This is a final project I did in a college art class in 2000. I know a lot of people feel there is so much more to Van Gogh than Starry Night, but I love that piece. I studied more on Van Gogh since I found him compelling. I wanted to do something with mixed media. Inspired by a film we watched in class on his life, this is what I came up with. I received an A+ on the project. Following is a explanation of the three panels I did encompassing Vincent's life. The first is for his early life, the second for his time in Paris, the third for the end of his life.


To construct this triptych, I printed out images and text off of the internet about Vincent. I also included, split into three's, the words of Don McClean's song, Vincent, long one of my favorites. The first panel signifies his early life as a troubled young man.The picture of him overlayed on the headstone is because he had an older brother who was stillborn the year before he was born. He was given the exact same name, Vincent Willem, as his dead brother and it seems it would haunt one although there is no evidence that Vincent knew much about him. Throughout his life, he wrote many letters and included 'letter sketches', drawings interspersed within the text, often to his beloved younger brother, Theo. I have included one of a church indicating his wish to become a clergyman, although he studied to be one, it never came to pass. The sketch of the bridge was made when he was only 9 years old, an indication of how talented he was from an early age.


The second panel of the triptych represents Vincent's days in Paris. He would live it up drinking and carousing in the restaurants, cafes & bars. He was reported to have been happiest here. His self-portrait I included on the right was in more cheerful colors than some of his other works. The painting to the far right was one of the establishments he frequented. The lower center painting is a view of Paris out of Vincent's apartment window. The letter sketch to the left of it is a Parisian street scenes.On the lower right is a letter sketch of one of the houses he occupied.
The third and final panel is just that, the final part of Vincent's life. Upper left is a letter sketch he made of a church graveyard, lower right, a death's-head moth. The lower middle picture is of his stark cell in the mental asylum he was confined to. The bleak look of the cell belies the fact that he was actually comfortable here with soothing baths and it appeared it may have helped him. He was plagued by mental problems and health problems also. He died at an early age. In the center is his painting of a pair of empty shoes, a fitting visual companion for a photo of the Van Gogh brother's graves. All their lives Vincent and Theo were very close and after death reunited in neighboring graves. Even though they were 4 years apart in age, Theo died just months after Vincent, as if he could not bear living on an earth without his brother.

As you may have guessed, once I affixed the computer print outs, (printed on cream colored stock), I used oil pastel crayons to attempt, (and I use the word attempt loosely) to recreate Starry Night behind them. If you notice the odd shapes, these were taken with a digital camera as the artwork was too large to scan. Unfortunately it is hanging in a part of the house that is impossible to get a close up straight on view.
Well there it is, my view of the life of Vincent Van Gogh. It just barely touches the surface of a person who only lived a short period of time, but left a legacy he never dreamed of in his art.