28was a great proponent
25:30of the art
25:30of the imagination
25:31that you don't necessarily
25:32need to be out in nature
25:34to produce nature,
25:35that how you can
25:36kind of envisage it
25:38in your head
25:38and onto canvas
25:39is more important.
25:41So their approach
25:42to work
25:42is completely different
25:43and that comes
25:44to bear
25:44in the Yellow House
25:45in what becomes
25:46quite a claustrophobic,
25:49I imagine,
25:50quite a cabin-fevered
25:51atmosphere in the house
25:53where they are clashing
25:54up against each other
25:55in that autumn and winter.
25:57By the 23rd of December,
25:591888,
26:00Van Gogh and Gauguin
26:02already had
26:02their artistic differences,
26:04but this was the evening
26:05when they had
26:06a huge argument,
26:07possibly about the fact
26:08that Gauguin
26:09by this point
26:09wanted to leave,
26:11whereas Van Gogh
26:11wanted to keep him here.
26:13So Gauguin
26:14had only been in Arles
26:15for a few months
26:16and Gauguin
26:17had already thought
26:18about leaving
26:19and going back to Paris
26:20and had written to Theo
26:22to say that
26:22he changed his mind
26:24and then very quickly
26:25the situation
26:27seems to have escalated
26:28quite dramatically.
26:30Disagreements
26:30with Gauguin
26:32and what was clearly
26:33quite a tense period
26:35working together
26:36led to Van Gogh's
26:39first bout of illness.
26:42We're still not sure
26:43quite what that illness was.
26:45There are many theories
26:46whether it was
26:47a form of epilepsy,
26:48whether he was bipolar.
26:50Whatever it was,
26:51it led to a major crisis
26:54on the 23rd of December
26:56where he tried to attack
26:57Gauguin with a razor.
26:58We only really have
27:00Gauguin's account
27:01for what happened
27:02but it seemed
27:04that there was an argument
27:05in the Yellow House
27:06and Gauguin said
27:07that he was going to leave,
27:09left the house.
27:10He was pursued by Vincent
27:11who Gauguin reports
27:13had a razor in his hand.
27:16There was an altercation,
27:18no physical violence
27:19but there was an argument.
27:20Vincent went back
27:21to the Yellow House
27:22and Gauguin went somewhere else
27:24to stay the night
27:25and during that night
27:27at some point
27:28Vincent is said
27:29to have cut off his ear.
27:32There's a great deal
27:33of our historical debate
27:35about how much
27:36of Vincent's ear
27:37that he took off.
27:38I think that debate
27:40is somewhat redundant
27:41and that it doesn't
27:42really matter.
27:43I think this is
27:45an acute mental health crisis
27:49that Vincent is going through
27:50and quite a shocking
27:51act of self-harm.
27:53whether he takes off
27:55his whole ear
27:56or the lobe
27:56is irrelevant, really.
28:02It's Christmas Eve
28:03when Vincent is admitted
28:05to hospital.
28:06On hearing what has happened
28:07in Arles,
28:09Theo van Gogh
28:09immediately leaves Paris
28:10and heads south.
28:12He writes of his brother's condition
28:13to his wife, Jo.
28:14I found Vincent
28:16in the hospital
28:17in Arles.
28:19It was terribly sad
28:20being there
28:20because from time to time
28:22all his grief
28:23would well up inside
28:24and he would try to weep
28:26but couldn't.
28:27Had he just once
28:29found someone
28:30to whom he could
28:31pour his heart out
28:32it might never
28:33have come to this.
28:35In the next few days
28:37they will decide
28:38whether he is to be
28:38transferred
28:39to a special institution.
28:42There is little hope
28:44but he has done
28:46more than so many
28:47in his life
28:48and suffered
28:49and fought
28:50more than most people
28:51are capable of doing.
28:54If he must pass away
28:55so be it
28:57but the thought of it
29:00breaks my heart.
29:03So Vincent is in hospital
29:05for a few days
29:06but then returns
29:07to the Yellow House.
29:08We know that
29:09Theo and Paul Gauguin
29:11went back to Paris
29:12the same day
29:13so now Vincent
29:15is alone in Arles.
29:16Very soon
29:17after the incident
29:20Vincent returns to painting
29:22and it shows
29:23that he was
29:24a very resilient man.
