Discovering Van Gogh (Alive) and his Japanese side

I decided to have a visit to this news exhibition about Van Gogh: there won’t be his actual paintings, just projections of his paintings. The exhibit is located in an old church of Florence, Santo Stefano Church, near Ponte Vecchio.

It taught me different things about Van Gogh life and, above all, his Japanese side. I already knew he was mad – think everybody know that – but when I read he used to chop off some of his body parts (like his ear) I was completely astonished. And I also read about his use of the color: blu and read for crazy mood, rage and contrast, as here:

Vase with red poppies, Van Gogh
The red vineyard, Van Gogh
Vase with red poppies, Van Gogh
Vase with red poppies, Van Gogh

then yellow..

yellow for the best mood: so bright as his sunflowers and rooms that became yellow-painted

Sunflowers, Van Gogh
Sunflowers, Van Gogh

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then the violet and purple, which were used to get the standard pale stars (of his popular paintings) more lively and particular. From Van Gogh words, he said that if you look better into each star you will surely notice these shades that make it not so common:

The starry nights, Night Terrace and others, Van Gogh
The starry nights, Night Terrace and others, Van Gogh

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And then what sounds very new to me: for a period of his life he was influenced by Ukyio-e paintings, that’s why also the projections represented different Japanese aspects: the red and white flag and sun, candid flowers and peach blossoms, portraits about Japanese ordinary persons..and so on. One of the distinctive aspect of these paintings is that very heavy black lines that outline each subject of the drawings. Watch here:

Iris - Van Gogh and his Japanese side
Iris – Van Gogh and his Japanese side
Van Gogh - Ukiyo-e
Van Gogh – Ukiyo-e

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It was an interesting date with the artist, a mad and tormented soul that seems to have fight with the outside, finding the rest the world in his work of arts.