Van Gogh v. Edvard Munch

We were too excited to go to sleep when we arrived in Amsterdam at 8:20 am local time, so we pulled an all nighter and just had a nice quick European breakfast, some strong coffee and walked to the Van Gogh Museum.

Our hotel is one block from the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh is located along the edge of a lovely green grass, tree lined park along with the Concert Hall, Museum of Modern Art and a collection of smaller museums.  Amsterdam Suid (South) is definitely the mecca of museum locations.

The Van Gogh Museum holds the world's largest collection of Van Goghs, but the two versions of world famous starry night are not in Amsterdam.  One is at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the other traveled to this museum on loan as part of the Van Gogh: Munch Exhibition.

Compare & Contrast
The Van Gogh: Munch exhibit paired Vincent's artwork and letters to the Norwegian Expressionist artist's artwork and letters.  Munch is most famous for "The Scream" which was on display next to a Van Gogh painting of the very same bridge on which the famous painting of emotional terror and distress is depicted.



Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) lived during the same time as Van Gogh (1853 - 1890), traveled in the same social and art circles, also in Paris, but they never met.  Munch knew of Van Gogh, and appreciated his "artistic fire" but they never met despite being mirrors of one another:

Mirrors of One Another
Both had a life long problem with anxiety, depression and despair and sought unsuccessfully to establish meaningful connection to people, both were spiritual and fixated on the stars, both were criticized publicly for their unconventional art, both injured themselves purposely (Van Gogh mortally shot himself and Munch shot his hand after a dispute with his girlfriend) and both had a deep desire to portray the suffering, sorrows and raw emotional expression of the working class.

Dark & Deep
Next to Vincent's paintings, Munch's paintings often portrayed the same models, the same places, the same theme, similar color values, similar emotions, etc. -- all created simultaneously and without interaction.  It was like looking at the world through two different filters colored by distress.  Jerry found it somewhat depressing, but I felt that both their seeking pushed them to try different styles and hone their skills to be expert at portraying the human condition and creating a genre that will endure forever.  There is something inexplicably alluring about Van Gogh that causes people all around the world to pay handsomely for his work.

Painting Philosophy
There was one variation between the two painters that was also at the heart of Van Gogh's public "break up" of his friendship with Gauguin:  Van Gogh painted what he saw.  He wanted to be inspired at the moment.  Munch often and Gauguin always painted from memory.  This caused a fiery dispute between Van Gogh and Gauguin that actually led to violence between them.  While it may sound frivolous, it is a proclamation of the essence of artistic inspiration.  If you believe it comes from your memory, it bears the imprint of your perspective.  If you believe it comes to you while you're observing, it comes from the moment or perhaps from beyond, as Van Gogh thought.  Van Gogh's upbringing in the home of a very strict, protestant father who was a pastor, most likely shaped this belief.  Obviously, they were each committed to their own perspectives.

Van Gogh moved deftly between pointillism, painterly impressionism, realism and line drawing.  He was equally eloquent in his letters to Theo. He talked about his connection to the beyond through the stars, which is probably what inspired him to paint under the stars.

 There had to be several dozen self portraits of himself in different styles.  I liked them all for different reasons.  I particularly liked this Van Gogh quote:  "People say it is difficult to know oneself; painting oneself isn't easy either."

Off to spend the day at the Rijksmuseum Tuesday.