Vincent Willem Van Gogh

1. Муниципальное общеобразовательное учреждение
« Средняя общеобразовательная школа № 25 с углублённым изучением отдельных
предметов»






Project Work
“Famous Artists”
(Vincent Willem van Gogh)




Выполнила:
Шашева А.(10с)
Преподаватель:
Ямбаева Н.И.


Сыктывкар 2009

2. Contents:
1. Vincent Willem van Gogh. Biography
2. “Sunflowers”
3. New words
4. Sources of information

3. Vincent Willem van Gogh
I would like to tell you about Vincent Willem van Gogh. He was born on the 30
th
of
March 1853 and died on the 29
th
of July in 1890. He was a Dutch Post-impressionist painter
whose work had a far reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colours and emotional
impact. Vincent Van Gogh suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental
illness throughout his life, and died largely unknown, at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound.
Now I’ll tell you about his childhood. As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and
thoughtful. He attended the Zundert village school. From 1861, he and his sister Anna were
taught at home by a governess, until the 1st October 1864, when he went away to the
elementary boarding school of Jan Provily in Zevenbergen. In March 1868, Van Gogh abruptly
left school and returned home. A later comment on his early years was that his youth was
gloomy and cold and sterile...
In July 1869, his uncle helped him to obtain a position with the art dealer in the Hague.
After his training, in June 1873, he was transferred to London. Thanks to such a job Vincent Van
Gogh began to understand painting and to appreciate it. This was a happy time for Van Gogh;
he was successful at work and was already, at the age of 20, earning more than his father. In
1876 he returned to England for unpaid work. He took a position of a supply teacher in a small
boarding school overlooking the harbour. He was sent for half a year as the missionary in one
poor miner's area in the south of Belgium. In 1880s Vincent Van Gogh was fond of art. He
visited The Academy of Art in Brussels. The pictures of this period were written in dark colours,
they showed people’s suffering.
In 1886 – 1888 the artist lived in Paris. There he started to paint in bright and pure
colours. For example, in 1887 he painted “Bridges across the Seine”, which is located in State
Museum of Vincent Van Gogh now.
In 1888 Vincent Van Gogh moved to Arles, where the peculiarity of his creation formed
definitely.
He moved to the town with thoughts of founding a Utopian art colony. His works of this
period were richly draped in yellow, ultramarine and mauve. His portrayals of the Arles
landscape were informed by his Dutch upbringing; the patchwork of fields and avenues
appeared flat and lack perspective, but excellent in their intensity of colour.
The most famous paintings by Vincent Van Gogh are landscapes, such as “The Starry
Night” , “The Church at Auvers”,” Starry Night Over the Rhone”,” Olive Trees with the Alpilles in
the Background”; portraits, such as “The Portrait of Dr.Gache”, “The Portrait of Madam
Trabuck”, “The Portrait of postman Joseph Roulin” and his self-portraits.

4. “Sunflowers”
And now I would like to tell you about the series of paintings “Sunflowers”, which were
painted in Arles in 1888. Vincent Van Gogh painted 4 versions of sunflowers then. They are
located in different art galleries now. Then, in 1889 he painted three repetitions of the 3d and
the 4
th
versions.
But I’ll tell you about the painting “The Vase with 15 Sunflowers” which was painted in
august of 1888 in Arles. Now this painting by Vincent van Gogh is located in the National Gallery
of London.
“The Vase with 15 Sunflowers” is a still life painting. We can see 15 sunflowers on it. A
single colour – yellow-dominates “Sunflowers” making it a kind of a symphony in yellow. The
background is yellow and the flowers are tinged with brown and orange. They contrast with
each other. This contrast makes the sunflowers more vivid. The yellow colour determines the
whole mood of this painting. It is like a sickly splash of feelings before death. As for me, this
picture makes me feel sadness.
Different stages in the life cycle of the flower are shown in this painting. Some flowers
are not yet opened, other are heavy, in full bloom and ripe. But some flowers have drooped
and wilted, they have begun to die. I think Vincent van Gogh wanted to show us how short-
lived is beauty and that everything in this world isn’t eternal.

5. New words:
1. Impact – удар, толчок; воздействие, влияние.
2. Bout – приступ(болезни)
3. Frequent – частый
4. Abruptly – внезапно
5. Miner – шахтёр
6. Mauve – розовато-лиловый

6. Sources of information:
1. www.wikipedia.org
2. http://vangogh-world.ru/