This article discusses the historical and art-historical literature read by Vincent van Gogh on the subject of the Dutch seventeenth century, which formed the basis of his view of individual artists. While it can be read independently, it is also intended to frame the other articles in this thematic issue, each of which delves into Van Gogh's relationship with a particular painter. His intensive study of seventeenth-century art was made possible by the popularization of literature on the subject, the easy availability of print reproductions, and the increasing accessibility of collections in museums. For the first time, the general public could lay claim to their history. Van Gogh did so too. He was very selective when it came to historical literature. What most interested him was the resilience and sobriety the texts ascribed to the seventeenth-century Dutch. The art-historical literature that most appealed to him included the popular books Les musees d'Hollande (1858-1860) by Theophile Thore-Burger and Les maitres d'autrefois (1876) by Eugene Fromentin. In their view, what made Dutch art so innovative was its unprecedentedly realistic depiction of the everyday life and surroundings in a new society of free citizens. The refined powers of observation and absolute mastery of technical means, such as drawing, use of colour, brushwork, distribution of light and dark, and composition, meant that the best painters were able to imbue that simple reality with universal value. In the eyes of influential contemporary art critics such as Thore and Fromentin, this made seventeenth-century Dutch painting an excellent example for modern art. Van Gogh adapted these ideas to the debate surrounding Realism as it unfolded in Dutch art criticism between around 1865 and 1880. In this way, he laid the foundations for his own conception of art, in which Realism was central, but Romantic ideas of individual expression also had a role to play. As he saw it, the deep-rooted observation of the simple life lay at the basis of art, which had to be capable of conveying that profound and personal experience to the viewer, lending it the power to console.
Summary Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) looked to Rembrandt van Rijn’s (1609–1669) artistic persona and drew from it according to his own needs as an artist and individual. His interest extended from a self-compassionate desire to create a meaningful connection with Rembrandt and evolved through experiences that were both serendipitous and consciously organized. As Van Gogh learned more about Rembrandt’s works, he made transtemporal connections. This article navigates Van Gogh’s experiences, expressed in his letters and one contemporary account, and examines how the associative nature of Van Gogh’s memory relates to his creative process. Van Gogh found in Rembrandt what he needed at different moments in his life. He cited Rembrandt as his artistic ancestor when he felt required to defend his decision to become an artist. He admired the way Rembrandt depicted natural light, in paintings and prints. He also felt a strong sense of connection, initially with Rembrandt’s religious subjects, and towards the end of his life with how Rembrandt presented the human form. Determined to sort out the kind of painted surfaces he wanted to create, he closely examined Rembrandt’s paintings. Van Gogh regarded Rembrandt as a precedent for his own ambitious endeavors. Van Gogh consciously created opportunities to study Rembrandt’s work, or what was considered to be so, in collections in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and England. He was delighted to receive reproductions of Rembrandt’s prints from his brother Theo, and to share them with other members of his family. Van Gogh read extensively about Rembrandt, in the work of leading contemporary writers including Blanc, Thoré-Bürger, and Fromentin, although he did not simply adopt their views. His letters reveal his capacity to internalize their ideas, and carry Rembrandt’s works in his own visual memory, where he would process and integrate his experiences, sometimes for years before another encounter stimulated Van Gogh to make new connections across time. Van Gogh’s interest in Rembrandt reveals the associative nature of his memory. It also demonstrates Van Gogh’s desire to foster a meaningful connection with the life and works of Rembrandt, from whom Van Gogh acquired a profound sense of comfort and support.
By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) was known only within a small circle of artists and art lovers who admired the convincing depiction of nature by seventeenth-century Dutch painters. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was one of them. This article analyses the background to Van Gogh's admiration of Van Goyen's painting Landscape with two oaks (1641) based on his letters, the drawings and paintings he mentioned, and other nineteenth-century views of seventeenth-century painting. Van Gogh saw the work in early October 1885 at the recently opened Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The motif of the battered old tree in threatening weather conditions seems to have appealed to him so strongly because of the 'sentiment' he detected in it-a term understood as the emotions experienced by people who find themselves in dramatic situations. A second reason for his appreciation lay in Van Goyen's quick, loose painting technique, which Van Gogh viewed as an appropriate means of expressing an individual experience of reality, while simultaneously evoking a more universal sense of recognition. The distinctive tonal use of colour as well as the colour contrasts in Landscape with two oaks gave him the opportunity to apply the knowledge of colour theory he had acquired from the books of Charles Blanc. In this way, Van Goyen's painting offered confirmation of the topics that preoccupied Van Gogh around 1885. The transition from Neo-Classicism to Romanticism around 1800 also changed the notion of what it meant to be an artist. The view of art shifted towards aesthetic autonomy, in which it was the artist alone who set the conditions for the artwork. Art was increasingly seen as an alternative system of knowledge to the prevailing rationalism. By extension, with their ability to bestow meaning on reality through their sensitive perception and creativity, artists assumed crucial importance within a selfcreated world. Having been firmly shaped by these ideas about art and artistic practice, Van Gogh's vision of art, including his ideas on Van Goyen, grew entirely detached from that of the seventeenth century, even though neither he nor his contemporaries perceived it that way.
Like many of his contemporaries, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) held Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) in high regard. Unlike most of them, however, he never sought to imitate Vermeer directly. This article examines how Van Gogh's admiration nevertheless informed his thinking about art: what traces of his study of Vermeer's paintings can be identified in his theoretical reflections? Van Gogh is known with certainty to have been familiar with three works by Vermeer: View ofDelft (1660/1661), Woman in blue reading a letter (1662/1663), and The lacemaker (1669-1670). He was also well acquainted with the writings of the critic Theophile Thore-Burger (1807-1869). In Thore's account, Vermeer emerged as a painter with a varied oeuvre, who was also a technically gifted artist, a great colourist, and a great realist. It was precisely this latter combination of qualities that strongly appealed to Van Gogh. From 1883 onwards, Van Gogh immersed himself in colour theory and began experimenting with complementary colour contrasts. During this period, he came to see in Vermeer an example of a painter who used the optical effects of colour and paint texture to create a convincing impression of objects. The discovery of this painterly approach led to a second realisation, namely that colour could also function as an autonomous means of expression. Of the colour combinations frequently found in Vermeer's work, it was above all the pairing of warm yellow and cool blue that struck Van Gogh most forcefully, as evidenced by the repeated references in his letters. Only in the late 1880s did Van Gogh succeed in reconciling his views of colour as a mimetic instrument and as an expressive medium, once again with the help of Vermeer. In Arles, Van Gogh began to regard him as an artist who, through his personal artistic sensibility, was able to recognise the universal in the everyday reality, and managed to depict it, deploying the power of a limited but strong colour palette with great effectiveness. It was Vermeer's combination of realism, colourism, and artistic individuality that, for Van Gogh, gave rise to a sense of timeless value.
