Which countries and regions are influenced by the Italian renaissance?

What materials were used in The Garden of Earthly Delights?

Oil paint on wood panel.The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516), housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was about 40 or 50 years old,[1] it is his best-known[2] and most ambitious work.[3] The masterpiece reveals the artist at the height of his powers; in no other painting does he achieve such complexity of meaning or such vivid imagery.[4] It depicts several Biblical scenes on a grand scale and as a "true triptych", as defined by Hans Belting,[5] was perhaps intended to illustrate the history of mankind according to medieval Christian doctrine.The triptych is painted in oil and comprises a square middle panel flanked by two rectangular wings that can close over the center as shutters. These outer wings, when folded shut, display a grisaille painting of the earth during the Creation. The three scenes of the inner triptych are probably (but not necessarily) intended to be read chronologically from left to right. The left panel depicts God presenting to Adam the newly created Eve, while the central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation.Art historians and critics frequently interpret the painting as a didactic warning on the perils of life's temptations.[6] However the intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.[7] 20th-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych's central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of paradise lost. American writer Peter S. Beagle describes it as an "erotic derangement that turns us all into voyeurs, a place filled with the intoxicating air of perfect liberty".[8]During his life, Bosch painted three large triptychs in which each panel was essential to the meaning of the whole. Each of these three works presents distinct yet linked themes addressing history and faith. Triptychs from this period were generally intended to be read sequentially, the left and right panels often portraying Eden and the Last Judgment respectively, while the subtext was contained in the center piece.[9] It is not known whether "The Garden" was intended as an altarpiece, but the general view is that the extreme subject matter of the inner center and right panels make it unlikely that it was intended to function in a church or monastery, but was instead commissioned by a lay patron.[10]Contents[hide] 1 Description 1.1 Exterior1.2 Interior 1.2.1 Left panel1.2.2 Centre panel1.2.3 Right panel2 Provenance3 Sources and context4 Interpretation5 Legacy6 Citations7 Bibliography8 External linksDescriptionExteriorWhen the triptych's wings are closed, the design of the outer panels becomes visible. Rendered in a green-gray grisaille,[11] the outer panels lack colour, probably because most Netherlandish triptych are thus painted, but possibly indicating that the painting reflects a time before the creation of the sun and moon, which were formed, according to Christian theology, to "give light to the earth".[12] It was common for the outer panels of Netherlandish altarpieces to be in grisaille, such that their blandness highlighted the splendid colour inside.[13] The exterior panels show the world during creation, probably on the third day, after the addition of plant life but before the appearance of humanity.[14] The outer panels are generally thought to depict the Creation of the world,[15] showing greenery beginning to clothe the still-pristine Earth.[16] God, wearing a crown similar to a papal tiara (a common convention in Netherlandish painting),[12] is visible as a tiny figure at the upper left. His expression and gestures seem hesitant and morose, according to the art historian Hans Belting, "as though the world he had created was already slipping beyond his control".[16] Bosch shows God as the father sitting with a Bible on his lap, creating the Earth in a passive manner by divine fiat.[17] Above him is inscribed a quote from Psalm XXXIII[18] reading "Ipse dixit, et facta sunt: ipse mandávit, et creáta sunt"-For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.[19] The Earth is encapsulated in a transparent sphere recalling the traditional depiction of the created world as a crystal sphere held by God or Christ.[20] Refracting light, it hangs suspended in the cosmos, which is shown as an impermeable darkness, whose only other inhabitant is God himself.[12]Despite the presence of vegetation, the earth does not yet contain human or animal life, indicating that the scene represents the events of the biblical Third Day.[14] Bosch renders the plant life in an unusual fashion, using uniformly gray tints which make it difficult to determine whether the subjects are purely vegetable or perhaps include some mineral formations.[14] Surrounding the interior of the globe is the sea, partially illuminated by beams of light shining through clouds. The exterior wings have a clear position within the sequential narrative of the work as a whole. They show an unpopulated earth comprised solely of rock and plant, contrasing sharply with the inner central panel which contains a paradise teeming with lustful humanity.InteriorScholars have proposed that Bosch used the outer panels to establish a Biblical setting for the inner elements of the work,[11] and the exterior image is generally interpreted as set in an earlier time than those in the interior. As with Bosch's Haywain triptych, the inner centerpiece is flanked by heavenly and hellish imagery. The scenes depicted in the triptych are thought to follow a chronological order, flowing from left-to-right they represent respectively, Eden, the garden of earthly delights, and Hell.[21] God appears as the creator of humanity in the left hand wing, while the consequences of his will are implied in the right. However, in contrast to Bosch's two other "true" triptychs, The Last Judgment (after 1482) and The Haywain (completed in 1490), God is absent from the central panel. Instead, this panel shows humanity acting with free will and engaging in various sexual activities. The right hand panel is believed to show God wreaking vengeance for these sins in a Last Judgment hellscape.[22] Art historian Charles De Tolnay believed that, through the seductive gaze of Adam, the left panel already shows God's waning influence upon the newly created earth. This view is reinforced by the rendering of God in the outer panels as a tiny figure in comparison to the immensity of the earth.[21] According to Belting, the three inner panels seek to broadly convey the old testament notion that, before the fall, there was no defined boundary between good and evil; humanity in its innocence was unaware of consequence.[23]Left panelThe left panel (220 × 97.5 cm, 87 × 38.4 in) (sometimes known as the Joining of Adam and Eve)[24] depicts a scene from the paradise of the Garden of Eden commonly interpreted as the moment when God presents Eve to Adam. The painting shows Adam waking from a deep sleep to find God holding Eve by her wrist and giving the sign of his blessing to their union. God is younger-looking than on the outer panels, blue-eyed and with golden curls. His youthful appearance may be a device by the artist to illustrate the concept of Christ as the incarnation of the Word of God.[25] God's right hand is raised in blessing, while he holds Eve's wrist with his left, according to the work's most controversial interpreter, Wilhelm Fränger:As though enjoying the pulsation of the living blood and as though too he were setting a seal on the eternal and immutable communion between this human blood and his own. This physical contact between the Creator and Eve is repeated even more noticeably in the way Adam's toes touch the Lord's foot. Here is the stressing of a rapport: Adam seems indeed to be stretching to his full length in order to make contact with the Creator. And the billowing out of the cloak around the Creator's heart, from where the garment falls in marked folds and contours to Adam's feet, also seems to indicate that here a current of divine power flows down, so that this group of three actually forms a closed circuit, a complex of magical energy.[26] Detail from the left hand panel, showing God blessing Eve before she is presented to Adam[27]Eve chastely avoids Adam's gaze, although, according to art historian Walter S. Gibson, she is shown "seductively presenting her body to Adam".[28] Adam's expression is one of amazement, and Fränger has identified three elements to his seeming astonishment. Firstly, there is surprise at the presence of the God. Secondly, he is reacting to an awareness that Eve is of same nature as himself, and has been created from his own body. Finally, from the intensity of Adam's gaze, it can be concluded that he is experiencing sexual arousal and the primal urge to reproduce for the first time.[29] Birds swarming through cavities in a hut-shaped form in the left background of the left panel.The surrounding landscape is populated by hut-shaped forms, some of which are made from stone, while others are at least partially organic. Behind Eve, rabbits symbolising fecundity play in the grass, and a dragon tree opposite is thought to represent eternal life.[28] The background reveals several animals that would have been exotic to contemporaneous Europeans, including a giraffe, an elephant and a lion that has killed and about to devour his prey. In the foreground, a circular hole in the ground emits birds and winged animals, some of which are realistic, some fantastic. A fish with human hands and a duck's head clutches a book while emerging from the cavity in flight,[30] while to the left of the area a cat holds a small creature in its jaws. Belting observes that despite the fact that the creatures in the foreground are fantastical imaginings, many of the animals in the mid and background are drawn from contemporary travel literature, and here Bosch is appealing to "the knowledge of a humanistic and aristocratic readership".[31] Erhard Reuwich's pictures for Bernhard von Breydenbach's Pilgrimages to the Holy Land were long thought to be the source for both the elephant and the giraffe, though more recent research indicates the mid-1400s humanist scholar Cyriac of Ancona's travelogues served as Bosch's exposure to these exotic animals.[31]According to art historian Virginia Tuttle, the scene is "highly unconventional [and] cannot be identified as any of the events from the Book of Genesis traditionally depicted in Western art".[30] Some of the image's details seem to contradict the innocence that might be expected in the Garden of Eden before the expulsion. Tuttle and other critics have interpreted the gaze of Adam upon his wife as lustful, and indicative of the Christian belief that man was doomed from the beginning.