What Makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh? By Richard Muhlberger

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.

Order your copy of What Makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh here on Amazon.

See you

at the art gallery!

Brenda

The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh (DVD)

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. 

Find your copy of The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh here on Amazon.

See you

at the art gallery!

Brenda

MORE VINCENT VAN GOGH READING: 

Jeffrey Archer's False Impressions Book Review

Though fictional, this book looks at the art world.

Vincent Van Gogh Coffee Mugs.

Van Gogh, A Brush With Genius, Documentary Film.

Discover The Van Gogh Museum.

Vincent Van Gogh's Ominous Wheatfield With Crows Intrigues...

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?

Click here to order this Vincent Van Gogh Wheatfield With Crows print from Amazon. 

See you

at the art gallery!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

MORE VINCENT VAN GOGH:

Jeffrey Archer's False Impressions Book Review

Though fictional, this book looks at the art world.

Vincent Van Gogh Coffee Mugs.

Van Gogh, A Brush With Genius, Documentary Film.

Discover The Van Gogh Museum.

Vincent Van Gogh Coffee Mugs

Vincent Van Gogh's paintings are worth millions. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit the Up Close exhibition when it was in Ottawa and to visit the museum in Amsterdam. More recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Though I love many of Van Gogh's images, including Wheatfield with Crows, The Starry Night and Cafe Terrace at Night, I will settle for a coffee mug.

Shown here is the beautiful fine china mug set by McIntosh that includes four images of Van Gogh paintings nicely packaged in a gift box. Give this set to anyone who enjoys fine art or Vincent Van Gogh's works in particular. You can find it on Amazon by clicking here.

Brenda

31 DAYS OF COFFEE MUGS: Chaleur Coffee Mugs Feature Famous Pieces of Artwork

Chaleur Coffee Mugs Are Collector's Items

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?

I Love Coffee Mugs!

Brenda

Quick Links:

Find Chaleur mugs on eBay.

Author's Note: This page originally written for another website in 2009.