VISHU ASAMSAKAL

Raja Ravi Varma

                          

Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma (Malayalam: രാജാ രവി വര്‍മ) (April 29, 1848 - October 2, 1906) was an Indian painter from the princely state of Travancore who achieved recognition for his depiction of scenes from the epics of theMahabharata and Ramayana. His paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of Europeanacademic art.

Varma is most remembered for his paintings of beautifulsari-clad women, who were portrayed as shapely and graceful. His exposure in the west came when he won the first prize in the Vienna Art Exhibition in 1873. Raja Ravi Varma died in 1906 at the age of 58. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art.

Early life

Raja Ravi Varma was born as Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran ofKilimanoor palace in the erstwhile princely state ofTravancore(thiruvithankur) in Kerala. His father Ezhumavail Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad was an accomplished scholar, and his mother Umayamba Thampuratti (d.1886) was a poet and writer whose work Parvati Swayamvaram would be published by Raja Ravi Varma after her death. His siblings were C. Goda Varma (b.1854), C. Raja Raja Varma (b.1860) and Mangala Bayi Thampuratti, who was also a painter. At a young age he secured the patronage of HH MaharajahAyilyam Thirunal of Travancore,( a relative, and began formal training thereafter.^[1] He was trained in water painting by Rama Swami Naidu, and later in oil painting by Dutch portraitist Theodor Jenson. Raja Ravi Varma High school for Boys & Girls are situated at Kilimanoor in memory of Him. There are lot of other cultural organizations through out Kerala with His name. His palace is nearly 6 Kilometer from Ponganadu and 7.7kilometer from Pazhayachanda.

Art career

Raja Ravi Varma received widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his paintings at Vienna in 1873. Raja Ravi Varma's paintings were also sent to the World's Columbian Expositionheld in Chicago in 1893 and he was awarded two gold medals.^[2] He travelled throughout India in search of subjects. He often modeled Hindu Goddesses on South Indian women, whom he considered beautiful. Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story ofDushyanta and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata. Ravi Varma's representation of mythological characters has become a part of the Indian imagination of the epics. He is often criticized for being too showy and sentimental in his style. However his work remains very popular in India.

                                    

