ik for one welkom our nieuw nederlands overlords
The Ovation channel (which suddenly disappeared from the channel listing with the New Year) was running a British series called The Private Life of a Masterpiece. Took famous paintings apart, gave the historical and biographical details behind the painter, looked at the work as both art and craft (down to brushstrokes and paint thinner), and the effect on/place in society of the work. Should have been really dull, but was sparkling bright the way only the British can manage.
The van Gogh piece they did was Sunflowers. They started out by saying it was the most famous painting in Britain, which stopped me short. And they never mentioned Starry Night at all, not even in passing. In the U.S., ask 100 people who have heard of van Gogh to name a painting, and probably 90 say Starry Night and the other 10 do self-portrait with bandage.
Is Sunflowers really that famous/popular/distinctive in Britain?
The show talked a lot about the way van Gogh fell in love with the light of France when he moved there, about the new more vibrant colors available to artists at the time, and the way he broke the old color “rules.”
They also attributed much of his final breakdown to his disastrous period of living and working with Gauguin in a tiny house in Arles, and how spurned he felt when Gauguin no longer could stand living with him. This on top of his poverty, his isolation, and his insecurities was more than he could bear. He cut off his ear and went to an asylum for a short period immediately after.
Madness, yes, but dementia probably paid a small part in his art, which was knowing and deliberate. Sunflowers alone had seven previous studies, and he went back and added some blooms for balance and effect after the rest of the eighth and famous painting was complete. Or so sayeth the program.
I’d guess that 99% of the popular impression of van Gogh is total nonsense. I wonder when the romantic lies (he cut off his ear to send to a woman, etc.) began, and how they started.
I believe they must have meant that the version Sunflowers in the National Gallery is the most famous painting actually located in Great Britain.
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/greatest-painting-in-britain.html
The Starry Night belongs to MOMA in New York.
FWIW, I’m in Britain and I had to look up Starry Night to see which one it is. Sunflowers is definitely the definitive Van Gogh picture here, and is often used as the definitive painting. I always assumed it was the same everywhere!
Yeah, I got that. I was still wondering that with all the other famous paintings in all the famous British museums, how something like Sunflowers, which has no name recognition at all in the U.S., could come out on top.
Just a small reminder of how different the two cultures are.
Actually, I’m curious about this. I thought “Sunflowers” was pretty widely recognized and certainly was all over dorm rooms when I went to college in the mid-90s. I agree that “Starry Night” is the first Van Gogh that comes to mind for me, an American, but “Sunflowers” is a close second.
I think you are underestimating the popularity of the Sunflowers series. It has plenty of name recognition. I used to be a museum guard. Yes, in the U.S. When I was assigned the 19th century galleries, where our Van Goghs were displayed, the painting I was asked for the most was Starry Night, but Sunflowers was a very close second.