29:25and it also shows
29:26that he was totally
29:27dedicated to making art.
29:39The first months
29:40of 1889
29:41find Vincent van Gogh
29:42in the depths
29:43of a profound
29:44emotional struggle.
29:47Returning to Arles
29:48after a stay in hospital
29:49Vincent paints
29:51what will become
29:52his most internationally
29:54recognisable
29:55self-portrait.
29:59Self-portrait
30:00with a bandage
30:00is another
30:01truly extraordinary
30:03self-portrait
30:03because it was painted
30:05a week
30:06two weeks
30:07after van Gogh's
30:09first crisis
30:10of mental illness
30:11when he cut off
30:13his ear.
30:13Clearly
30:14a very traumatic time
30:15for both himself
30:16and his family
30:17and everyone
30:18and everyone
30:18around him.
30:18This is one of
30:19the most iconic
30:20self-portraits
30:21in Western art.
30:23It is following
30:24quite a shocking episode
30:27and his reasons
30:29for creating
30:30this self-portrait
30:31are complex
30:33and maybe something
30:34we will never
30:35fully understand.
30:36We know from
30:37the letters
30:38to Theo
30:38that Vincent
30:40is trying to
30:41reassure Theo
30:42that he's sort of
30:42getting back
30:43to normality
30:44he's working again
30:45so you could
30:46possibly argue
30:47that this portrait
30:48is created
30:49as a way
30:49to try and
30:50reassure his brother
30:51that he's on the mend.
30:53In self-portrait
30:54with bandaged ear
30:54Vincent is in
30:56the yellow house
30:57and he's
30:58really buttoned up.
31:00This is the first
31:01month of the year
31:01it's really cold
31:03he's got his
31:04big overcoat on
31:05and his furry hat on
31:06and you can see
31:08the bandage
31:08around his ear
31:09which he's
31:10turned his head
31:11towards you
31:12so you can see it.
31:13He doesn't look
31:14traumatised
31:16he looks actually
31:19quite serious
31:20and together
31:20he's showing us
31:22I'm still
31:23fully committed
31:24to being an artist
31:25I've got my easel
31:26behind me
31:27and I'm showing you
31:28my hugest influence
31:29of the Japanese print
31:30I'm also placing myself
31:32within this studio
31:33in the south of France
31:34to show how important
31:35Arles has been to me
31:37so I think
31:39considering
31:40the state of mind
31:41he was in
31:42a few weeks
31:43before this portrait
31:44it's a confident
31:45assertion
31:46of himself
31:48as an artist
31:49I think this work
31:50really does show
31:51how important
31:52self-portraiture is
31:53to Vincent
31:53because it is
31:54the first thing
31:55that he creates
31:56when he is
31:57released from the hospital
31:58on his back
31:59in the yellow house
32:00and his first thought
32:01is to pick up
32:02paintbrush again
32:03look in the mirror
32:05and paint what he sees
32:06so this self-portrait
32:07is a way of reckoning
32:09with himself
32:09this work could be seen
32:11as an image of recovery
32:12just as much as it could
32:13an image of injury
32:14unfortunately
32:30it's complicated
32:31in several ways
32:32my paintings
32:34are worthless
32:35they cost me
32:37an extraordinary amount
32:38it's true
32:39perhaps sometimes
32:40even in blood
32:41and brain
32:42nevertheless
32:47I've started work again
32:50and I already have
32:51three studies done
32:52in the studio
32:53I retain all good hope
32:56but
32:58I feel weak
33:00and a little anxious
33:03and fearful
33:04Vincent had had
33:13relapses
33:14and seemed to realise
33:16that he couldn't live
33:17this independent life
33:18in the yellow house
33:19and so he
33:20admitted himself
33:21voluntarily
33:22to the
33:23psychiatric hospital
33:24in Saint-Rémy
33:25far from slowing
33:36Vincent down
33:37a prolonged stay
33:38in hospital
33:38results in one of his
33:40most prolific periods
33:41as ever
33:44self-portraits
33:45are central
33:46to his output
33:47I hope you're well
33:49and your wife
33:50too
33:51and that you'll enjoy
33:53a little of the good weather
33:54as for me
33:57my health is good
33:58as for the
34:00head
34:01it will
34:02let's hope
34:03be a matter of time
34:04and patience
34:05I've been here
34:09almost a whole month