[30] Gibson believes that Adam's facial expression betrays not just surprise but also expectation. According to a belief common in the Middle Ages, before the fall Adam and Eve would have copulated without lust, solely to reproduce. Many believed that the first sin committed after Eve tasted the forbidden fruit was carnal lust.[32] On a tree to the right a snake curls around a tree trunk, while to its right a mouse creeps-both animals are universal phallic symbols.[33] Art historian Rosemarie Schuder, however, suggests that the obvious sensuality of the panel may have been intended as a jab against the Inquisition's hostility towards physicality.[28]Centre panelThe central water-bound globe in the middle panel's upper background is a hybrid of stone and organic matter. It is adorned by nude figures cavorting both with each other and with various creatures, some of whom are realistic, others are fantastic or hybrid. The skyline of the centre panel (220 × 195 cm, 87 × 77 in) matches exactly with that of the left wing, while the positioning of its two central pools echoes the lake in the earlier panel. The center image depicts the expansive "garden" landscape which gives the triptych its name. The panel shares a common horizon with the left wing, suggesting a temporal and spatial connection between the two scenes.[34] The garden is teeming with male and female nudes, together with a variety of animals, plants and fruit.[35] The setting is not the paradise shown in the left panel, but neither is it based in the terrestrial realm.[36] Fantastic creatures mingle with the real; otherwise ordinary fruits appear engorged to a gigantic size. The figures are engaged in diverse amorous sports and activities, both in couples and in groups. Gibson describes them as behaving "overtly and without shame",[37] while art historian Laurinda Dixon writes that the human figures exhibit "a certain adolescent sexual curiosity".[24]The numerous human figures revel in an innocent, self-absorbed joy as they engage in a wide range of activities: some enjoy sexual pleasures, others play unselfconsciously in the water, and yet others cavort in meadows with a variety of animals, seemingly at one with nature. In the middle of the background, a large blue globe resembling a fruit pod rises in the middle of a pond. Visible through its circular window is a man fondling his partner's genitals, and the bare buttocks of yet another figure hover in the vicinity. According to the 20th-century folklorist and art historian Wilhelm Fränger, the eroticism of the center frame could be considered either as an allegory of transience or a playground of corruption.[38] A group of nude females from the center panel. One female wears a cherry-a symbol of pride-on her head. To her left a male drinks lustfully from an organic vessel. Behind the group one male carries another encased in a mussel shell.[39]In the right-hand side of the foreground stand a group of both fair and black-skinned figures. Some of these fair-skinned figures, male and female alike, are covered from head to foot in light-brown body hair. Scholars generally agree that these hirsute figures represent wild or primeval man but disagree on the symbolism of their inclusion. Art historian Patrik Reuterswärd, for example, posits that they may be seen as "the noble savage" who represents "an imagined alternative to our civilized life", imbuing the panel with "a more clear-cut primitivistic note".[40] Writer Peter Glum, in contrast, sees the figures as intrinsically connected with whoredom and lust.[41]In a cave to their lower right a male figure points towards a reclining female who is also covered in hair. The pointing man is the only clothed figure in the panel, and as Fränger observes, "he is clothed with emphatic austerity right up to his throat".[42] In addition, he is one of the few human figures with dark hair, and the only human who does not have an idealised face; instead his features are remarkably individual. According to Fränger:The way this man's dark hair grows, with the sharp dip in the middle of his high forehead, as though concentrating there all the energy of the masculine M, makes his face different from all the others. His coal-black eyes are rigidly focused in a gaze that expresses compelling force. The nose is unusually long and boldly curved. The mouth is wide and sensual, but the lips are firmly shut in a straight line, the corners strongly marked and tightened into final points, and this strengthens the impression-already suggested by the eyes-of a strong controlling will. It is an extraordinarily fascinating face, reminding us of faces of famous men, especially of Machiavelli's; and indeed the whole aspect of the head suggests something Mediterranean, as though this man had acquired his frank, searching, superior air at Italian academies.[42]The pointing man has variously been described as either the patron of the work (Fränger in 1947), as an advocate of Adam denouncing Eve (Dirk Bax in 1956), as Saint John the Baptist in his camel's skin (Isabel Mateo Goméz in 1963),[43] or as a self portrait.[23] The woman below him lies within a semicylindrical transparent shield, while her mouth is sealed, devices implying that she bears a secret. To their right, a man crowned by leaves lies on top of a gigantic strawberry, and is joined by a male and female who contemplate another large fruit.[43]There is no perspectival order in the foreground; instead it comprises a series of brief motifs wherein proportion and terrestrial logic are abandoned. Bosch presents the viewer with gigantic ducks playing with tiny humans under the cover of oversized fruit; fish walking on land while birds dwell in the water; a passionate couple encased in an amniotic bubble; and a man inside of a red fruit staring at a mouse in a transparent cylinder.[44] Detail showing a group of figures plucking fruit from a tree. A man carries a large strawberry, while an owl looks on in the foreground.The pools in the fore and background contain bathers of both sexes. In the central lake, the sexes are segregated, and several females adorned by peacocks and fruit stand in a round pond.[39] One woman carries a cherry on her head, a common symbol of pride at the time, as can be deduced from the contemporaneous saying: "Don't eat cherries with great lords-they'll throw the pits in your face."[45] The women are surrounded by a parade of naked men riding horses, donkeys, unicorns, camels, and other exotic or fantastic creatures.[36] One man somersaults on the back of his ride, an act designed to gain the females' attention that subtly highlights the attraction already felt between the two sexes.[39] The two outer springs also contain both men and women cavorting with abandon. Around them, birds infest the water while winged fish crawl on land. Humans inhabit giant shells. All are surrounded by over-sized fruit pods and eggshells, and both humans and animals feast on strawberries and cherries. Detail showing nudes cavorting within a transparent sphere. What appear to be cracks in the sphere, may forecast the fragility of joyful passion. The figures's arms are entwined, while the female's head bends towards the male's attentive mouth. Their innocence contrasts with the atmosphere of the right-hand panel, where human figures are depicted in shame of their nakedness.[46]The impression of a life lived without consequence, or what art historian Hans Belting describes as "unspoilt and immoral existence", is underscored by the absence of children and old people.[47] According to the second and third chapters of Genesis, Adam and Eve's children were born after they were expelled from Eden. This has led some commentators, in particular Belting, to theorise that the panel represents the world if the two had not been driven out "among the thorns and thistles of the world". In Fränger's view, the scene illustrates:a Utopia, a garden of divine delight before the Fall, or-since Bosch could not deny the existence of the dogma of Original Sin-a millennial condition that would arise if, after expiation of Original Sin, humanity were permitted to return to Paradise and to a state of tranquil harmony embracing all Creation.[48]In the high distance of the background, above the hybrid stone formations, four groups of people and creatures are seen in flight. On the immediate left a human male rides on a chthonic solar eagle-lion. The human carries a triple-branched tree of life on which perches a bird; according to Fränger "a symbolic bird of death". Fränger believes the man is intended to represent a genius, "he is the symbol of the extinction of the duality of the sexes, which are resolved in the ether into their original state of unity".[49] To their right a knight with a dolphin tail sails on a winged fish. The knight's tail curls back to touch the back of his head, which references the common symbol of eternity: the snake biting its own tail. On the immediate right of the panel, a winged youth soars upwards carrying a fish in his hands and a falcon on his back.[49] According to Belting, in these passages Bosch's "imagination triumphs ... the ambivalence of [his] visual syntax exceeds even the enigma of content, opening up that new dimension of freedom by which painting becomes art."[23] Fränger titled his chapter on the high background "The Ascent to Heaven", and wrote that the airborne figures were likely intended as a link between 'what is above' and 'what is below', just as the left and right hand panels represent 'what was' and 'what will be'.[50]Right panelA scene from the hellscape panel showing the long beams of light emitted from the burning city in the panel's background[25] The right panel (220 × 97.5 cm, 87 × 38.4 in) illustrates Hell, the setting of a number of Bosch paintings. Bosch depicts a world in which humans have succumbed to the temptations of the devil and reap eternal damnation. The tone of this final panel strikes a harsh contrast to those preceding it. The scene is set at night, and the natural beauty that adorned the earlier panels is noticeably absent. Compared to the warmth of the center panel, the right wing possesses a chilling quality-rendered through cold colourisation and frozen waterways-and presents a tableau that has shifted from the paradise of the center image to a spectacle of cruel torture and retribution.[46] In a single, densely detailed scene, the viewer is made witness to cities on fire in the background; war, torture chambers, infernal taverns, and demons in the midground; and mutated animals feeding on human flesh in the foreground.[51] The nakedness of the human figures has lost all its eroticism, and many now attempt to cover their genitalia and breasts with their hands.Large explosions in the background throw light through the city gate and spill forth onto the water in the midground; according to writer Walter S. Gibson, "their fiery reflection turning the water below into blood".