Great artists and their paintings

Great artists and their paintings Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli (March 1, 1445 – May 17, 1510) was an extremely successful Italian painter of the Florentine school during the Early Renaissance (Quattrocento). With the emergence of the High Renaissance style at the turn of the 16th century, he fell out of fashion, died in obscurity and was only returned to his position as one of the best-loved Quattrocento painters through the interest of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites. His posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting, and The Birth of Venus and Primavera rank now among the most familiar masterpieces of Florentine art. Botticelli was born in Florence, Italy, in 1445. Details of Botticelli's life are sparse, but we know that he did not become an apprentice until he was about fourteen years old, which would indicate that he received a fuller education than did other Renaissance artists. When Botticelli was 14 or 15 he was sent to the great painter, Fra Filippo. There he learned how to mix colors and clean brushes. Botticelli was greatly influenced by his teacher. He spent his whole life in Florence except for a visit to Rome. Botticelli was a member of the Medici family. His real name was Alessandro Filipepi. He was nicknamed "Botticelli", which means "little barrel", and was originally bestowed on his older brother. For some reason the name was passed on to, and adopted by, the younger painter brother. Many of Botticelli's paintings are undated, but an Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Uffizi) has been dated by modern scholarship to 1475. This is important because it provides evidence of Botticelli having already secured the patronage of the Medici whose portraits (according to Vasari) appear in the picture. So well did this work establish Botticelli's reputation that in 1481-82 he was commissioned to join Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli (the most celebrated painters of the day) to paint frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. "Pallas and the Centaur" Botticelli - 1482 Botticelli's two most famous paintings were painted around this time, possibly for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. They are the Primavera (1478) and the Birth of Venus (1483), both in the Uffizi. These are mythologies that exemplify the moral and metaphysical Neoplatonic ideas that were then fashionable in the Medici circles. Pure visual poetry, they are stylistically the essence of Botticelli: there is a deliberate denial of rational spatial construction and no attempt to model solid-looking figures; instead the figures float on the forward plane of the picture against a decorative landscape backdrop, and form, defined by outline, is willfully modified to imbue that outline with expressive power. By 1465, Botticelli had his own studio. After the age of 56 no paintings were found that were painted by him. Botticelli died alone and infirm. He lived to be about 65 and died around 1510. Botticelli had a very successful career, with a highly individual and graceful style founded on the rhythmic capabilities of outline. In fact, Botticelli became Florence's favorite artist. His paintings were very popular. Realism was ignored in Botticelli's paintings because he used allegories within delicate color and poetic lines. Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 – April 30, 1883) was a French painter. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. His early masterworks The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia engendered great controversy, and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism—today these are considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art. Biography Pablo Picasso was the first child of José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y López. He was baptized with the names Pablo Diego José Santiago Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Blasco y Picasso. The young Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age. It was from his father, who was an art professor, that Picasso had his first formal academic art training, such as figure drawing and painting in oil. In 1897 Picasso studied at the Madrid Academy in the Spanish capital. Dissatisfied with the training, he quit and returned to Barcelona. He was a rebel from the start and, as a teenager, began to frequent the Barcelona cafes where intellectuals gathered. In 1900, he made his first trip to Paris, the current world capital of art, and soaked up the works of Manet, Gustave Courbet, and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose sketchy style impressed him greatly. During his living in Paris, Picasso shared a small room with Max Jacob in theb boulevard Voltaire. Jacobs (journalist and poet) helped him learn French. They were times of severe poverty, cold and desperation. "Garçon à la pipe" Picasso - 1905 Much of his work had to be burned to keep the small room warm. Then, he started traveling from Paris to Barcelona and Madrid. In 1904, he established definitely in Paris, in the “Bateau Lavoir” in the Rou Ravignon. In the same year, Picasso began a long term relationship with Fernande Olivier. She appears in paintings many of the Rose period. After acquiring fame and some fortune, Picasso left Olivier for Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert), whom Picasso called Eva. Picasso included declarations of his love for Eva in the painting “Ma Jolie” and in many other works. The next year, Picasso met Apollinaire, who would eventually introduce him to Braque. He also met several important figures like Gertrude Stein, André Derain and Henri Matisse. In 1915, Eva Gouel died from a lethal disease. Two years later, Picasso traveled to Rome and spent time with Diaghilev’s ballet company, working on décor for “Parade”. There, Picasso met Igor Stravinsky and fell in love with the dancer Olga Khokhlova. After traveling with the ballet company, Picasso fell in love with Olga, and married her in 1918. thanks to his wife contacts, Picasso started to move in different social circles. In 1927, Picasso started an extramarital relationship with seventeen-year old Marie-Thérèse Walter, with whom he would have a child in 1935. This pregnancy split Picasso’s marriage. But, the divorce took very long because Picasso’s fortune was in dispute. In 1936, he is involved with the Yugoslavian photographer Dora Maar, whom would be Picasso’s companion. Picasso has an exuberant love life. Picasso had two wives (Olga Khokhlova and Jacqueline Roque) and four children by three women. Picasso´s Work Picasso's work is often categorized into "periods". While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African-influenced Period, Analytic Cubism, and Synthetic Cubism. Blue Period: Picasso’s artistic production is usually described in terms of a series of overlapping periods. In his “Blue Period” (1901–4) he depicted the world of the poor. Predominantly in tones of blue, these melancholy paintings (such as The Old Guitarist, 1903; Art Inst. of Chicago) are among the most popular art works of the century. Rose Period: Canvases from Picasso’s “Rose Period” (1905–6) are characterized by a lighter palette and greater lyricism. Picasso began to use delicate pinks and earth colors to paint circus performers like harlequins and acrobats. During this period, Picasso’s Parisian studio attracted the major figures of the avant-garde at this time, including Matisse, Braque, Apollinaire, and Gertrude Stein. African-influenced Period: Picasso discovered the power of African masks and incorporated their motifs into his art. In the same year, 1907, he produced the breakthrough painting “Desmoiselles d’Avignon”, one of the few works that singlehandedly altered the course of art. Cubism: Called the first truly twentieth-century painting, “Desmoiselles D’Avignon” effectively ended the nearly 500-year reign of Renaissance-ruled Western art. Picasso fractures the laws of perspective, breaking up the space into jagged planes without orderly recession. Picasso smashed bodies to bits and reassembled them as faceted planes that one critic compared to a “field of broken glass”. One of the most recognized figures in 20th century art, Picasso is best known as the co-founder, along with Georges Braque, of cubism. It has been estimated that Picasso produced about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures or ceramics. In 1939-40 the Museum of Modern Art in New York, under its director Alfred Barr, a Picasso enthusiast, held a major and highly successful retrospective of his principal works up until that time. This exhibition lionized the artist, brought into full public view in America the scope of his artistry, and resulted in a reinterpretation of his work by contemporary art historians and scholars.