34:10and not one single time
34:12have I felt
34:12the slightest desire
34:13to be elsewhere
34:14just
34:16the will to work again
34:19is becoming
34:19a tiny bit firmer
34:22so the August 1889
34:26portrait is
34:27really significant
34:28for a number
34:28of different reasons
34:29firstly it wasn't
34:31thought to be a Van Gogh
34:32until relatively recently
34:33its attribution
34:35was contested
34:35for decades
34:36and the Van Gogh
34:38Museum did
34:39a technical analysis
34:40on it relatively recently
34:41and found that
34:42it definitely is
34:42a Van Gogh
34:43that was painted
34:44at Saint-Rémy
34:44Van Gogh is incredibly
34:46productive in Saint-Rémy
34:48this is one of his
34:49most prolific periods
34:51in his career
34:51and where he creates
34:53some of his most
34:53iconic works as well
34:55he was quite lucky
34:57when he arrived
34:57because it wasn't full
34:58and so he was able
34:59to have two rooms
35:00so he used one room
35:01for his studio
35:02and one room
35:03that he slept in
35:04and actually being
35:05in the asylum
35:06which was an old monastery
35:08set up
35:10a kind of regular routine
35:11for him
35:12what's a really
35:12key thing to understand
35:14about the way
35:15that Vincent worked
35:16was that he did not
35:17paint when he was
35:18in his periods
35:19of crisis
35:20he couldn't paint
35:21he didn't want
35:22to do anything
35:23he couldn't even
35:23write letters home
35:24when he was
35:25in his periods
35:26of crisis
35:27this self-portrait
35:28is the exception
35:29to the rule
35:30and is one of the only
35:31works that he made
35:32while he was going
35:33through a period
35:34of mental health crisis
35:35this self-portrait
35:36stands in stark
35:38contrast to many
35:39of the others
35:40Vincent used
35:41a much more
35:42muted palette
35:43and these sort of
35:44lurid greens
35:45for this self-portrait
35:46for me I think
35:47there's something
35:48quite claustrophobic
35:49about the composition
35:50and we know
35:51at the time
35:52that he'd been banned
35:52from going outside
35:54of the hospital
35:54in this portrait
35:56Vincent looks sick
35:57and in fact
35:59he had recently
36:00had this incident
36:01where he ingested paint
36:02and paint at this time
36:04was highly toxic
36:05so he got sick
36:07and his paints
36:07were taken away
36:08from him
36:09Theo then wrote
36:10to the hospital
36:11saying actually
36:12he needs his paint
36:13because his paint
36:14is kind of his medicine
36:15it's what helps him
36:16get on an even keel
36:17mentally
36:18so he got his paints
36:19back
36:19but he wasn't able
36:21to leave the hospital
36:22so he was painting
36:24essentially plant life
36:26vegetation in the courtyard
36:27and views from outside
36:29of the asylum window
36:30he still wants to show
36:32that he's an avant-garde artist
36:33because you see
36:34in the background
36:35this wonderfully
36:36dynamic brushwork
36:38these bold colour contrasts
36:40but his facial features
36:42here he does look
36:44incredibly vulnerable
36:45and I think
36:47it's a very rare
36:48moment
36:49where he let
36:51that side
36:52of his character
36:53come out
36:54in one of the self-portraits
36:55I think for me
36:56this really is
36:57one of the bleakest
36:59portraits that
36:59Van Gogh created
37:01this is a man
37:02who looks exhausted
37:03he looks drawn
37:04his gaze
37:06is not as confident
37:08not as direct
37:09as it is
37:10in some of the other
37:11self-portraits
37:11and I think
37:13it's interesting
37:15who Vincent
37:16was creating
37:16this painting for
37:18was this for a public
37:19almost certainly not
37:21I think this is
37:22one of the clearest
37:22indications of Vincent
37:24coming to terms
37:25with himself
37:26of trying to understand
37:27what is happening to him
37:29so one of Vincent van Gogh's
37:38final self-portraits
37:40is created
37:41mere days
37:42after the August
37:431889
37:44self-portrait
37:45and the difference
37:45between the two
37:46could not be more stark
37:48here Vincent
37:49looks confident
37:50the direct gaze
37:52is back