[25] The light illuminates a road filled with fleeing figures, while hordes of tormentors prepare to burn a neighbouring village.[52] A short distance away, a rabbit carries an impaled and bleeding corpse, while a group of victims above are thrown into a burning lantern.[53] The foreground is populated by a variety of distressed, condemned figures. Some are shown vomiting or excreting, others are crucified by harp and lute, in a hallucinatory depiction of the consequences of sin. A choir sings from a score inscribed on a pair of buttocks,[46] part of a group that has been described as the "Musicians' Hell".[54] The "Tree-Man" of the right panel, and a pair of human ears brandishing a blade. A cavity in the torso is populated by gamblers and drunkards.[55] It is believed that the tree-man may represent the Antichrist.[56]The focal point of the scene is the "Tree-Man", whose cavernous torso stands on a pair of rotting tree trunks. His head supports a disk populated by demons and victims together with bagpipes-often used as a dual sexual symbol[46]-reminiscent of human viscera. The tree-man's torso is formed from a broken eggshell, and is supported by the trunk of a rotten tree whose thorn-like branches pierce his body. A grey figure in a hood bearing an arrow jammed between his buttocks climbs a ladder into the tree-man's central cavity, where nude men sit in a tavern-like setting. The tree-man gazes outwards beyond the viewer, his conspirative expression a mix of wistfulness and resignation.[55] Belting wondered if the tree-man's face is a self-portrait, citing the figure's "expression of irony and the slightly sideways gaze [which would] then constitute the signature of an artist who claimed a bizarre pictorial world for his own personal imagination".[46] Detail showing the "Prince of Hell". Gibson compares the monster to a similar figure in the 12th century Irish religious text Vision of Tundale, who feeds on the souls of corrupt and lecherous clergy.[55]Below him a gigantic bird-headed monster feeds on the tormented, which he defecates into the transparent chamber pot on which he sits.[55] The monster is sometimes referred to as the "Prince of Hell", a name derived from the cauldron he wears on his head, perhaps representing a debased crown.[51]Many elements in the panel incorporate earlier iconographical conventions depicting hell. However, Bosch is innovative in that he describes hell not as a fantastical space, but as a realistic world containing many elements from day-to-day human life. Animals are shown punishing humans, subjecting them to nightmarish torments that may symbolise the seven deadly sins, matching the torment to the sin. Sitting on an object that may be a toilet or a throne, the panel's centerpiece is a bird-headed monster feasting on human corpses, which he excretes through a cavity below him.[51] To his left, a group afflicted by a hare-headed demon is being punished for unchastity.[57] Anger is represented by a knight torn down by a pack of wolves to the right of the tree-man. A man lying in his bed is visited by devils punishing sloth, while a proud female gazes at her face reflected on the buttocks of a demon.During the Middle Ages, sexuality and lust were seen as evidence of man's fall from grace, and the most foul of the seven deadly sins. This sin is depicted in the left-hand panel through Adam's gaze towards Eve, and there are many indicators in the center panel to suggest that the panel was created as a warning to the viewer to avoid a life of sinful pleasure.[58] The penalty for such sins is shown in the right panel of the triptych. In the lower right-hand corner, a man is punished for lust as he is beaten by a sow wearing the veil of a nun. The pig is shown forcing the man to sign legal documents.[55] Lust is further symbolised by the gigantic musical instruments and by the choral singers in the left foreground of the panel. Musical instruments often carried erotic connotations in works of art of the period, and lust was referred to in moralising sources as the "music of the flesh". It may also be that Bosch's representation here is a rebuke against traveling minstrels, widely thought of as purveyors of bawdy song and verse.[4]ProvenanceThe dating of The Garden of Earthly Delights is uncertain. Consensus among 20th-century art historians places the work in 1503 or 1504, while earlier conjectures attributed it to Bosch's youthful period around 1485, based on its "archaic" treatment of space.[59] Dendrochronology dates the oak of the panels between the years 1460 and 1466, providing a terminus post quem for the work.[60] Wood used for panel paintings during this period customarily underwent a lengthy period of storage for seasoning purposes, so the age of the oak might be expected to predate the actual date of the painting by several years. Internal evidence, specifically the depiction of a pineapple (a "New World" fruit), suggests that the painting itself postdates Columbus' voyages to the Americas.[60] The Garden was first documented in 1517, one year after the artist's death, when Antonio de Beatis, a canon from Molfetta, Italy, described the work as part of the decoration in the town palace of the Counts of the House of Nassau in Brussels.[61] The palace was a high-profile location, a house often visited by heads of state and leading court figures. The prominence of the painting has led some to conclude that the work was commissioned, and not "solely … a flight of the imagination".[62] A description of the triptych in 1605 called it the "strawberry painting", because the fruit of the madrone (strawberry tree) features prominently in the center panel. Early Spanish writers referred to the work as La Lujuria ("lust").[59]Bernard van Orley, Henry III of Nassau-Breda, (1483-1538), who may have been the patron of Bosch's triptych. Henry III was well-known as an avid collector of art.[4] The aristocracy of the Burgundian Netherlands, influenced by the humanist movement, were the most likely collectors of Bosch's paintings, but there are few records of the location of his works in the years immediately following his death.[63] It is probable that the patron of the work was Henry III of Nassau-Breda, the Stadtholder or governor of several of the Habsburg provinces in the Low Countries.[4] De Beatis wrote in his travel journal that "there are some panels on which bizarre things have been painted. They represent seas, skies, woods, meadows, and many other things, such as people crawling out of a shell, others that bring forth birds, men and women, white and blacks doing all sorts of different activities and poses."[64] Because the triptych was publicly displayed in the palace of the House of Nassau, it was visible to many, and Bosch's reputation and fame quickly spread across Europe. The work's popularity can be measured by the numerous surviving copies-in oil, engraving and tapestry-commissioned by wealthy patrons, as well as by the number of forgeries in circulation after his death.[65] Most are of the central panel only and do not deviate from the original. These copies were usually painted on a much smaller scale, and they vary considerably in quality. Many were created a generation after Bosch, and some took the form of wall tapestries.[66]The de Beatis description, only rediscovered in the 1960s, casts new light on the commissioning of a work that was previously thought-since it has no central religious image-to be an atypical altarpiece. Many Netherlandish diptychs intended for private use are known, and even a few triptychs, but the Bosch panels are unusually large compared with these and contain no donor portraits. Possibly they were commissioned to celebrate a wedding, as large Italian paintings for private houses frequently were.[67] Nevertheless, The Garden's bold depictions do not rule out a church commission, such was the contemporaneous fervor to warn against immorality.[59] In 1566, the triptych served as the model for a tapestry that hangs in the Escorial monastery near Madrid.[3]Upon the death of Henry III, the painting passed into the hands of his nephew William the Silent, the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau and leader of the Dutch Revolt against Spain. In 1568, however, the Duke of Alba confiscated the picture and brought it to Spain, where it became the property of one Don Fernando, the Duke's illegitimate son and the Spanish commander in the Netherlands.[68][69] Phillip II acquired the painting at auction in 1591; two years later he presented it to the Escorial. A contemporaneous description of the transfer records the gift on 8 July 1593[59] of a "painting in oils, with two wings depicting the variety of the world, illustrated with grotesqueries by Hieronymus Bosch, known as 'Del Madroño'".[70] The work passed from the Escorial to the Museo del Prado in 1939,[71] along with other works by Bosch. The triptych is not particularly well-preserved; the paint of the middle panel especially has flaked off around joints in the wood.[59]Sources and contextLittle is known for certain of the life of Hieronymus Bosch or of the commissions or influences that may have formed the basis for the iconography of his work. His birthdate, education and patrons are unknown. There is no surviving record of Bosch's thoughts or evidence as to what attracted and inspired him to such an individual mode of expression.[72] Through the centuries art historians have struggled to resolve this question yet conclusions remain fragmentary at best. Scholars have debated Bosch's iconography more extensively than that of any other Netherlandish artist.[73] His works are generally regarded as enigmatic, leading some to speculate that their content refers to contemporaneous esoteric knowledge since lost to history.Hieronymous Bosch, Man Tree, c. 1470s. The "Tree-Man" of the right-hand panel, depicted in an earlier drawing by Bosch. This pen and bistre version contains no suggestion of Hell, yet its outline was adapted into one of The Garden's most memorable grotesques.[46] Although Bosch's career flourished during the High Renaissance, he lived in an area where the beliefs of the medieval Church still held moral authority.[74] He would have been familiar with some of the new forms of expression, especially those in Southern Europe, although it is difficult to attribute with certainty which artists, writers and conventions had a bearing on his work.[73]José de Sigüenza is credited with the first extensive critique of The Garden of Earthly Delights, in his 1605 History of the Order of St. Jerome.[75] He argued against dismissing the painting as either heretical or merely absurd, commenting that the panels "are a satirical comment on the shame and sinfulness of mankind".