Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting Head of a Peasant Woman with a White Cap.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings is Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles, made in Amsterdam in 1884.

This painting is part of a bunch of paintings by Van Gogh called Still Life Paintings.
For a while he lived in the town of Neunen, and made a bunch of paintings of things like bottles, bowls and fruit.
All of these things were not moving, which is why the painting type is called still life.

He tried to do a lot of contrasting to show different colors against each other, like green next to red, and he tried to work on different shades of light showing on the things in his pictures.
While he was in Neunen he also helped to teach some other people how to be painters.


(from: wikipedia - still life paintings by vincent van gogh (netherlands))


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Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Van Gogh painting called The Potato Eaters.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings is the Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap, painted in 1885 in the Netherlands.

This was also from his group of paintings called the Peasant Character Studies. One special thing about this painting is that many years later when people used an X-Ray to look through the layers of paint, they found out that Van Gogh had first made a self portrait of himself on the canvas, and then painted over it with the new painting of the Peasant Woman.


(from: wikipedia - peasant character studies (van gogh series))


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The Potato Eaters - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting of Still Life with Cabbage.

Another famous painting by Van Gogh is called The Potato Eaters made in 1885 in Nuenen, Netherlands.

This painting was part of what people call his "Peasant Character Studies".
During this time Van Gogh made many paintings about people that were poor but worked very hard jobs like farming or sewing.

His painting of the Potato Eaters is of a group of poor people sitting around a small table eating dinner.
He wanted it to look dirty and for the people not to look beautiful because he wanted to show how hard the people worked, and that they weren't rich.


(from: wikipedia - the potato eaters)


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Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Vincent Van Gogh.

One of the first paintings from Vincent van Gogh is Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs in the Netherlands in 1881.

When Van Gogh was 28 years old he made one of his first paintings, of some cabbages and wooden shoes called clogs on a table.
Paintings of things that are not moving are called still life.
This was before Van Gogh came up with his own different style that made him famous later on.


(from: wikipedia - early works of vincent van gogh)


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Vincent van Gogh

We just learned about Michelangelo's sculpture of The Deposition and a lot of other works of art by Michelangelo.

Another of the most famous artists in the world was Vincent van Gogh.

He was born in the Netherlands in 1853 and grew up going to a few different schools where he was not a very happy kid.
Later on he got a job helping to make and sell artwork, and that made him much happier.

Through his life he started making paintings in the impressionist style, and then later on he made his own special style.

Sadly Van Gogh was not very famous while he was alive.
He started to get a little famous right before he died, and then about 10 years after he was gone some people found out what a genius he was and since then he has become one of the most famous artists of all time.

A lot of artists are famous for making a few dozen paintings, or even a few hudred.
Van Gogh made over 2,000 works of art, and some of his most famous paintings have sold for over 100 million dollars.

Even though Van Gogh only lived to be 37 years old and didn't have much time to become a master, he is thought to be one of the best artists of all time.


(from: wikipedia - vincent van gogh)


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