Bulletin

Issue: April 2006

News

Challenging the van Gogh 'troubled genius' industry

The Managing Curator of La Trobe University's Art Museum, Mr Vincent Alessi, has found himself in an unexpected position as he nears completion of his PhD research on Vincent van Gogh.

It never entered his head when he began his PhD research five years ago that he would find himself challenging what he calls the 'van Gogh troubled genius industry'.

Mr Alessi says that this 'industry' stems from two sources. One is the strong emphasis by writers, art historians and film makers on negative aspects of the Dutch painter's troubled life – he sold only one painting during his lifetime, he was always broke, he had no friends, he cut off part of his ear, he spent time in a psychiatric hospital – all of which are quite factual.

'The other source is the widespread belief that he had an inherent genius for painting. This is certainly not correct. He did not work in a vacuum and, like many painters, developed his skills from a number of sources,' Mr Alessi said.

Mr Alessi came to his conclusion that the 'troubled genius' portrayal of van Gogh was not strictly accurate after investigating one of these sources. This is the artist's collection of black and white popular prints he personally clipped from mainly English newspapers, and their influence on his paintings.

He believes that the collection of about 2,000 prints, cut from papers including The Illustrated London News and The Graphic Weekly, greatly assisted van Gogh to improve his techniques. Far from being a natural genius, he had to learn painstakingly his craft like any painter.

Mr Alessi's PhD research consists of cataloguing the 1,400 surviving prints of wood block illustrations which van Gogh mounted on thin cardboard between 1881 and 1885 and investigating how they were used to improve his painting technique.

Although approximately 1,400 prints still exist, there are many others that were mentioned by van Gogh in his letters that have been lost.

'By analysing the letters I wish to list all the prints that van Gogh mentions. Furthermore, I wish to recreate the 18 folios that van Gogh used to categorise his collection, the first time that this has been done. Once this recreation is complete I will analyse the collection for recurring motifs and themes.

'From this I can draw conclusions on what van Gogh collected and hopefully it will lead to a more thorough understanding of the role English prints played in van Gogh's development.'

Staff at the van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam where the surviving prints are housed, have welcomed Mr Alessi's project as the prints have never been formally catalogued and their effect on the artist's work – particularly its thematic aspects – formally investigated.

Most of the cuttings were 'social realist' in nature in that they illustrated the social ills of society towards the end of the Industrial Revolution. They depicted street urchins, the homeless and poor, and mining and industrial scenes.

Van Gogh, who came from a middle class family, had spent several years in England and could read and write English as well as Dutch, French and German – but he had no real education in art, having had only one month of formal art training.

Having failed in an attempt to become a clergyman, van Gogh tried to get a job as a draughtsman on a newspaper and began collecting the woodcut illustrations with a view to improving his draughting skills.

'I have been able to illustrate that he subsequently used some of these prints as a kind of “template” to help him in areas of painting where he initially lacked skill,' Mr Alessi said.

'For example, in his early days as a painter he did not have trouble illustrating individual figures but he did struggle composing groups of figures. I believe he used his print collection to improve his technique, reconstructing the actual structure of the prints into his paintings.'

Mr Alessi said that van Gogh and his work started out as one of his art interests but for the past 15 years it had dominated his life.

He has visited Amsterdam three times over the past five years for his PhD thesis research which he will submit towards end of 2006. His supervisor is La Trobe Art History senior lecturer, Dr Richard Haese.