Art of the Day: Van Gogh, The Stone Bench in the Asylum at Saint-Remy, 1889. Oil on canvas, 40.5 x 48.5 cm. MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo.
Art of the Day: Van Gogh, Self-Portrait, November-December 1888. Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm. Private collection.
Vincent van Gogh dedicated this portrait to Charles Laval, a fellow artist and mutual friend of Paul Gauguin. Laval, in exchange, sent Vincent a remarkable self-portrait set against an open window, which Vincent described in a letter to his brother Theo as "very self-assured, very distinguished."
Art of the Day: Van Gogh, Tarascon Stagecoach, 1888. Oil on canvas, 71.4 x 92.5 cm. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Art of the Day: Van Gogh, Still Life with Bible, October 1885. Oil canvas, 65.7 x 78.5 cm. Van Gogh Musuem, Amsterdam.
The Bible in this painting belonged to Vincent van Gogh's father, Dorus, who had been a pastor in the Dutch Reformed church before his death in March 1885. Vincent had a strained relationship with his father, and this painting is widely seen as the artist's attempt to comes to terms with his father's legacy. Next to the massive Bible, Vincent placed a small copy of Emile Zola's "La joie de vivre," a novel representing his own more modern worldview.
Today in Windsor, full construction begins on the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor & Detroit. The project will grow our economy, encourage increased trade and investment, and create good, well-paying jobs on both sides of the border.
Art of the Day: Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, September 1888. Oil on canvas, 28.5 × 36.3 in. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.
Before moving into the Yellow House in Arles, Vincent van Gogh found temporary lodging above the nearby Café de la Gare. Although he was friendly with the café’s owner, Joseph Ginoux, the two had argued over rent payments. "To revenge myself for paying him so much money for nothing," he told his brother Theo, "I offered to paint the whole of his rotten joint."
In Van Gogh's view of the The Night Café, Joseph Ginoux can be seen standing proudly beside the billiard table in his white coat and apron.
Vincent van Gogh, The Yellow House (The Street), September 1888. Oil on canvas, 72 x 91.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
In 1888, Vincent van Gogh rented four rooms in a dilapidated house on the place Lamartine in Arles, France. It was hardly the stuff of dreams, but to Vincent, it was paradise. Where others saw an interior of peeling whitewash, rough brick floors, and cramped rooms, Vincent saw a serene, churchlike space. "In this I can live and breathe, meditate and paint," he wrote. "I feel that I can make something lasting out of it."
