Vincent Van Gogh, and his stay in Arles

Anyone interested in art will be acquainted with Vincent Van Gogh, and his tragic life. To many, he is the epitome of the "true artist". In other words, he sacrificed everything for his art. I have just begun reading another book on Vincent, by the author Martin Gayford, titled: The Yellow House. It deals with the period that Vincent and Paul Gauguin spent together in the town of Arles, southern France in the last months of 1888. I believe that Gayford describes well the essence of being an artist, and this book reads as though it's been thouroughly researched. As a struggling artist myself, I immediately connected to the daily struggle of both Van Gogh and Gauguin. Yet the first thing that strikes me about this collaborative effort by the two artists was their situation: I mean, here they were, away from the obvious distractions of family and friends, a roof over their heads, food to eat and, the most important thing, the time in which to paint - also in their case to argue and debate about "modern art". When reading the opening pages of this story, I felt a desire to have been in their shoes... living at a time when art was changing, that they were engaged in discovering some new way forward - It appears to me that there will never again be quite the same revolutions in art in the future as there was during this period - Certainly not in painting. I will be continuing this subject over the next week and sharing my thoughts with you. If you have an opinion, then please post it here. Please click to see more of the discussion