[75]The art historian Carl Justi observed that the left and center panels are drenched in tropical and oceanic atmosphere, and concluded that Bosch was inspired by "the news of recently discovered Atlantis and by drawings of its tropical scenery, just as Columbus himself, when approaching terra firma, thought that the place he had found at the mouth of the Orinoco was the site of the Earthly Paradise".[76] The period in which the triptych was created was a time of adventure and discovery, when tales and trophies from the New World sparked the imagination of poets, painters and writers.[77] Although the triptych contains many unearthly and fantastic creatures, Bosch still appealed in his images and cultural references to an elite humanist and aristocratic audience. Bosch reproduces a scene from Martin Schongauer's engraving Flight into Egypt.[78] The giraffe (right) in the left panel of The Garden may be drawn from copies of those in Cyriac of Ancona's Egyptian Voyage (left) which was published c. 1440.[31]Conquest in Africa and the East provided both wonder and terror to European intellectuals, as it led to the conclusion that Eden could never have been an actual geographical location. The exotic travel literature of the 15th century is referenced in the animals, including lions and a giraffe, in the left panel. The giraffe has been traced to Cyriac of Ancona, a travel writer known for his visits to Egypt during the 1440s. The exoticism of Cyriac's sumptuous manuscripts may have inspired Bosch's imagination.[79]The charting and conquest of this new world made real regions previously only idealised in the imagination of artists and poets. At the same time, the certainty of the old biblical paradise began to slip from the grasp of thinkers into the realms of mythology. In response, treatment of the Paradise in literature, poetry and art shifted towards a self-consciously fictional Utopian representation, as exemplified by the writings of Thomas More (1478-1535).[80]Albrecht Dürer, Rhinoceros, 1515Albrecht Dürer was an avid student of exotic animals, and drew many sketches based on his visits to European zoos. Dürer visited 's-Hertogenbosch during Bosch's lifetime, and it is likely the two artists met, and that Bosch drew inspiration from the German's work.[81]Attempts to find sources for the work in literature from the period have not been successful. Art historian Erwin Panofsky wrote in 1953 that, "In spite of all the ingenious, erudite and in part extremely useful research devoted to the task of "decoding Jerome Bosch", I cannot help feeling that the real secret of his magnificent nightmares and daydreams has still to be disclosed. We have bored a few holes through the door of the locked room; but somehow we do not seem to have discovered the key."[82][83] The humanist Desiderius Erasmus has been suggested as a possible influence; the writer lived in 's-Hertogenbosch in the 1480s, and it is likely he knew Bosch. Glum remarked on the triptych's similarity of tone with Erasmus's view that theologians "explain (to suit themselves) the most difficult mysteries … is it a possible proposition: God the Father hates the Son? Could God have assumed the form of a woman, a devil, an ass, a gourd, a stone?"[84]InterpretationBecause only bare details are known of Bosch's life, interpretation of his work can be an extremely difficult area for academics as it is largely reliant on conjecture. Individual motifs and elements of symbolism may be explained, but so far relating these to each other and to his work as a whole has remained elusive.[24] The enigmatic scenes depicted on the panels of the inner triptych of The Garden of Earthly Delights have been studied by many scholars, who have often arrived at contradictory interpretations.[64] Analyses based on symbolic systems ranging from the alchemical, astrological, and heretical to the folkloric and subconscious have all attempted to explain the complex objects and ideas presented in the work.[85] Until the early 20th century, Bosch's paintings were generally thought to incorporate attitudes of Medieval didactic literature and sermons. Charles De Tolnay wrote that, The oldest writers, Dominicus Lampsonius and Karel van Mander, attached themselves to his most evident side, to the subject; their conception of Bosch, inventor of fantastic pieces of devilry and of infernal scenes, which prevails today (1937) in the public at large, and prevailed with historians until the last quarter of the 19th century.[86]Hieronymus Bosch, in a c. 1516 copy of a drawing thought to be a self-portrait. His age in this representation (believed to be around 60 years) has been used to estimate his date of birth, although its attribution remains uncertain.[87]Generally, his work is described as a warning against lust, and the central panel as a representation of the transience of worldly pleasure. In 1960, the art historian Ludwig von Baldass wrote that Bosch shows "how sin came into the world through the Creation of Eve, how fleshly lusts spread over the entire earth, promoting all the Deadly Sins, and how this necessarily leads straight to Hell".[88] De Tolnay wrote that the center panel represents "the nightmare of humanity", where "the artist's purpose above all is to show the evil consequences of sensual pleasure and to stress its ephemeral character".[89] Supporters of this view hold that the painting is a sequential narrative, depicting mankind's initial state of innocence in Eden, followed by the subsequent corruption of that innocence, and finally its punishment in Hell. At various times in its history, the triptych has been known as La Lujuria, The Sins of the World and The Wages of Sin.[38]Proponents of this idea point out that moralists during Bosch's era believed that it was woman's-ultimately Eve's-temptation that drew men into a life of lechery and sin. This would explain why the women in the center panel are very much among the active participants in bringing about the fall. At the time, the power of femininity was often rendered by showing a female surrounded by a circle of males. A late 15th-century engraving by Israhel van Meckenem shows a group of men prancing ecstatically around a female figure. The Master of the Banderoles's 1460 work the Pool of Youth similarly shows a group of females standing in a space surrounded by admiring figures.[39]This line of reasoning is consistent with interpretations of Bosch's other major moralising works which hold up the folly of man; the Death of the Miser and the Haywain. Although each of these works is rendered in a manner, according to the art historian Walter Bosing, that it is difficult to believe "Bosch intended to condemn what he painted with such visually enchanting forms and colors." Bosing concluded however that a medieval mindset was naturally suspicious of material beauty, in any form, and that the sumptuousness of Bosch's description may have been intended to convey a false paradise, teeming with transient beauty.[90] Detail from the center panel showing two cherry-adorned dancing figures who carry a surface on which an owl is perched. In the front right corner a bird standing on a reclining human's foot is about to eat from a cherry offered to it.In 1947, Wilhelm Fränger argued that the triptych's center panel portrays a joyous world when mankind will experience a rebirth of the innocence enjoyed by Adam and Eve before their fall.[7] In his book The Millennium of Hieronymus Bosch, Fränger wrote that Bosch was a member of the heretical sect known as the Adamites-who were also known as the Homines intelligentia and Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit. This radical group, active in the area of the Rhine and the Netherlands, strove for a form of spirituality immune from sin even in the flesh and imbued the concept of lust with a paradisical innocence.[91]Fränger believed the The Garden of Earthly Delights was commissioned by the order's Grand Master. Later critics have agreed that, because of their obscure complexity, Bosch's "altarpieces" may well have been commissioned for non-devotional purposes. The Homines intelligentia cult sought to regain the innocent sexuality enjoyed by Adam and Eve before the Fall. Fränger writes that the figures in Bosch's work "are peacefully frolicking about the tranquil garden in vegetative innocence, at one with animals and plants and the sexuality that inspires them seems to be pure joy, pure bliss."[92] Fränger argued against the notion that the hellscape shows the retribution handed down for sins committed in the center panel. Fränger saw the figures in the garden as peaceful, naive, and innocent in expressing their sexuality, and at one with nature. In contrast, those being punished in Hell comprise "musicians, gamblers, desecrators of judgment and punishment".[38]Examining the symbolism in Bosch's art-"the freakish riddles … the irresponsible phantasmagoria of an ecstatic"-Fränger concluded that his interpretation applied to Bosch's three altarpieces only: The Garden of Earthly Delights, Temptation of Saint Anthony, and The Haywain Triptych. Fränger distinguished these pieces from the artist's other works and argued that despite their anti-cleric polemic, they were nevertheless all altarpieces, probably commissioned for the devotional purposes of a mystery cult.[93] While commentators accept Fränger's analysis as astute and broad in scope, they have often questioned his final conclusions. These are regarded by many scholars as hypothesis only, and built on an unstable foundation and what can only be conjecture. Critics argue that artists during this period painted not for their own pleasure but for commission, while the language and secularization of a post-Renaissance mind-set projected onto Bosch would have been alien to the late-Medieval painter.[94]Fränger's thesis stimulated others to examine The Gardenmore closely. Writer Carl Linfert also senses the joyfulness of the people in the center panel, but rejects Fränger's assertion that the painting is a "doctrinaire" work espousing the "guiltless sexuality" of the Adamite sect.[95] While the figures engage in amorous acts without any suggestion of the forbidden, Linfert points to the elements in the center panel suggesting death and temporality: some figures turn away from the activity, seeming to lose hope in deriving pleasure from the passionate frolicking of their cohorts. Writing in 1969, E. H Gombrich drew on a close reading of Genesis and the Gospel According to Saint Matthew to suggest that the central panel is, according to Linfert, "the state of mankind on the eve of the Flood, when men still pursued pleasure with no thought of the morrow, their only sin the unawareness of sin."