easy to draw for kids

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Tenmala

Palaruvi

TK Padmini - A Monograph

About T.K.Padmini

A painter from Kerala, India, who left us early in life leaving behind a remarkable collection of paintings. Most of these paintings are exhibited in the galleries of Kerala Lalithakala Academy, Kochi, India.

T.K. Padmini was born on May 12, 1940 in Kadancheri, a remote and sleepy village of Ponani, a coastal town of Kerala. She had her education at A.V. High School, Ponani. She was trained by Mr. K.L. Devassi, the arts teacher of A.V. High School, and Mr. K.M. Vasudevan Namboodiri (Artist Namboodiri), the well-known painter, sculptor and illustrator, for a brief period. She joined the College of Fine Arts and Crafts at Chennai (formerly Madras) in 1961 under the guidance of Principal K.C.S. Panikkar, and received Diploma in Painting (first class, first rank) in 1965.

She had worked in Madras Vidyodaya Girls High School, Adarsh Vidyalaya Matriculation School and Children's Garden School, as a teacher. In May 1968 she married her co-student and well-known painter K. Damodaran. Padmini, during her very short life, surpassed apparently insurmountable problems to come out of the limitations that destiny imposed on her in terms of geography, people and custom. Her unflagging courage helped her to face obstacles and leave an indelible mark of her personality on Indian painting. Sadly, destiny caught up with ending her life at the ripe age of 29 when a lot more of her artistic contributions were waiting to come out.

After Amrita Sher Gill, seldom has as strong a feminine presence overwhelmed the Indian artistic sensibility as that of Padmini's. Her paintings provide an insight to the viewer about what a woman sees and priorities in woman's body and soul as subject of art.

This web site is intended not only to be a tribute to her memory but also to bring her life and work to a wider global audience. Padmini's paintings carry pure imageries of the serene and peaceful village, and our cultural life. And surely, all right thinking art lovers would be convinced that these are the imageries and archaic symbols that need to be nurtured to preserve our cultural heritage. It seems that only the goodness of the archetypical village, a bit of which all of us carry, sustains life in the long term. A detailed life sketch of Padmini is available in the articles about her written by three men who were intimately connected with her life, viz., Mr. T.K. Divakaran, her uncle; Mr. K. Damodaran, her husband; Mr. Edasseri Govindan Nair, the famous poet.

House of TK Padmini

T. K. PADMINI - painter from Kerala

T.K.Padmini

T. K. Padmini

T. K. Padmini (May 12, 1940 - May 11, 1969) was a painter fromKerala, India.

Born in Kadancheri, a small village off Ponani, a coastal town of Kerala, Padmini was a strong feminine presence in the history of painting in Kerala. She had her education at A. V. High School, Ponani. She had a brief course of training from K. L. Devassi, the arts teacher of A. V. High School, and K. M. Vasudevan Namboodiri (Artist Namboodiri), the well known painter, sculptor and illustrator.

She joined the College of Fine Arts and Crafts at Chennai (formerly Madras) in 1961 under the guidance of Principal K. C. S. Paniker. She had worked in Madras Vidyodaya Girls High School, Adarsh Vidyalaya Matriculation School and Children's Garden School, as teacher. In May 1968, she married her co-student and well-known painter K. Damodaran.

