Vincent van Gogh | Still Life of Oranges and Lemons with Blue Gloves, 1889

Vincent van Gogh painted this picture soon after his release from the hospital, where he was recovering from the disastrous final days of Paul Gauguin’s stay with him in Arles.

In a long letter to his brother Theo posted January 23, 1889, he mentions creating this painting alongside several other issues, including the need to make money through picture sales. He likely had the market in mind in painting this still life.

The painter was clearly attracted to the shapes and hues of the citrus fruit arrayed in the wicker basket, and the way their varied orb shapes play against the weave of the dried sticks, the whole set off by the prickly needles of the cypress branches. Van Gogh refers in his letter to an "air of chic" in this picture, prompted perhaps by the inclusion of blue garden gloves.

The painting reveals the artist’s extraordinarily original sense of color, as well as his richly expressive paint application as he struggles to evoke the nubby waxen skin of the various fruits, the spiky fur of the branches, and the limp material of the worn gloves.

Igor Levashov, 1964

Igor Levashov è nato e cresciuto nelle vicinanze di Mosca. Ha studiato alla Moscow Art School dal 1979-1983.

Poco dopo, ha iniziato i suoi studi presso l'Accademia Statale d'Arte di Mosca, intitolata a V.I.Surikov, presso la quale si è laureato nel 1990.

Nel 1991 è venuto a studiare presso l'Accademia Reale d'Arte di The Aia nei Paesi Bassi e si è laureato nel 1996.

Vive e lavora nei Paesi Bassi. Dal 1998 il suo lavoro è rappresentato negli Stati Uniti.

Vincent Van Gogh | The Potato Eaters, 1885

"The Potato Eaters" (Dutch: De Aardappeleters) is an oil painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh painted in April 1885 in Nuenen, Netherlands.

It is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The original oil sketch of the painting is at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, and he also made lithographs of the image, which are held in collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The painting is considered to be one of Van Gogh's masterpieces.

Vincent Van Gogh | The Potato Eaters, 1885 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Gerard ter Borch (Dutch genre painter, 1617-1681)

Gerard ter Borch, also known as Gerard Terburg, was an influential and pioneering Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age.

He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johannes Vermeer.

According to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Ter Borch "established a new framework for subject matter, taking people into the sanctum of the home", showing the figures' uncertainties and expertly hinting at their inner lives.

His influence as a painter, however, was later surpassed by Vermeer.

Vincent Van Gogh | The sower series

Peasant imagery and especially that of the 'Sower' was something that Van Gogh turned to numerous times throughout his career. His affiliation with this subject was partly as a response to the work of the romantic Realists such as Millet, and a reflection of his own socialist ideals.

The sower in particular was a figure that Van Gogh saw in terms of representing the eternal cycle of agricultural life, of honorable endeavor and tradition, and symbolized these qualities to the artist.

Vincent Van Gogh: "I put my heart and soul into my work, and I have lost my mind in the process"..

▻ There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

▻ The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

▻ I put my heart and soul into my work, and I have lost my mind in the process.

▻ Ho messo il cuore e l'anima nel mio lavoro, e ho perso la testa nel processo.

▻ It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.

▻ I would rather die of passion than of boredom.

▻ If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

▻ I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.

Vincent van Gogh | Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888 | Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Vincent van Gogh | Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888

"The sight of the stars always makes me dream in as simple a way as the black spots on the map, representing towns and villages, make me dream.

Why, I say to myself, should the spots of light in the firmament be less accessible to us than the black spots on the map of France?

Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to go to a star’, wrote Vincent to his brother Theo in 1888.

Vincent Van Gogh | The Starry Night | Saint Rémy, June 1889 | MoMa

Vincent Van Gogh | The Starry Night | Saint Rémy, June 1889 | MoMa - Museum of Modern Art, New York

"The Starry Night" is probably Vincent van Gogh🎨's most famous painting. Instantly recognizable because of its unique style, this work has been the subject of poetry, fiction, CD-ROMs as well as the well known song "Vincent" or "Starry, Starry Night" by Don McLean.

While there's no denying the popularity of Starry Night, it's also interesting to note that there is very little known about Vincent's own feelings toward his work. This is mainly due to the fact that he only mentions it in his letters🎨 to Theo twice (Letters 595 and 607), and then only in passing.

In his correspondence with his brother, Vincent would often discuss specific works in great detail, but not so in the case of "Starry Night".

Why?

It's difficult to say.