37:53he's an artist
37:54who is
37:55in complete control
37:56of his craft
37:57what stands out
37:58to me
37:58about this portrait
37:59is that it's a celebration
38:01of colour
38:02again
38:03the blues
38:04and the smock
38:05and in the background
38:06are truly
38:07so deep
38:08so vibrant
38:09almost like the colours
38:10in Starry Night
38:11in those other works
38:13from this time
38:13in his life
38:14that we know
38:15so well
38:16and we love
38:16so much
38:17he's showing everyone
38:18that regardless
38:19of his mental state
38:20he still has
38:22this very fervent
38:23commitment
38:23to be an artist
38:25when you look
38:25at the style
38:26it's absolutely dazzling
38:28he's holding a palette
38:29he's turned
38:30facing the viewer
38:31again you see
38:32those complementary colours
38:33coming through
38:34he's wearing
38:35the painter's spot
38:35which is blue
38:36which contrasts
38:37with his sort of
38:38orange features
38:39within his face
38:40you see the reds
38:41and the greens
38:42drawing out
38:43the definition
38:44of his eyes
38:45and his nose
38:46and his beard
38:47it is
38:48an absolute
38:49cracking portrait
38:49which I think
38:51is a real culmination
38:53of what he'd learnt
38:55he's showing himself
38:56with his brushes
38:57and his palette
38:58and he's someone
38:59who again
39:00is thinking about
39:01the next step
39:02as an artist
39:03who is moving forward
39:04his career
39:05and as a bookend
39:07of this self-portrait
39:08and going back
39:09to the self-portrait
39:10in 1886
39:11in Paris
39:12three years
39:13have passed
39:14between those two paintings
39:15and the advances
39:17that Vincent has made
39:18in that time
39:19is unprecedented
39:20it couldn't be
39:22more different
39:22to that early
39:24self-portrait
39:24that we first
39:25looked at
39:25from 1886
39:26where he was
39:27emerging from
39:28a dark background
39:29here he's literally
39:31radiating energy
39:33I think this is
39:35an incredible
39:36culmination
39:37of all that he'd
39:39learnt and absorbed
39:40since moving to France
39:42In May 1890
39:46Vincent decides
39:47to move north again
39:48He remains
39:52incredibly productive
39:53making 75 paintings
39:55in 70 days
39:56Vincent moves to
39:58Auvers
39:59which is a little village
40:00like north-west of Paris
40:01to be closer to Theo
40:03there's a sense
40:04that the dream
40:05of the studio
40:06of the south
40:07of the yellow house
40:08is kind of over
40:09it's as though
40:10he recognises
40:11that it's over
40:12I think
40:12During the summer
40:14of 1890
40:14Vincent was hugely
40:15productive
40:16painting at least
40:17one work a day
40:18however we also know
40:20he was riddled
40:20with doubts
40:22and worries
40:23about his future
40:23Theo and his wife
40:25Jo had just had
40:26a child
40:27earlier that year
40:29it was a recurring
40:30worry for Vincent
40:31that he was becoming
40:32a financial
40:33and emotional burden
40:34on his brother Theo
40:35and I think
40:37the arrival
40:37of a child
40:38into their marriage
40:40accentuated that
40:42Theo was also
40:43having troubles
40:44at work
40:45and he was thinking
40:46about leaving
40:47the Goupel Gallery
40:48and starting up
40:49on his own
40:50which would have
40:51added financial
40:52stress to the
40:53household
40:53and Theo of course
40:55had been
40:55financially supporting
40:56Vincent for years
40:58up until that point
40:59In July 1890
41:03Vincent walked out
41:04into a wheat field
41:06in Auvers
41:06and shot himself
41:08in the chest
41:09with a revolver
41:09he managed
41:11to make it back
41:12to the house
41:13where he was staying
41:14and he survived
41:16for a day and a half
41:17with mortal injuries
41:19he wouldn't let
41:20anyone in the house
41:21tell Theo
41:22that night
41:23because he didn't
41:24want him to worry
41:25and rush to
41:26rush from Paris
41:28there and then
41:29so Theo was only
41:30informed the next day
41:31he apparently arrived
41:33and Vincent died
41:34with Theo
41:35by his bedside
41:36later that same day
41:38Vincent said
41:43I would so like
41:44to go
