The magnificent Van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery in London which closed at the weekend has been visited by almost 300,000 visitors, the most in the gallery’s history. Conceived as the culmination of the gallery’s 200th birthday celebrations, it ended with a spectacular all night viewing before the last day. Evidence, if it were needed, that love for Vincent is still strong.
Van Gogh’s paintings were energised by colour. His is a more powerful form of reality because of his intense reverence for colour and nature. Many parallels can be seen with the work of the contemporary British artist and indisputable National Treasure, David Hockney. Hockney has always expressed an affinity with and admiration for Van Gogh and his approach to painting what he saw,
“Just looking. That’s an important thing I share with Vincent Van Gogh: we both really, really enjoy looking at the world”
Van Gogh & Hockney’s fascination with colour took off when they moved to different locations - The South of France for Vincent in the 1880s, California for Hockney in the 1960s. Invigorated by these new places, both artists began to use colour as the guiding principle to describe their experiences of the world around them.
Both artists rejected the Renaissance traction of creating depth in paintings through the use of linear perspective. Hockney has written extensively about the restrictions this approach imposes. We bring to the world far more than just a linear rigid view. Our vision is suffused with memory, time and experience.
"We see with memory. My memory is different from yours, so if we are both standing in the same place we’re not quite seeing the same thing There’s no objective vision ever – ever.”
For both Van Gogh and Hockney, there is no gap between art and life. Each artist embraces both equally and voraciously. Their paintings of nature encourage us to be true to ourselves, to retain a wide-eyed, even child-like sense of wonder about the world and our capacity see the beauty in it. A call to be curious, to pay attention, to embrace the new.
My new talk explores and celebrates the parallels in art and life between Van Gogh and Hockney. As we approach the arrival of another Spring, a time of wonder and joy for both artists, I hope you can make it to one of the dates.
** Thursday 27th February, 10.30am
Penton Mewsey Village Hall
£10 including refreshments
** Thursday 20th March, 7.30pm
Abbotts Ann Village Hall
£10 including a glass of wine
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