[95]LegacyPieter Bruegel the Elder's Mad Meg, 1562. While Bruegel's Hellscapes were influenced by The Garden's right panel, his aesthetic betrays a more pessimistic view of humanity's fate. Because Bosch was such a distinctly unique and visionary artist, his influence has not spread as widely as that of other major painters of his era. However, there have been instances of later artists incorporating elements of The Garden of Earthly Delights into their own work. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525-1569) in particular directly acknowledged Bosch as an important influence and inspiration,[96][97] and incorporated many elements of The Garden of Earthly Delights's inner right panel in several of his most popular works. Brueghel's painting Mad Meg depicts a peasant woman leading an army of women to pillage Hell, while his The Triumph of Death (c. 1562) echoes the monstrous Hellscape of The Garden, and utilizes, according to the Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts, the same "unbridled imagination and the fascinating colours".[98]Winter, 1573, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The concept of the "Tree-man", the hybrid organism, as well the engorged fruit all bear hallmarks of Bosch's Garden.While the Italian court painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c. 1527-1593) did not create Hellscapes, he painted a body of strange and "fantastic" vegetable portraits-generally heads of people composed of plants, roots, webs and various other organic matter. These strange portraits rely on and echo a motif that was in part inspired by Bosch's willingness to break from strict and faithful representations of nature.[99] David Teniers the Younger (c. 1610-1690) was a Flemish painter who quoted both Bosch and Breughel throughout his career in such works as his versions of the Temptation of St Anthony, the Rich Man in Hell, and his version of Mad Meg.[100]Joan Miró, The Tilled Field(1923-1924). This early Surrealist complex of objects and figures structurally and figuratively quotes Bosch's involved arrangement of sexually active characters from the center inner panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights.[101]During the early 20th century, Bosch's work enjoyed a popular resurrection. The early surrealists' fascination with dreamscapes, the autonomy of the imagination, and a free-flowing connection to the unconscious brought about a renewed interest in his work. Bosch's imagery struck a chord with Joan Miró[102] and Salvador Dalí[103] in particular. Both knew his paintings firsthand, having seen The Garden of Earthly Delights in the Museo del Prado, and both regarded him as an art-historical mentor. Miró's The Tilled Field contains several parallels to Bosch's Garden: similar flocks of birds; pools from which living creatures emerge; and oversize disembodied ears all echo the Dutch master's work.[102] When André Breton wrote his first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, his historical precedents as inclusions named only Gustave Moreau, Georges Seurat and Uccello.[104] However, the Surrealist movement soon rediscovered Bosch and Breughel, who quickly became popular among the Surrealist painters. René Magritte and Max Ernst[102] both were inspired by Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights.In 2009, the Prado selected The Garden of Earthly Delights as one of the museum's fourteen most important paintings, to be displayed in Google Earth at a resolution of 14,000 megapixels.[105]

Why did Vincent van Gough devote his life to the poor?

i dont know that but i got a biography about him.Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot Zundert, The Netherlands on 30 March 1853. Van Gogh's birth came one year to the day after his mother gave birth to a first, stillborn child--also named Vincent. There has been much speculation about Vincent van Gogh suffering later psychological trauma as a result of being a "replacement child" and having a deceased brother with the same name and same birth date. This theory remains unsubstantiated, however, and there is no actual historical evidence to support it.Van Gogh was the son of Theodorus van Gogh (1822-85), a pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus (1819-1907). Unfortunately there is virtually no information about Vincent van Gogh's first ten years. Van Gogh attended a boarding school in Zevenbergen for two years and then went on to attend the King Willem II secondary school in Tilburg for two more. At that time, in 1868, Van Gogh left his studies at the age of 15 and never returned.In 1869 Vincent van Gogh joined the firm Goupil & Cie., a firm of art dealers in The Hague. The Van Gogh family had long been associated with the art world--Vincent's uncles, Cornelis ("Uncle Cor") and Vincent ("Uncle Cent"), were art dealers. His younger brother, Theo, spent his adult life working as an art dealer and, as a result, had a tremendous influence on Vincent's later career as an artist.Vincent was relatively successful as an art dealer and stayed with Goupil & Cie. for seven more years. In 1873 he was transferred to the London branch of the company and quickly became enamoured with the cultural climate of England. In late August, Vincent moved to 87 Hackford Road and boarded with Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie. Vincent is said to have been romantically interested in Eugenie, but many early biographers mistakenly misname Eugenie for her mother, Ursula. To add to the decades-long confusion over the names, recent evidence suggests that Vincent wasn't in love with Eugenie at all, but rather a Dutch woman named Caroline Haanebeek. The truth remains inconclusive.Vincent van Gogh would remain in London for two more years. During that time he visited the many art galleries and museums and became a great admirer of British writers such as George Eliot and Charles Dickens. Van Gogh was also a great admirer of the British engravers whose works illustrated such magazines as The Graphic. These illustrations inspired and influenced Van Gogh in his later life as an artist.The relationship between Vincent and Goupil's became more strained as the years passed and in May of 1875 he was transferred to the Paris branch of the firm. It became clear as the year wore on that Vincent was no longer happy dealing in paintings that had little appeal for him in terms of his own personal tastes. Vincent left Goupil's in late March, 1876 and decided to return to England where his two years there had been, for the most part, very happy and rewarding.In April Vincent van Gogh began teaching at Rev. William P. Stokes' school in Ramsgate. He was responsible for 24 boys between the ages of 10 and 14. His letters suggest that Vincent enjoyed teaching. After that he began teaching at another school for boys, this one lead by Rev. T. Slade Jones in Isleworth. In his spare time Van Gogh continued to visit galleries and admire the many great works of art he found there. He also devoted himself to his Bible study--spending many hours reading and rereading the Gospel. The summer of 1876 was truly a time of religious transformation for Vincent van Gogh. Although raised in a religious family, it wasn't until this time that he seriously began to consider devoting his life to the Church.As a means of making a transition from teacher to clergyman, Vincent requested that Rev. Jones give him more responsibilities specific to the clergy. Jones agreed and Vincent began to speak at prayer meetings held within the parish of Turnham Green. These talks served as a means of preparing Vincent for the task which he had long anticipated: his first Sunday sermon. Although Vincent was enthusiastic about his prospects as a minister, his sermons were somewhat lackluster and lifeless. Like his father, Vincent had a passion for preaching, but lacked a gripping and passionate delivery.Undeterred, Vincent van Gogh chose to remain in The Netherlands after visiting his family over Christmas. After working briefly in a bookshop in Dordrecht in early 1877, Vincent left for Amsterdam on 9 May to prepare himself for the admission examination to the university where he was to study theology. Vincent received lessons in Greek, Latin and mathematics, but his lack of proficiency ultimately compelled him to abandon his studies after fifteen months. Vincent later described this period as "the worst time of my life". In November Vincent failed to qualify for the mission school in Laeken after a three month trial period. Never one to be swayed by adversity, Vincent van Gogh eventually made arrangements with the Church to begin a trial period preaching in one of the most inhospitable and impoverished regions in western Europe: the coal mining district of The Borinage, Belgium.In January, 1879 Vincent began his duties preaching to the coal miners and their families in the mining village of Wasmes. Vincent felt a strong emotional attachment to the miners. He sympathized with their dreadful working conditions and did his best, as their spiritual leader, to ease the burden of their lives. Unfortunately, this altruistic desire would reach somewhat fanatical proportions when Vincent began to give away most of his food and clothing to the poverty-stricken people under his care. Despite Vincent's noble intentions, representatives of the Church strongly disapproved of Van Gogh's asceticism and dismissed him from his post in July. Refusing to leave the area, Van Gogh moved to an adjacent village, Cuesmes, and remained there in abject poverty. For the next year Vincent struggled to live from day to day and, though not able to help the village people in any official capacity as a clergyman, he nevertheless chose to remain a member of their community. One day Vincent felt compelled to visit the home of Jules Breton, a French painter he greatly admired, so with only ten francs in his pocket he walked the entire 70 kilometers to Courrières, France, to see Breton. Upon arriving, however, Vincent was too timid to knock and returned to Cuesmes utterly discouraged.It was then that Vincent began to draw the miners and their families, chronicling their harsh conditions. It was during this pivotal time that Vincent van Gogh chose his next and final career: as an artist.Beginnings as an ArtistIn autumn of 1880, after more than a year living as a pauper in the Borinage, Vincent left for Brussels to begin his art studies. Vincent was inspired to begin these studies as a result of financial help from his brother, Theo. Vincent and Theo had always been close as children and throughout most of their adult lives maintained an ongoing and poignantly revealing correspondence. It is these letters, in total more than 700 extant, which form most of our knowledge of Van Gogh's perceptions about his own life and works.1881 would prove to be a turbulent