Padmini won several awards for her work, including the Madras State Lalit Kala Academy 1963 Highly Commended certificate for the painting ‘Growth’, Madras State Lalit Kala Academy 1967 Award for ‘Dreamland’, Madras State Lalit Kala Academy 1967 Award for ‘Dawn’, A.Y.P.S. 1965 Award for ‘Women’.

Padmini died in childbirth due to complications in delivery.

• 86 paintings of Padmini have been displayed at the Durbar Hall Gallery of Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in Kochi and a few drawings have been kept in the archives of the Akademi in Thrissur. Padmini’s paintings are also displayed in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Madras (‘Portrait’ and ‘Burial Ground’), Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad apart from private collections in India and abroad. A few paintings and drawings have been displayed at her website

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Asthamayasooryan

Asthamayasooryan

Watercolor Painting Techniques With Kids

Watercolor Painting Techniques

To prevent watercolor paper from wrinkling when it gets wet, use masking tape to tape all edges of the paper to a board or work table. Wait for the paint to dry before gently removing the tape. This also gives the painter a margin all around the paper so no part of the picture will disappear behind a mat.

Dry Brush Watercolor Technique

This technique is perfect when a lot of details are desired. Lightly sketch the image in pencil. The watercolor paint won’t cover dark pencil marks so keep the lines pale – they are just there to offer guidelines.

Wet the brush and then wipe it with paper towel. The bristles should be damp but not dripping. Dip the tip of the bristles over the paint and work in the desired details. An entire painting can be done on using a dry brush on dry paper or dry brush details can be added to a wet on wet painting after it has dried.

Wet on Wet Watercolor Technique

With a wide bristle brush, paint clear water over part of the paper. Using a wet brush, pick up color and paint quickly over the wet paper. This technique doesn’t allow for detail work. It is good for backgrounds or abstract paintings that highlight color combinations. After the paint and paper dry, details can be added using the dry brush technique.

Lifting Watercolor Paints

After the paints dry, wet a sponge brush and dab it over small areas of the image to absorb some of the paint. This technique lifts off some of the paint, creating highlights. Dab up some of the paint with paper towel. The highlights will be lighter versions of the paint they won’t be white as with the resists.

Rubber Cement Resist Painting

In a resist, a material is applied to the paper that repels the watercolor paint from that part of the painting. In this case, use rubber cement. Lightly, with pencil, sketch out the desired images on the paper. Select the parts of the images that will remain white and paint those areas with rubber cement. Allow the rubber cement to dry.

Now, paint the rest of the picture. When the paint and paper dries, rub the fingertip over the rubber cement. The protected areas will be white.

Crayon Resist Painting

In this resist, draw parts of the picture using crayon or oil pastels. Unlike the rubber cement resist, the crayon will remain after the watercolors are added. Draw the main parts of the picture with the crayon and use watercolor paints on the background. The crayon will repel the paints.

Watercolor Project

Brush water over the entire paper. Paint over the entire paper, allowing the colors to intermingle. Don’t work in any details. Lay plastic wrap over the paint. Wrinkled plastic wrap is perfect. The plastic wrap will print into the paper.

Allow the paint to dry completely – this will take longer than usual because of the plastic. Remove the plastic wrap and use a sponge brush to lift paint within some of the creases. Use colored pencils to define some of the creases.

Each time, when finished painting, allow cake paints to dry thoroughly before closing the cover. Tube paints can remain on a palette; let them dry out and store flat. When ready for the next project, just add water to the colors. Liquid watercolors can be poured into their original container. Explore with these different types of watercolor paints or try watercolor pencils for more controlled effects.

