荷兰大师 梵高传

Step by step, film maker Paul Molijn traces the life of the famous master Vincent van Gogh. We see the current surroundings of the places where the artist lived and worked, alternated with drawings and paintings he made there. Vincent van Gogh was born in the Dutch village of Zundert on March 30, 1853, The family consisted of three daughters and two sons. Between Vincent and his brother Theo there would always be an exceptionally strong bond. After secondary school, Vincent wanted to study theology. However, he wasn’t accepted and ended up in the poor, dismal mining area of the Borinage. Here, in 1880, he finally decided to embark on a career as a painter. In 1881, after the bleak period in the Borinage, Vincent returned to his birthplace Zundert. In the surrounding countryside he drew and painted still lifes, farm workers and landscapes. He then went to The Hague, to capture the spirit of the age. At the time, the political capital was the centre of Dutch painting. After short stays in the small village of Zweeloo and in Nieuw-Amsterdam, Vincent returned to his parents, who now lived in Nuenen. This is where Vincent painted his best-known work, The Potato Eaters. In November 1885, Vincent rather suddenly left for Antwerp, from where he subsequently made the leap to a really cosmopolitan city: Paris. From one day to the next, he discovered a completely different lifestyle, and also fell under the spell of Japanese art. In 1888, Vincent travelled to Arles in the south of France, in search of the colour and warmth of the Provence. Although he only spent 15 months there, it was an exceptionally productive period. But Vincent began to suffer from severe depressions and hallucinations, and after a voluntary stay in the psychiatric clinic of St. Remy-de-Provence, where he painted, among other works, The Olive Pickers, he returned to the north. He’d been referred to Auvers-sur-Oise, where he could rely on the support of physician and art connoisseur Dr. Gachet. But then fate struck. On July 27, 1890, behind the Castle of Auvers, Vincent injured himself with a firearm. Two days later, in the company of his brother Theo and several acquaintances, at the age of 37, he breathed his last breath. Vincent van Gogh left behind more than 1900 paintings and drawings. The man who is now a world-famous master and considered a genius hardly sold any work during his lifetime. Now his painting are worth millions. This documentary depicts the life of Vincent van Gogh: a life that can be called, mildly put, remarkable.