41:44and an hour later
41:47he had his wish
41:47life weighed
41:50so heavily on him
41:51Theo Van Gogh
42:03dies
42:03just six months
42:04after Vincent
42:05and they are both
42:06buried
42:07alongside one another
42:08in Auvers
42:09near Paris
42:11over the next few decades
42:14interest in Vincent's work
42:16begins to grow
42:17the really key person
42:20who was responsible
42:22for Van Gogh's legacy
42:24was his sister-in-law
42:26Joe Bonger
42:26who was married
42:27to his brother Theo
42:28over the years
42:29Van Gogh had just been
42:30sending his work
42:31to Theo
42:32and he actually said
42:33because he couldn't pay
42:34Theo
42:34he was paying him
42:35essentially in paintings
42:36and so Joe suddenly
42:38found herself
42:39responsible
42:40for all this work
42:42she was a smart
42:43and savvy businesswoman
42:44who negotiated sales
42:46and also loans
42:47and paintings
42:48to museums
42:49and galleries
42:49around the world
42:50another really crucial
42:52thing that happened
42:53in 1914
42:54was the first publication
42:55of the letters
42:56between Vincent and Theo
42:57and opening up
42:59that personal story
43:00straight away
43:02added into that
43:03artistic legacy
43:04as well as the paintings
43:05themselves
43:06and now
43:07over a hundred years later
43:08he is without doubt
43:10one of the most iconic
43:12if not the most iconic
43:13artists
43:13of the late 19th century
43:15Vincent van Gogh
43:17became a global phenomenon
43:19his story has touched millions
43:21but his self-portraits
43:23speak of more than just loneliness
43:25and mental breakdown
43:26they speak of resilience
43:29and the transcendent power
43:31of art
43:32these eight portraits
43:34show a very multifaceted
43:36and complicated artist
43:38who went through
43:39various stages of development
43:41both in his artistic life
43:43but also in his personal life
43:45and I think
43:45his portraits
43:46which show that development
43:48which show these moments
43:49of turmoil
43:50but also of triumph
43:51these portraits
43:52they're crucial
43:53to knowing him
43:54there's something really
43:55frank and expressive
43:57in the way that van Gogh
43:58portrayed himself
43:59in his self-portraits
44:00we go beyond
44:01the myth
44:01of the torture genius
44:02and see a painter
44:04mastering his craft
44:05and becoming one of the greatest
44:07modern artists
44:07of all time
44:08they're a way for us
44:12to get an insight
44:14into him
44:15as a person
44:16where he lived
44:17but also how his practice
44:19developed
44:20I think the self-portraits
44:22have made van Gogh
44:23even more beloved
44:25I mean when we see
44:26Vincent looking out
44:28at us
44:28from a painting
44:29remember he's looking
44:30at himself
44:31in a reflection
44:32in a mirror
44:33first of all
44:33but now he looks at us
44:35and somebody looking
44:36at you in a painting
44:37is a way of building
44:40a bridge
44:40between their world
44:41and ours
44:42and that's why
44:43I think they feel
44:44so close
44:45to us
44:46I think anyone
44:48who creates
44:50so many self-portraits
44:52is one very brave
44:55and I think
44:57intimately connected
45:00to their own
45:01emotional state
45:02creating so many
45:04self-portraits
45:05I think is also
45:07a way of
45:08documenting
45:09the stages
45:11of your
45:13mental state
45:15and
45:16its ups
45:17and its downs
45:19what I think
45:21is particularly
45:22incredible about
45:24Vincent's self-portraits
45:25is you've got the myth
45:26of him cutting off his ear
45:28and so that obviously
45:29draws people in
45:29but then when I think
45:31people look properly
45:33at all the self-portraits
45:34they realise
45:35they aren't
45:37just portraits
45:39of someone
45:39who is
45:40totally mentally ill
45:41painting
45:42without direction
45:43they were
45:44the result
45:45of years
45:46of painstaking
45:47effort
45:48on his part
45:49they don't feel
45:51sad
45:52and downtrodden
45:53they feel uplifting
45:54and affirmative
45:55and I think
45:56that is the power
45:57of seeing them all together
45:59yeah
46:02yeah
46:02yeah