Learn to Draw

Learn to Draw & Paint with Watercolors – Kids Ages 5 – 10

Teach your Child to Draw & Paint Landscapes using Watercolors:
You can now take it to the next level and introduce your child to watercolors. You can teach your child how to draw and paint landscapes with watercolor paints. Start off by teaching your child about perspective. A good time to do this is when you are outside. Show your child that objects in the distance appear smaller than when they are close up. It would be good if you could also show your child some paintings that display perspective, and allow them to see how artists demonstrate this.
To start out, you will need heavy weight water color paper which you can get at any arts and craft store. You will also need a selection of brushes. Try to get at least one wide brush about 2 inches, this can be used for filling in large details, and one fine point brush for outlining shapes and filling in finer details. You can also use a sponge for filling in backgrounds
Step 1:When drawing and painting landscapes, tell your child to take a photograph of the landscape he/she wishes to create. This could be one of your existing photographs, or an image your chold found in a book. Either way ensure your child has their image in front of them while they are painting. Have your child start off by sketching in the horizon line where the sky meets the ground. Now  your child can loosely sketch in the details e.g. trees, animals, houses etc. Now wet a sponge and lightly cover the entire paper with water before applying the paint. If too much water is applied simply remove with tissue.
Step 2:
Your child can now examine their paint and decide which colors they need for their painting. Allow them to experiment and mix colors to achieve a wider variety of shades. Water each color down slightly with some clean water. You can decide whether to use masking materials such as tape or ink to fill in the details your child has outlined, these can be peeled off at a later stage to leave these areas free from paint. Your child should have a shade of blue for the sky, don’t be afraid to use plenty of paint as it will be diluted once it is applied to the paper.
Now advise your child to apply the paint to the top of their paper/canvas using a sponge or large brush. They should apply the paint liberally all the way down to the horizon line. Repeat this for the ground working their way up to the horizon line. Now your child’s page/canvas should have color applied all over. Tell your child to leave their paper enough time to dry out and not to worry if it looks messy at this stage.

Step 3:
Watercolors are built in layers so once the paper is dry your child can paint in the shapes he/she has previously outlined. Your child can now add another layer to the sky and the ground until they resemble the photograph/image. Be sure your child keeps looking at the image as they paint. Your child now has their very first watercolor. Celebrate with your child by displaying it in your home. You can even get it framed.
Don’t allow your child to be discouraged if they are not happy with the final image. The only way for your child to improve is through practice. It is important to inspire children to continue and improve their creative skills rather than giving up. Give advice the next time, encouraging your child, while pointing out where they can improve. For example, point out that watercolors don’t allow for many intricate details, but more general strokes.
How to quickly print these notes and guidelines:
Use your mouse to highlight all of  text that you want to print out.  Then copy/paste that text into a text-only editor on your computer. For example, Notepad, a common text editor included with all versions of Microsoft Windows, and found in Start, All Programs, Accessories. Then click on “File” in the top left corner of the Notepad document,