year for Vincent van Gogh. Vincent applied for study at the Ecole des Beaux-Art in Brussels, although the biographers Hulsker and Tralbaut conflict with regards to the details. Tralbaut suggests a short and unremarkable tenure with the school, whereas Hulsker maintains that Vincent's application for admission was never accepted. Whatever the case, Vincent continued drawings lessons on his own, taking examples from such books as Travaux des champs by Jean-François Millet and Cours de dessin by Charles Bargue. In the summer Vincent was once again living with his parents, now situated in Etten, and during that time he met his cousin Cornelia Adriana Vos-Stricker (Kee). Kee (1846-1918) had been recently widowed and was raising a young son on her own. Vincent fell in love with Kee and was devastated when she rejected his advances. The unfortunate episode concluded with one of the most memorable incidents in Van Gogh's life. After being spurned by Kee, Vincent decided to confront her at her parents house. Kee's father refused to let Vincent see his daughter and Vincent, ever determined, put his hand over the funnel of an oil lamp, intentionally burning himself. Vincent's intent was to hold his hand over the flame until he was allowed to see Kee. Kee's father quickly defused the situation by simply blowing out the lamp and Vincent left the house humiliated.Despite emotional setbacks with Kee and personal tensions with his father, Vincent found some encouragement from Anton Mauve (1838-88), his cousin by marriage. Mauve had established himself as a successful artist, and from his home in The Hague, supplied Vincent with his first set of watercolours--thus giving Vincent his initial introduction to working in colours. Vincent was a great admirer of Mauve's works and was deeply grateful for any instruction that Mauve was able to provide. Their relationship was a pleasant one, but would suffer due to tensions brought about when Vincent began living with a prostitute.Vincent van Gogh met Clasina Maria Hoornik (1850-1904) in late February 1882, in The Hague. Already pregnant with her second child when Van Gogh met her, this woman, known as "Sien", moved in with Vincent shortly afterward. Vincent lived with Sien for the next year and a half. Their relationship was a stormy one, partly due to both of their volatile personalities and also because of the strain of living in complete poverty. Vincent's letters to Theo show him to be devoted to Sien and especially her children, but his art was always his first passion--to the exclusion of all other concerns, including food. Sien and her children posed for dozens of drawings for Vincent, and his talents as an artist grew considerably during this period. His early, more primitive drawings of the coal miners in the Borinage made way for far more refined and emotion-laden works. In the drawing Sien, Sitting on a Basket, with a Girl, for example, Vincent masterfully depicts quiet domesticity, as well as an underlying sense of despair--feelings which would truly define Van Gogh's 19 months living with Sien.1883 was another year of transition for Van Gogh: both in his personal life and in his role as an artist. Vincent began to experiment with oil paints in 1882, but it wasn't until 1883 that he worked in this medium more and more frequently. As his drawing and painting skills advanced, his relationship with Sien deteriorated and they parted ways in September. As with his failure in The Borinage, Vincent would spend his time recovering from this failed relationship in isolation. With much regret, particularly because of his feelings for Sien's children, Vincent left The Hague in mid-September to travel to Drenthe, a somewhat desolate district in The Netherlands. For the next six weeks Vincent lived a rather nomadic life, moving throughout the region and drawing and painting the remote landscape and its inhabitants.Once again, Vincent returned to his parents' home, now in Nuenen, in late 1883. Throughout the following year Vincent van Gogh continued to refine his craft. He produced dozens of paintings and drawings during this period: weavers, spinners and other portraits. The local peasants proved to be his favourite subjects--in part because Van Gogh felt a strong affinity toward the poor working labourers and partly because he was such an admirer of the painter Millet who himself produced sensitive and compassionate paintings of workers in the fields. Vincent's romantic life took yet another dramatic and unhappy turn that summer. Margot Begemann (1841-1907), whose family lived next door to Vincent's parents, had been in love with Vincent, and the emotional upheaval of the relationship lead her to attempt suicide by poison. Vincent was greatly distraught over the incident. Margot eventually recovered, but the episode upset Vincent a great deal and he referred to it in his letters on a number of occasions.Turning Point 1885: The First Great WorksIn the early months of 1885 Van Gogh continued his series of portraits of peasants. Vincent viewed these as "studies", works which would continue to refine his craft in preparation for his most ambitious work to date. Vincent laboured throughout March and April on these studies, briefly distracted from his work by the death of his father on 26 March. Vincent and his father had maintained a severely strained relationship over the last few years and, while certainly not happy about his father's death, Vincent was quite emotionally detached and continued his work.All the years of hard work, of continually refining his technique and learning to work in new media--all served as stepping stones toward the production of Vincent van Gogh's first great painting: The Potato Eaters.Vincent worked on The Potato Eaters throughout April of 1885. He had produced various drafts in preparation of the final, large oil on canvas version. The Potato Eaters is acknowledged to be Vincent van Gogh's first true masterpiece and he was encouraged by the outcome. Although angered and upset by any criticism of the work (Vincent's friend and fellow artist, Anthon van Rappard (1858-1892), disliked the work and his comments would prompt Vincent to end their friendship), Vincent was pleased with the result and thus began a new, more confident and technically accomplished phase of his career.Van Gogh continued to work throughout 1885, but once again became restless and in need of new stimulation. He enrolled briefly in the Academy in Antwerp in early 1886, but left it about four weeks later feeling stifled by the narrow and rigid approach of the instructors. As he demonstrated frequently throughout his life, Vincent felt that formal study was a poor substitute for practical work. Vincent had worked for five difficult years to hone his talents as an artist and with the creation of The Potato Eaters he proved himself a first-rate painter. But Vincent continually sought to better himself, to acquire new ideas and explore new techniques as a means of becoming the artist he truly aspired to be. In The Netherlands he had accomplished as much as he could. It was now time to explore new horizons and begin a journey which would further refine his craft. Vincent left The Netherlands to find the answers in Paris . . . . and in the company of the Impressionists.New Beginnings: ParisVincent van Gogh had written to his brother, Theo, throughout early 1886 in an effort to convince Theo that Paris was where he belonged. Theo was all too aware of his brother's somewhat abrasive personality and resisted. As always, Vincent was undeterred and simply arrived in Paris unannounced in early March. Theo had no choice but to take Vincent in.Van Gogh's Paris period is fascinating in terms of its role in transforming him as an artist. Unfortunately, Vincent's two years in Paris is also one of the least documented periods of his life--namely because biographers are so dependent on the letters between Vincent and Theo to supply the facts, and these letters stopped while the brothers lived together in Theo's apartment at 54 rue Lepic in Paris's Montmartre district.Still, the importance of Vincent's time in Paris is clear. Theo, as an art dealer, had many contacts and Vincent would become familar with the ground-breaking artists in Paris at that time. Van Gogh's two years in Paris were spent visiting some of the early exhibitions of the Impressionists (displaying works by Degas, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Seurat and Sisley). There's no question that Van Gogh was influenced by the methods of the Impressionists, but he always remained faithful to his own unique style. Throughout the two years Van Gogh would incorporate some of the techniques of the Impressionists, but he never let their powerful influence overwhelm him.Vincent enjoyed painting in the environs of Paris throughout 1886. His palette began to move away from the darker, traditional colours of his Dutch homeland and would incorporate the more vibrant hues of the Impressionists. To add further to the complex tapestry of Van Gogh's style, it was at this point in Paris that Vincent became interested in Japanese art. Japan had only recently opened its ports to outsiders after centuries of a cultural blockade and, as a result of this long-held isolationism, the western world was fascinated with all things Japanese. Van Gogh began to acquire a substantial collection of Japanese woodblock prints (now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam) and his paintings during this time (The Portrait of Père Tanguy, for example) would reflect both the vibrant use of colour favoured by the Impressionists, and distinct Japanese overtones. Although Van Gogh only ever produced three copies of Japanese paintings, the Japanese influence on his art would be evident in subtle form throughout the rest of his life.1887 in Paris marked another year in which Vincent evolved as an artist, but it also took its toll on him, both emotionally and physically. Vincent's volatile personality put a strain on his relationship with Theo. When Vincent insisted on moving in with Theo, he did so with the hopes that they could better manage their expenses and that Vincent could more easily devote himself to his art. Unfortunately, living with his brother also resulted in a great deal of tension between the two. In addition, Paris itself was not without its temptations and much of Vincent's two years there was spent in unhealthy extremes: poor nutrition, and excessive drinking and smoking.As was often the case throughout his life, poor weather during the winter months left Vincent irritable and depressed. Never was Vincent more happy then when he was outdoors communing with nature when the weather was at its finest. Whether painting or simply taking long walks, Vincent van Gogh lived for the sun. During the bleak