Published in part by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book shares information about Vincent Van Gogh's life and paintings. It discusses his surroundings and others who had influence upon him; deals with 12 of his important paintings pictures ranging from the Potato Eaters to the very ominous Crows over a Wheatfield; and covers the different types of pictures that Van Gogh painted including portraits, interiors, florals and landscapes. It also talks about his painting techniques and choices of color. This is a handsome, hardcover book that you will treasure forever. It is a young adult book, perfect for someone like you and I who wants to learn a bit more about Van Gogh and who does not already have a lot of knowledge about the painter.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who lived between the years of 1853 and 1890. His works still have considerable influence because of their color and emotion. Van Gogh suffered from both mental illness and anxiety and committed suicide at the age of 37, with his artistic talent still mostly unknown.
If you would like to learn more, check out this film, which was ranked as one of the top 10 documentary films in the year it was released. John Hurt narrates and shares the story through letters written to his brother Theo of the artist's life through the years 1872 and 1890.
Haunting Wheat Field With Crows Painting At The Van Gogh Museum In Amsterdam
Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Crows is, in my unschooled opinion, one of Van Gogh's lesser known pieces. I myself only recently discovered it in the summer of 2009 when I was privileged to spend two days in Amsterdam and visited the Van Gogh Museum. I was familiar with some of Van Gogh's more popular works, not because I know much about art but because they inundate our society. Pause for a moment and think of the Van Gogh works you are familiar with. They include his Sunflowers, Night Cafe, Yellow House, Starry Night and Irises, all of which appear on everything from t-shirts and mugs to calendars.
The Wheatfield with Crows painting apparently does, too, albeit to a lesser degree and I expect that is why I was unfamiliar with it. Coming face-to-face with it in Amsterdam was my introduction and sparked a desire in me to learn a bit more about this slightly eerie, somewhat ominous and definitely thought-provoking masterpiece. This painting was considered to be one of his most powerful paintings. It is also the one which is most strongly debated for it has been considered the artist's suicide note.
INTERPRETATION OF THE PAINTING
Van Gogh painted three 50 by 100 centimeter wheatfields at Auvers. Of two of them he said, "They depict vast, distended wheatfields under angry skies, and I deliberately tried to express sadness and extreme loneliness in them." and "I am almost certain that these canvases illustrate what I cannot express in words, that is, how healthy and reassuring I find the countryside."
People interpret Vincent Van Gogh's July 1890 Wheatfield With Crows as representing his troubled state of mind shortly before his death. They take that dark sky, choice of path direction and the crows circling as signs of darkness or death.
THE PATHS:
The paths seen in the painting are sometimes seen to reflect choices. Choices to Van Gogh's past and to the future. They are also interpreted as an indication of the confusion regarding the direction of his life and the middle path has raised the questions of whether or not it leads anywhere or whether it simply leads to the end.
THE SKY:
Van Gogh often depicted the sky as stormy. He was respectful of nature and found storms liberating. Storms, he felt, were an important part of nature.
THE CROWS:
A powerful part of this painting is, of course, the crows. There is a lot of symbolism involved and a lot of debate about whether or not the crows are flying to or away from Van Gogh. That makes a difference as to how you perceive them. Are they a threat or not? The VG Gallery feels that this debate is unimportant. First, they feel that since it is impossible to prove which way the crows are going, it is irrelevant and second, they feel that Van Gogh generally celebrated nature and so would not have found the crows to be a threat.
LAST PAINTING?
This painting is often thought to be Vincent Van Gogh's last painting, although this fact has never been proven.
What do you think about this painting? Like it or not?
We are STRONGER TOGETHER. In this difficult time when people around the world are staying home in an effort to stay healthy, people in the entertainment industry are adapting and finding new and different ways for us to come together.
Last night, April 26, 2020, Canadian artists performed Bill Withers' iconic song Lean On Me as the closing number on the virtual Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble: Canadian Artists, Athletes and Activists Salute Front Line Workers Benefit Concert. It was a beautiful ending to a very well produced show.