Vincent van Gogh Biography - His Life and Times

	1853
	Vincent Willem van Gogh is born on March 30, 1853, in Zundert, in the south of the Netherlands, as the oldest son of Theodorus van Gogh, a preacher and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Four years later, in 1857,Vincent's favorite brother, Theodorus (Theo), is born.
	1869
	At the age of 16, in July 1869, Vincent starts an apprenticeship at Goupil & Cie, international art dealers with headquarters in Paris. He works in the Hague at a branch gallery established by his uncle Vincent. In August 1872, from the Hague, Vincent begins writing letters to Theo. Their correspondence continues for almost 18 years. Theo accepts a position at Goupil's in January 1873, working in Brussels before his transfer to the Hague a few months later. Vincent van Gogh at age of 13.
	1873
	In June 1873, Vincent is moved to Goupil in London. Daily contact with works of art kindles his appreciation of paintings and drawings. He admires the realistic paintings of peasant life by Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton. Gradually Vincent loses interest in his work and turns to the Bible. He is transferred to Paris, to London and Paris again, to then be dismissed from Goupil's in March 1876. Driven by a growing desire to help his fellow man, he decides to become a clergyman. Vincent van Gogh at age of 19.
	1876
	Vincent returns to England in 1876 to work as a teacher and assistant preacher at a boarding school. In November, Van Gogh delivers his first sermon. His interest in evangelical Christianity and ministering to the poor becomes obsessional. Due to a lack of professional perspectives, he returns to Amsterdam in 1877. When he is refused admittance in theology school, Vincent briefly enters a missionary school near Brussels and in December 1878 leaves for the Borinage, a coal-mining area in southern Belgium, to work as a lay preacher. Vincent identifies with the miners, sleeping on the floor and giving away his belongings. His extreme commitment draws disfavor from the church and he is dismissed.
	1880
	Vincent's desire to be useful, transforms into the wish to become an artist while still be in God's service. He writes: "To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture." Vincent moves to Brussels and studies independently, sometimes assisted by Dutch artist Anthon van Rappard. Because Vincent has no livelihood, Theo, who is at Goupil's Paris branch, supports him. He did this regularly until the end of Vincent's life. Because of that, Vincent considers his work as the fruit of their combined efforts.
	1881-1882
	When he decides to become an artist, nobody could have guessed his immense talent. With surprising speed, the clumsy but enthousiastic apprentice develops a strong artistic personality with his color effects and simple but unforgettable compositions. At his parents' house in Etten, he refines his drawing techniques. Vincent leaves at the end of 1881 to rent a studio in La Hague.Vincent makes his first independent watercolor and painted studies in the summer of 1882. His uncle Cornelis van Gogh commissions him to produce 12 views of The Hague.
	1883-1884
	In September 1883 Vincent travels to the province of Drenthe in the northeastern Netherlands. He paints the landscape and peasants, but lonely and lacking proper materials, he soon leaves for Nuenen, in Brabant, to live with his parents. Following in the footsteps of Millet and Breton, by 1884 Vincent resolves to be a painter of peasant life. Tensions develop when Vincent accuses Theo of not making a sincere enough effort to sell the paintings Vincent has begun to send him. Theo admonishes Vincent that his darkly colored paintings are not in the current Parisian style, where Impressionist artists are now using a bright palette. In 1885, Vincent completes the Potato Eaters, his first large-scale composition and first masterpiece. The potato Eaters / 1885 / Oil on canvas.
	1885
	After a long stay in the countryside of Brabant, Vincent leaves the Netherlands for the Belgian city of Antwerp in November 1885. He will never return to his native country. Van Gogh is invigorated by Antwerp's urbaneness: "I find here the friction of ideas I want." He has access to better art supplies and is exposed to the collections of Dutch and Belgian art. Among the exotic goods entering Europe through Antwerp are Japanese woodblock prints, which Vincent starts to collect. In January 1886, Vincent enrolls in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp but he withdraws within two months.
	1886
	In early 1886, Vincent moves in with Theo in Montmartre. It is a crucial period of development for his painting style. Theo, who manages the Montmartre branch of Goupil's (now called Boussod, Valadon & Cie), acquaints Vincent with the works of Claude Monet and other Impressionists. Now he sees for himself how the Impressionists handle light and color, and treat the town and country themes. He begins to meet the city's modern artists, including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Camille Pissarro. Vincent's Paris work is an effort to assimilate the influences around him; his palette becomes brighter, his brushwork more broken. Like the Impressionists, Vincent takes his subjects from the city's cafés and boulevards, and the open countryside along the Seine River. Through Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, he