winter months in Paris of 1887-88 Van Gogh became restless. And the same pattern was re-emerging. Van Gogh's two years in Paris had a tremendous impact on his ongoing evolution as an artist. But he had acquired what he was seeking and it was time to move on. Never truly happy in large cities, Vincent decided to leave Paris and follow the sun, and his destiny, south.The Studio of the SouthVincent van Gogh moved to Arles in early 1888 propelled by a number of reasons. Weary of the frenetic energy of Paris and the long months of winter, Van Gogh sought the warm sun of Provence. Another motivation was Vincent's dream of establishing a kind of artists' commune in Arles where his comrades in Paris would seek refuge and where they would work together and support each other toward a common goal. Van Gogh took the train from Paris to Arles on 20 February 1888 heartened by his dreams for a prosperous future and amused by the passing landscape which he felt looked more and more Japanese the further south he travelled.No doubt Van Gogh was disappointed with Arles during his first few weeks there. In search of the sun, Vincent found Arles unusually cold and dusted with snow. This must have been discouraging to Vincent who had left everyone he knew behind in order to seek warmth and restoration in the south. Still, the harsh weather was short lived and Vincent began to paint some of the best loved works of his career.Once the temperature had risen, Vincent wasted no time in beginning his labours outdoors. Note the two complimentary works: the drawing Landscape with Path and Pollard Trees and the painting Path through a Field with Willows. The drawing was produced in March and the trees and landscape appear somewhat bleak after winter. The painting, however, executed a month later shows the very first spring buds on the trees. During this time Van Gogh painted a series of blossoming orchards. Vincent was pleased with his productivity and, like the orchards, felt renewed.The months to follow would be happy ones. Vincent took a room at the Café de la Gare at 10 Place Lamartine in early May and rented his famous "Yellow House" (2 Place Lamartine) as a studio and storage area. Vincent wouldn't actually move into the Yellow House until September, in preparation for establishing it as the base for his "Studio of the South."Vincent worked diligently throughout the spring and summer and began to send Theo shipments of his works. Van Gogh is often perceived today as an irritable and solitary figure. But he really did enjoy the company of people and did his best during these months to make friends--both for companionship and also to pose as much valued models. Although deeply lonely at times, Vincent did make friends with Paul-Eugène Milliet and another Zouave soldier and painted their portraits. Vincent never lost hope in the prospect of establishing the artists' commune and began a campaign to encourage Paul Gauguin to join him in the south. The prospect appeared unlikely, however, because Gauguin's relocation would require even more financial assistance from Theo who had reached his limit.In late July, however, Van Gogh's Uncle Vincent died and left a legacy to Theo. This financial influx would enable Theo to sponsor Gauguin's move to Arles. Theo was motivated both as a concerned brother and also as a business man. Theo felt that Vincent would be happier and more stable in the company of Gauguin and also Theo had hopes that the paintings he would receive from Gauguin, in exchange for his support, would turn a profit. Unlike Vincent, Paul Gauguin was beginning to see a small degree of success from his works.Despite the improved state of Theo's financial affairs, Vincent nevertheless remained true to form and spent a disproportionate amount of his money on art supplies instead of the basic necessities of life. Malnourished and overworked, Van Gogh's health declined early October, but he was heartened upon receiving confirmation that Gauguin would join him in the south. Vincent worked hard to prepare the Yellow House in order to make Gauguin feel welcome. Gauguin arrived in Arles by train early on 23 October.The next two months would be pivotal, and disastrous, for both Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Initially Van Gogh and Gauguin got on well together, painting on the outskirts of Arles, discussing their art and differing techniques. As the weeks passed, however, the weather deteriorated and the pair found themselves compelled to stay indoors more and more frequently. As always, Vincent's temperament (and most likely Gauguin's as well) fluctuated to match the weather. Forced to work indoors, Vincent's depression was assuaged, however, when he was encouraged and stimulated by a series of portraits he undertook. "I have made portraits of a whole family . . . ." he wrote to Theo (Letter 560). Those paintings, of the Roulin family, remain among his best loved works.The relationship between Van Gogh and Gauguin deteriorated throughout December, however. Their heated arguments became more and more frequent--"electric" as Vincent would describe them. Relations between the pair declined in tandem with Vincent's state of mental health. On 23 December Vincent van Gogh, in an irrational fit of madness, mutilated the lower portion of his left ear. He severed the lobe with a razor, wrapped it in cloth and then took it to a brothel and presented it to one of the women there. Vincent then staggered back to the Yellow House where he collapsed. He was discovered by the police and hospitalized at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Arles. After sending a telegram to Theo, Gauguin left immediately for Paris, choosing not to visit Van Gogh in the hospital. Van Gogh and Gauguin would later correspond from time to time, but would never meet in person again.During his time in the hospital, Vincent was under the care of Dr. Felix Rey (1867-1932). The week following the ear mutilation was critical for Van Gogh--both mentally and physically. He had suffered a great deal of blood loss and continued to suffer serious attacks in which he was incapacitated. Theo, who had rushed down from Paris, was sure that Vincent would die, but by the end of December and the early days of January, Vincent made a nearly full recovery.The first weeks of 1889 would not be easy for Vincent van Gogh. After his recovery, Vincent returned to his Yellow House, but continued to visit Dr. Rey for examinations and to have his head dressings changed. Vincent was encouraged by his progress after the breakdown, but his money problems continued and he felt particularly depressed when his close friend, Joseph Roulin (1841-1903), decided to accept a better paying position and move with his family to Marseilles. Roulin had been a dear and faithful friend to Vincent for most of his time in Arles.Vincent was quite productive in terms of his art throughout January and early February, producing some of his best known works such as La Berceuse and Sunflowers. On 7 February, however, Vincent suffered another attack in which he imagined himself being poisoned. Once again, Vincent was taken to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital for observation. Van Gogh was kept in the hospital for ten days, but returned once again to the Yellow House, provisionally: "I hope for good." (Letter 577)By this time, however, some of the citizens of Arles had become alarmed by Vincent's behaviour and signed a petition detailing their concerns. The petition was submitted to the mayor of Arles and eventually to the superintendent of police who ordered Van Gogh readmitted to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Vincent remained in the hospital for the next six weeks, but was allowed to leave on supervised outings--in order to paint and to put his possessions into storage. It was a productive, but emotionally discouraging time for Van Gogh. As was the case a year before, Van Gogh returned to painting the blossoming orchards around Arles. But even as he was producing some of his best works, Vincent realized that his position was a precarious one and, after discussions with Theo, agreed to have himself voluntarily confined to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Van Gogh left Arles on 8 May.ConfinementUpon arrival at the asylum, Van Gogh was placed in the care of Dr. Théophile Zacharie Auguste Peyron (1827-95). After examining Vincent and reviewing the case, Dr. Peyron was convinced that his patient was suffering from a type of epilepsy--a diagnosis that remains among the most likely possibilities, even today. The asylum was by no means a "snake pit," but Van Gogh was disheartened by the cries of the other residents and the bad food. He found it depressing that the patients had nothing to do all day--no stimulation of any kind. Part of Van Gogh's treatment included "hydro-therapy", a frequent immersion in a large tub of water. While this "therapy" was certainly not cruel in any way, neither was it in the least beneficial in terms of helping to restore Vincent's mental health.As the weeks passed, Vincent's mental well-being remained stable and he was allowed to resume painting. The staff was encouraged by Van Gogh's progress (or, at least, at his not suffering any additional attacks) and in mid-June Van Gogh produced his best known work: Starry Night.Van Gogh's relatively tranquil state of mind didn't last, however, and he was incapacitated by another attack in mid-July. During this attack Vincent tried to ingest his own paints and for that reason he was confined and not given access to his materials. Although he recovered fairly quickly from the incident, Van Gogh was discouraged at being deprived of the one thing that gave him pleasure and distraction: his art. After another week, Dr. Peyron relented and agreed to allow Van Gogh to resume his painting. His resumption of work coincided with an improved mental state. Vincent sent Theo letters detailing his precarious state of health; while at the same time Theo had similar issues to deal with. Theo's health had often been delicate and he had been ill throughout much of early 1889.For two months Van Gogh was unable to leave his room and wrote to his sister: " . . . when I am in the fields I am overwhelmed by a feeling of loneliness to such a horrible extent that I shy away from going out . . . ." (Letter W14) In the weeks to follow, however, Vincent would again overcome his anxieties and resume working. During this time Vincent began to plan for his eventual departure from the asylum at Saint-Rémy. He expressed these thoughts to Theo who began to make inquiries of possible alternatives for Vincent's medical care--this time much closer to Paris.Van Gogh's mental and physical health remained fairly stable throughout the remainder of 1889. Theo's health had recovered