As you know, “The Red Vineyard” at Arles is the only masterpiece sold during van Gogh’s short 10 years of living as an artist. The letters of Vincent Van Gogh’s last date was near the end of July 1890, sent from Auvers-sur-Oise of France, addressed to his brother Theo.
Here, in his last three months, van Gogh finished 77 pieces. Even his most beloved “Thatched Cottages at Cordeville” was painted at Auvers. July 27th, Gogh shoots himself, and dies on the 29th (37 years old). Theo himself is to die of dementia paralytica on January 25th, 1891 (33 years old). My heart breaks…
I plan to visit Auvers soon. It’s about an hour and half by bus or train from Paris.
A few years ago, I went around mediterranean countries such as Italy, Croatia and Montenegro on a cruise ship. I was a guest of the ship’s orchestra member (therefore everything was free).
Because of that, my cabin was at the bottom of the ship, no window, and when the ship departed at night, the deafening engine blasted throughout the room and shook it to pieces. However, since it was only for sleep, I had no problem with that… Anyways, such cities, with shadows of the middle ages still remaining, was earnestly worthy of the word beautiful.
I wish to paint Europe’s scenery for a bit. Below oil painting is the scenery of the quiet south France village, my first attempt on the small F0 Canvas. I thought that smaller size meant easier to complete, but soon I realized that I could have never been more wrong.
御存知の通り、「赤い葡萄畑」がゴッホの僅か10年という短い画家生活で生存中に売れた唯一の作品である。「ゴッホの手紙」の最後の日付が1890年７月下旬で、フランスのオーヴェル・シュル・オワーズから弟のテオに宛てている。
ゴッホはここで彼の最後の３か月間に77点の作品を描き上げた。あの最も愛されている「Thatched Cottages at Cordeville」（「コーデヴィルの藁葺小屋」<- 題は私の直訳です。正式な邦題を御存知の方がいらしたら教えてください）もオーヴェルで描かれている。
7月27日、ゴッホは自分の胸をピストルで撃ち、29日に亡くなった（37歳）。テオは翌年の１月25日に病気で逝去（33歳）。胸が張り裂ける… 近々、オーヴェルを訪れようと思う。パリから電車かバスで約１時間半のところにある。
Venice（ヴェニス）
それにしても中世の面影を残すそれらの街は実に美しかった。ヨーロッパの風景を少し描いてみたいなと思う。上の絵はF0号の小さいキャンバスに最初に試みた油絵の南フランスの静かな村の風景だ。描く面積が小さければそれだけ楽だろうと思ったのは大間違いだった。