discovers the stippling technique of Pointillism "What is required in art nowadays," he writes, "is something very much alive, very strong in color, very much intensified." Unable to afford models to perfect his skills, Vincent turns to his own image: "I deliberately bought a good mirror so that if I lacked a model I could work from my own likeness." He paints at least 20 self-portraits in Paris. His experiments in style and color can be read in the series. The earliest are executed in the grays and browns of his Brabant period; these dark colors soon give way to yellows, reds, greens, and blues, and his brushwork takes on the disconnected stroke of the Impressionists. To his sister he writes: "My intention is to show that a variety of very different portraits can be made of the same person." One of the last portraits Vincent paints in Paris, Self-Portrait as an Artist, is a dramatic illustration of his personal and artistic identity. Vincent regularly paints outdoors in Asnières, a village near Paris where the Impressionists often set up their easels. Later, he writes to his sister Wil: "And when I painted the landscape in Asnières this summer, I saw more colors there than ever before."
	1887
	Among his new friends Vincent counts the painters he refers to as the "artists of the Petit Boulevard" -- Toulouse-Lautrec, Signac, Bernard, and Louis Anquetin-artists who are younger and not as famous as the Impressionists. He organizes a group show of his and his friends' paintings at a Paris restaurant. The artists often gather at Père Tanguy's paint shop, where Vincent regularly sees Gauguin. Tanguy, who generously advances supplies to many young artists, occasionally displays Vincent's paintings in his store window. Vincent buys Japanese prints and studies them intensively. He arranges an exhibition of Japanese woodcuts at a Paris café and his own work takes on the stylized contours and expressive coloration of his Japanese examples.
	1888
	In early 1888, Vincent leaves for Provence in the south of France: "It appears to me to be almost impossible to work in Paris." He rents a studio in Arles, the "Yellow House," and invites Paul Gauguinto join him. In anticipation of his arrival, Vincent paints still lifes of sunflowers to decorate Gauguin's room. Paul describes the paintings as "completely Vincent." Inspired by the bright colors and strong light of Provence, Vincent executes painting after painting in his own powerful language. "I am getting an eye for this kind of country," he writes to Theo. Whereas in Paris his works covered a large range of subjects and techniques, the Arles paintings are consistent in approach. Vincent enters a period of immense creative activity. He has little to distract him from his painting, for he knows almost no one: "Whole days go by without my speaking a single word to anyone." He befriends the local postman, Joseph Roulin, and paints portraits of his entire family. Captivated by the spectacle of spring in Provence, Vincent paints the blossoming fruit trees and later, in summer, scenes of rural life. He paints outdoors, often in a single long session: "Working directly on the spot all the time, I tried to grasp what is essential." He identifies each season and subject with specific colors: "The orchards stand for pink and white, the wheatfields for yellow." Color also becomes an expressive, emotional tool. For "Bedroom in Arles", he depicts his room with a stark simplicity, using uniform patches of complimentary orange and blue, yellow and violet, red and green. To Gauguin he writes: "I wanted all these different colors to express a totally restful feeling." Gauguin finally arrives in Arles in October, painting and discussing art for nine weeks with Vincent. Paul makes a portrait of Vincent in front of one of his sunflower canvases, which Vincent describes as "certainly me, but me gone mad." Paul Gauguin / Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers / 1888 / Oil on canvas Personal tensions grow between the two men. In December, Vincent experiences a psychotic episode in which he threatensGauguin with a razor and later cuts off a piece of his own left ear. He is admitted to a hospital in Arles and stays there through January of 1889. Theo, in Paris, marries Johanna Bonger in the spring.
	1889
	After his discharge from the hospital in Arles, he voluntarily admits himself to the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy, 15 miles from Arles. He attributes his breakdown to excessive alcohol and tobacco, giving up neither. Fearful of a relapse, in May 1889 he writes: "I wish to remain shut up as much for my own peace of mind as for other people's." The admitting physician notes that Vincent suffers from "acute mania with hallucinations of sight and hearing." Although subject to intermittent attacks, Vincent converts an adjacent cell into a studio, where he produces 150 paintings. Vincent paints the world he sees from his room, deleting the bars that obscure his view. In the hospital's walled garden he paints irises, lilacs, and ivy-covered trees. Later he is allowed to venture farther afield, and he paints the wheatfields, olive groves, and cypress trees of the surrounding countryside. The imposed regimen of asylum life gives Vincent a hard-won stability. When losing the confidence to execute original works, Vincent regains his bearings by painting copies after his favorite