Spring in art part 5: van Gogh's Japanese connection

There is something particularly poignant about this painting. Maybe because van Gogh created this resplendent vision of spring mere months before he decided to take his own life. A gift to his beloved brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo for birth of their son Vincent Willem, the founder of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Almond Blossom is a joyful celebration of the awakening of nature and the arrival of new life. The Dutch artist had moved to Arles in the south of France in early 1888, where the unique beauty of the landscape inspired some of his most expressive late paintings.

Van Gogh never travelled to Japan, but while he lived in Paris he had fallen under the spell of Japanese prints. He owned over 600 of them, which he displayed on the walls of his studio as a fundamental reference point that never ceased to drive his artistic direction. There is no doubt that his depiction of southern France was heavily influenced by these aesthetics. In a letter to his friend Emile Bernard penned in March 1888 he wrote: "I want to begin by telling you that this part of the world seems to me as beautiful as Japan for the clearness of the atmosphere and the gay colour effects. The stretches of water make patches of a beautiful emerald and a rich blue in the landscapes,as we see it in the Japanese prints. Pale orange sunsets making the fields look blue — glorious yellow suns."

The impact of Japanese prints on van Gogh's work is particularly noticeable in his use of flat, vivid colours and in the unusual cropping. In Almond Blossom there is no horizon, the twisted tree branches run all across the canvas in the foreground against the strikingly turquoise sky. What we see here is one of van Gogh's many gifts (to us), namely his ability to capture the essence of the energy of nature in all its lyrical seductiveness.

How van Gogh could produce a piece of such supreme serenity while his life was slowly but surely falling apart is a mystery to me. But it is nice to think that even in his darkest hour Vincent managed to find some comfort in painting the beauty of the world around him.

Tomorrow would have been van Gogh's 166th birthday. To mark the occasion, Exhibition on Screen is very generously broadcasting the premiere of the documentary Vincent van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing on their Facebook page (you don't need to have an account to watch it). Times are as follows: 7pm BST, 8pm CET, 11am PDT and 2pm EDT.

I, for one, won't be missing it.

#vangogh #blossom #japonisme #japonaiserie #japaneseprints #spring #blossom #postimpressionism #art #artlovers #artblog #artblogger #exhibitiononscreen #beyondthecanvasblog

Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom (1890). Photo credit: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Utagawa Hiroshige, Bird and Cherry Blossoms (1860)

Spring in art part 3: Monet's wonderful floral obsession

No celebration of the beauty of nature in Spring can be complete without dedicating one post to Claude Monet. Luckily for us, the Impressionist master's love for the representation of flowers and gardens in bloom knew no bounds. So much so, that he is quoted to have said that flowers were the reason he became a painter in the first place.

This is an early Monet, he was only 24 when he produced this stunning picture. It's a lush cascade of lilacs, tulips, peonies, geraniums and hydrangeas that dominate and burst outside the picture plane. Whilst the flowers are painted with great precision, we can already see how Monet's dynamic brushwork conveys the delicate fleshiness of the petals.

Monet's symbiotic love story with flowers continued until his last day. In 1883 he moved to Giverny (some 70 km north west of Paris) where he enthusiastically embraced horticulture and created a magnificent flower garden, which he painted time and time again. The Japanese-inspired water garden built around the pond in his domaine would later serve as inspiration for his many water lily paintings.

In 1904 Monet said: "Beyond painting and gardening, I am good for nothing. My greatest masterpiece is my garden." That's it, I have mentally earmarked another destination for when we can all travel freely again.

#monet #impressionism #spring #flowers #art #artblog #artblogger #artlovers #beyondthecanvasblog

Claude Monet,Spring Flowers (1864), The Cleveland Museum of Art

Spring in art part 2: One lilac does make the spring.

Expect to see plenty of Russian art on here for it is one major passion of mine. Places like the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow are where every day more I long to go back and lose myself until those rather stern-looking museum supervisors unceremoniously inform me that it's closing time. All in due course.

Until that day comes, let's feast our eyes on this stunning piece by Russian-Soviet symbolist painter Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. Although the artist is mostly known for his iconic Bathing of a Red Horse, for me this painting truly has it all: vibrant colours, unusual perspective, superb optical illusion (look at how the light shines through that finely-shaped inkwell) and very balanced composition, which is dominated by the lilac flowers Petrov-Vodkin placed at the center of the canvas.

This gem came to market in 2019. The hammer went down after a nearly $12 million bid by a private collector, making this the most expensive painting ever sold at a Russian art auction. It is not often I find myself wishing a painting of this calibre graced the walls of my flat, but this colourful still-life stole my heart the moment I saw it.

#petrovvodkin #symbolism #russianart #avantgarde #spring #art #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939),Still Life with Lilac,1928, Private Collection

Photo credit: Christie's