LEAN ON ME VIDEO
I hope you saw the whole concert but if you did not, here is the closing musical number, a montage of many, many Canadian artists.
After the performance, I was asked by my sister-in-law if I knew all of the artists. I did not. She then asked if my husband, who often knows who is who, did and I said that he also did not. Canada has so much talent! We recognized many artists but the list of participants was long and we met a few new faces as well.
Note that not all of these singers actually sang. I was disappointed that Celine Dion did not have her own song on the show and my older friends and family wish that Anne Murray had sang a song. However, The Globe and Mail voted for Nova Scotian Anne Murray as the Best Moment when she addressed the pandemic and the mass shooting in her home province and introduced the virtual choir of female physicians (Voices Rock Medicine) who sang the anthem Rise Again.
The list of non-musical performers included actors like Eric McCormack, Jason Priestly, Hamza Haq and Mike Myers, author Margaret Atwood, comedian Howie Mandel, astronaut Chris Hadfield, scientist David Suzuki, Cirque du Soleil's Atherton family, HGTV's Scott McGillivray and Drew Scott and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Canadian lifestyle magazine Zoomer call the concert possibly "the greatest one-night performance of Canadian musical talent in history." I agree. Definitely one of the best Canadian concerts ever and obviously this show comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me. The goal of the concert was two fold. First, to thank our amazing front line workers and I believe that they did a fine job in that regard and second, to raise money in support of Canadian Food Banks. I hope the concert proves to have been just as successful in that regard.
Take care and
stay safe everyone.
We will meet again!
Brenda
Chaleur coffee mugs are definitely collector's items! You might not know it but collecting teacups and saucers is out of fashion and collecting coffee mugs is in.
Once upon a time, I had the opportunity to sell two Chaleur coffee mugs in my eBay store, Treasures By Brenda. I had never heard of Chaleur before and boy was I about to be surprised! It was quite exciting when the bidding was fast and furious and ended at about $50 for each of these coffee cups from two separate buyers. Each buyer was thrilled that they won ONE of the auctions but disappointed that they did not win both of the beautiful out-of-production Chaleur mugs that I had for sale.
More About Chaleur
Between 1986 and 2009, Chaleur had produced 88 of these coffee mugs. Some of their mugs were made in agreement with Starbucks and the Museum Company under those labels rather than under Chaleur's.
They are all beautiful, sturdy mugs made from fine quality bone china that is microwave and dishwasher safe. (Edited in August 2013 to add that a reader reports that the newer more powerful detergents fade the colors after only a few washes so if you put them in the dishwasher so beware.)
They feature lovely works of arts by 32 Art Masters including Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Paul Gaugin, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Emile Bernard, Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, D. Burrows, Pablo Picasso, Louis Comfort Tiffany , Jeff Chuang and Gustav Klimt. Each mug includes the artist's signature and the picture on each one wraps all of the way around and is even on the handle. When you buy one of these mugs you feel like you own your own little piece of art.
Not every coffee mug by Chaleur sells for as much as the two I had the opportunity to sell. Some, including the two that I sold, are rarer than others and that, of course, is how the final price is determined. The mugs I sold were somewhat hard-to-find ones; no longer being manufactured. Others are still available in gift stores and directly from Amazon's website so you have the choice of buying a new mug to start your own Chaleur collection or give as a gift or of buying a pre-owned one to add to an existing collection.
The mugs shown on this page were available on Amazon when I wrote this post. However, most of them are no longer there but you can check to see if any are available by clicking right here. You will have greater success in finding these mugs on eBay at the link shown below. Be aware that there are many look-a-likes available that were not produced by Chaleur.
Out-of-Production Chaleur Mugs
Of course, like many companies, some of Chaleur's mugs have been produced for a while and then terminated. If you are looking for one of those older, rarer mugs, eBay is the best source. To see what Chaleur mugs are available on eBay, click here.
Artists, art enthusiasts and coffee lovers around the world are collecting these mugs. Are you?
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