artists, including Millet, Rembrandt and Delacroix. He makes more than twenty copies of Millet's peasant scenes, and reinvents Delacroix's Pieta, in which the bearded Christ bears some resemblance to himself. After one particularly violent attack, in which he tries to poison himself by swallowing paint, Vincent is forced to restrict himself to drawing. While in Arles and Saint-Rémy, Vincent sends his canvases to Theo in Paris. Despite his illness, he paints one masterwork after another, including Irises, Cypresses, and The Starry Night. Theo encourages his brother: "They have an intensity of color you have not attained before . . . but you have gone even further than that. . . . I see that you have achieved in many of your canvases . . . the quintessence of your thoughts about nature and living beings." Others are beginning to notice Vincent's work, too. The progressive Belgian artists' group "Les Vingt" includes six of his paintings in their 1890 exhibition. When Vincent exhibits recent work at the Salon des Indépendants - two canvases in 1889 and ten in 1890 - friends in Paris assure him of their success. "Many artists think your work has been the most striking at the exhibition," writes Gauguin. Theo's son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, is born in January 1890.
	1890
	After his long period of confinement at Saint-Rémy, Vincent leaves for Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris in May 1890. Though removed from the immoderate pace of life in Paris, he is close enough that he can easily visit Theo. Vincent places himself in the care of Paul Gachet, a homeopathic physician and himself an amateur painter. Vincent warms to Gachet immediately, writing to Theo that he had "found a perfect friend in Dr. Gachet, something like another brother." Gachet advises Vincent to concentrate entirely on his painting. Vincent paints portraits of his new acquaintances and the surrounding landscape, including nearby wheatfields and the garden of the painter Daubigny. Working with great intensity, he produces nearly a painting a day over the next two months. Vincent briefly enjoys a peaceful, mentally stable period. In early July Vincent visits Theo in Paris. Theo is considering setting up his own business, and he warns Vincent that they will all have to tighten their belts. Strongly affected by Theo's dissatisfaction, Vincent grows increasingly tense: "My life is also threatened at the very root, and my steps are also wavering." On July 27, 1890, Vincent walks to a wheatfield and shoots himself in the chest. He stumbles back to his lodging, where he dies two days later, on July 29, with Theo at his side. He is buried in Auvers on July 30. Among the mourners are Lucien Pissarro, Emile Bernard, and Père Tanguy. Bernard describes how Vincent's coffin is covered with yellow flowers, "his favorite color . . . . Close by, too, his easel, his camp stool, and his brushes had been placed on the ground beside the coffin." Vincent and Theo van Gogh's grave site: Auvers-sur-Oise, France Vincent's paintings are left to Theo, but his true legacy will be realized in his powerful influence on artists of the twentieth century. Theo holds a memorial exhibition of Vincent's paintings in September 1890 in his Paris apartment. His own health suffers a precipitous decline, and on January 25, 1891, Theo dies. His widow returns to the Netherlands with their infant son and her husband's legacy, the collection of Vincent's paintings. After Johanna's death in 1925 the collection is inherited by her son, Vincent Willem van Gogh (1890-1978). On the initiative of the Dutch state, which pledges to build a museum devoted to Van Gogh, Vincent Willem van Gogh, in 1962, transfers the works he owns to the newly formed Vincent van Gogh Foundation. Construction of the museum building, designed by the modernist Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld, begins in 1969. The museum officially opens its doors in 1973. Since then, the building houses the largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, on loan from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. Temporary Exhibitions : USA - New York Museum of Modern Art - Van Gogh's Postman: The Portraits of Joseph Roulin February 1, 2001 - May 15, 2001. USA - St Louis (Missouri) The Saint Louis Art Museum - Vincent Van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard February 17, 2001 - May 13, 2001. USA - Norfolk (Virginia) Chrysler Museum of Art - Vincent van Gogh in Paris: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum April 12, 2001 - July 15, 2001. USA - Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago - Van Gogh & Gauguin : the “Studio of the South” September 22, 2001 - January 13, 2002. NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam Van Gogh's Museum - Drawings from Antwerp and Paris, 1885-1888 September 28, 2001 - January 06, 2002. NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam Van Gogh's Museum - Van Gogh & Gauguin : the “Studio of the South” February 9, 2002 - June 2, 2002. Major exhibitions in both Amsterdam and Otterlo (The Netherlands) are planned for 2003 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth. Permanent Exhibitions : Van Gogh's Museum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo - The Netherlands Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - USA Musée d'Orsay, Paris - France   PAINTINGS OF VAN GOGH