for the most part and, in the midst of preparing a home with his new wife, Theo was also assisting Octave Maus who was organizing an exhibition, Les XX, in Brussels in which six of Vincent's paintings would be displayed. Vincent seemed enthusiastic about the venture and remained quite productive throughout this time. The ongoing correspondence between Vincent and Theo worked out many of the details surrounding Vincent's showing within the exhibit.On 23 December 1889, a year to the day after the ear slashing incident, Vincent suffered another attack: an "aberration" as he called it (Letter 620). The attack was serious and lasted about a week, but Vincent recovered reasonably quickly and resumed painting--this time mainly copies of other artists' works, due to being confined inside, both because of his mental health and also because of the weather. Sadly, Van Gogh suffered more attacks throughout the early months of 1890. These attacks came more frequently and left Vincent more incapacitated than any of those previously. Ironically, during this time when Van Gogh was probably at his lowest and most mentally despondent state, his works were finally beginning to receive critical acclaim. News of this, however, only served to depress Vincent further and renewed his hopes to leave the asylum and return to the north.After making some inquiries, Theo felt that the best course of action would be for Vincent to return to Paris and then enter the care of Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909), a homeopathic therapist living in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. Vincent agreed with Theo's plans and wrapped up his affairs in Saint-Rémy. On 16 May 1890 Vincent van Gogh left the asylum and took an overnight train to Paris."The sadness will last forever . . . . "Vincent's journey to Paris was uneventful and he was met by Theo upon his arrival. Vincent remained with Theo, Theo's wife Johanna and their newborn son, Vincent Willem (named after Vincent) for three pleasant days. Never one to enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life, however, Vincent felt some stress returning and opted to leave Paris for the more quiet destination, Auvers-sur-Oise.Vincent met with Dr. Gachet shortly after his arrival in Auvers. Although initially impressed by Gachet, Vincent would later express grave doubts about his competence, going so far as to comment that Gachet appeared to be "sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much" (Letter 648). Despite his misgivings, however, Vincent managed to find himself a room in a small inn owned by Arthur Gustave Ravoux and immediately began painting the environs of Auvers-sur-Oise.Over the course of the next two weeks, Van Gogh's opinion about Gachet softened somewhat and he became completely absorbed in his painting. Vincent was pleased with Auvers-sur-Oise, which afforded him the freedom denied him in Saint-Rémy, while at the same time provided him with ample subjects for his painting and drawing. Vincent's first weeks in Auvers passed pleasantly and uneventfully. On 8 June Theo, Jo and the baby came to Auvers to visit Vincent and Gachet and Vincent passed a very enjoyable day with his family. To all appearances, Vincent appeared quite restored--mentally and physically.Throughout June, Vincent remained in good spirits and was remarkably productive, painting some of his best known works (Portrait of Doctor Gachet and The Church at Auvers, for example). The initial tranquility of the first month in Auvers was interrupted, however, when Vincent received news that his nephew was seriously ill. Theo had been going through a most difficult time throughout the previous few months: uncertainty about his own career and future, ongoing health problems and finally his own son's illness. Following the baby's recovery, Vincent decided to visit Theo and his family on 6 July and caught an early train. Very little is known about the visit, but Johanna, writing years later, would suggest that the day was strained and fairly tense. Vincent eventually felt overwhelmed and quickly returned to the more quiet sanctuary of Auvers.During the next three weeks Vincent resumed his painting and, as his letters suggest, was reasonably happy. To his mother and sister Vincent wrote: "For the present I am feeling much calmer than last year, and really the restlessness in my head has greatly quieted down." (Letter 650) Vincent was absorbed in the fields and plains around Auvers and produced some brilliant landscapes throughout July. For Vincent life had appeared to settle into a productive and--if not happy--at least stable pattern.Although details chronicled within the various reports conflict, the basic facts of 27 July 1890 remain clear. On that Sunday evening Vincent van Gogh set out, with his easel and painting materials, into the fields. There he took out a revolver and shot himself in the chest. Vincent managed to stagger back to the Ravoux Inn where he collapsed in bed and was then discovered by Ravoux. Dr. Mazery, the local practitioner, was called, as was Dr. Gachet. It was decided not to attempt to remove the bullet in Vincent's chest and Gachet wrote an urgent letter to Theo. Unfortunately, Dr. Gachet didn't have Theo's home address and had to write to him care of the gallery where he worked. This didn't cause a serious delay, however, and Theo arrived the next afternoon.Vincent and Theo remained together for the last hours of Vincent's life. Theo was devoted to his brother, holding him and speaking with him in Dutch. Vincent seemed resigned to his fate and Theo later wrote: "He himself wanted to die; when I sat at his bedside and said that we would try to get him better and that we hoped that he would then be spared this kind of despair, he said 'La tristesse durera toujours' ('The sadness will last forever.') I understand what he wanted to say with those words." Theo, always his brother's greatest friend and supporter, was holding Vincent as he spoke his last words: "I wish I could pass away like this."Vincent van Gogh died at 1:30 am. on 29 July 1890. The Catholic church of Auvers refused to allow Vincent's burial in its cemetery because Vincent had committed suicide. The nearby township of Méry, however, agreed to allow the burial and the funeral was held on 30 July. Vincent's long time friend, the painter Emile Bernard, wrote about the funeral in detail to Gustave-Albert Aurier:The coffin was already closed. I arrived too late to see the man again who had left me four years ago so full of expectations of all kinds . . . .On the walls of the room where his body was laid out all his last canvases were hung making a sort of halo for him and the brilliance of the genius that radiated from them made this death even more painful for us artists who were there. The coffin was covered with a simple white cloth and surrounded with masses of flowers, the sunflowers that he loved so much, yellow dahlias, yellow flowers everywhere. It was, you will remember, his favourite colour, the symbol of the light that he dreamed of being in people's hearts as well as in works of art.Near him also on the floor in front of his coffin were his easel, his folding stool and his brushes.Many people arrived, mainly artists, among whom I recognized Lucien Pissarro and Lauzet. I did not know the others, also some local people who had known him a little, seen him once or twice and who liked him because he was so good-hearted, so human . . . .There we were, completely silent all of us together around this coffin that held our friend. I looked at the studies; a very beautiful and sad one based on Delacroix's La vierge et Jésus. Convicts walking in a circle surrounded by high prison walls, a canvas inspired by Doré of a terrifying ferocity and which is also symbolic of his end. Wasn't life like that for him, a high prison like this with such high walls--so high . . . and these people walking endlessly round the pit, weren't they the poor artists, the poor damned souls walking past under the whip of Destiny? . . . .At three o'clock his body was moved, friends of his carrying it to the hearse, a number of people in the company were in tears. Theodore Van ghogh [sic] who was devoted to his brother, who had always supported him in his struggle to support himself from his art was sobbing pitifully the whole time . . . .The sun was terribly hot outside. We climbed the hill outside Auvers talking about him, about the daring impulse he had given to art, of the great projects he was always thinking about, and about the good he had done to all of us.We reached the cemetery, a small new cemetery strewn with new tombstones. It is on the little hill above the fields that were ripe for harvest under the wide blue sky that he would still have loved . . . perhaps.Then he was lowered into the grave . . . .Anyone would have started crying at that moment . . . the day was too much made for him for one not to imagine that he was still alive and enjoying it . . . .Doctor Gachet (who is a great art lover and possesses on of the best collections of impressionist painting at the present day) wanted to say a few words of homage about Vincent and his life, but he too was weeping so much that he could only stammer a very confused farewell . . . (perhaps it was the most beautiful way of doing it).He gave a short description of Vincent's struggles and achievements, stating how sublime his goal was and how great an admiration he felt for him (though he had only known him a short while). He was, Gachet said, an honest man and a great artist, he had only two aims, humanity and art. It was art that he prized above everything and which will make his name live.Then we returned. Theodore Van ghog [sic] was broken with grief; everyone who attended was very moved, some going off into the open country while others went back to the station.Laval and I returned to Ravoux's house, and we talked about him . . . .1Theo van Gogh died six months after Vincent. He was buried in Utrecht, but in 1914 Theo's wife, Johanna, such a dedicated and tireless supporter of Vincent's works, had Theo's body reburied in the Auvers cemetery next to Vincent. Jo requested that a sprig of ivy from Dr. Gachet's garden be planted among the grave stones. That same ivy carpets Vincent and Theo's grave site to this day.1. Cahier Vincent 4: 'A Great Artist is Dead': Letters of Condolence on Vincent van Gogh's Death by Sjraar van Heugten and Fieke Pabst (eds.), (Waanders, 1992), pages 32-35.ReferencesVincent and Theo Van Gogh: A Dual Biography by Jan Hulsker (Fuller, 1990).Van Gogh by Ronald Pickvance (Lausanne: Edipress Imprimeries Reunies, 2000).Vincent van Gogh by Marc Edo Tralbaut (Viking, 1969).Van Gogh: His Life and Art by David Sweetman (Touchstone, 1990).

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