Van Gogh, despite his fame, was by no means a master of his art. This first became apparent to me during my first visit. I had always enjoyed his work, but essentially from afar. Seeing work that spans the entire career of an artist provides the means to really "get" him/her. Last year l was most struck by the technical flaws: perspective problems in still lifes, impossible points of view and misshapen body parts in portraits, etc. This year I focused on the influence of the post impressionists, especially the pointillists, on his work. Van Gogh's color palette brightened drastically after he moved to Paris: and he very successfully integrated pointillism into his own emotional and very tactile painting style.
The Rijksmuseum was surprisingly quite fascinating. The work of the Dutch and Flemish masters is so detailed you want to reach into the canvas. People look alive and glowing. Fruit glistens in intricately painted porcelain bowls. Dutch aristocrats apparently had enormous foreheads.
Thank you for indulging in my amateurish musings. More to come.
-Eric
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