AN APPRECIATION: Vincent Van Gogh
(Part II The Paris Years)

Portrait of Van Gogh by Latrec

 Van Gogh only spent about two years in Paris.  However, iIt was an intense and formative period. The artist began with one style and emerged with a much different style. Along the way, he experimented with a variety of styles, incorporating ideas from others and developing new ones to form his own distinctive style.


The events of this period are not as well-documented as either the period that proceeded it or the period that followed. Much of what is known about Van Gogh's life and his thinking comes from the numerous letters that he exchanged with his brother Theo. Since Vincent was living together with Theo in Paris, there was no need to maintain such a correspondence during this period.


Theo had become the manager of an art gallery in Montmartre, then a village on the edge of Paris. It was a lively area, favored by avant garde artists and thinkers. The brothers at first inhabited Theo's apartment on Rue de Laval and then later moved to more spacious quarters on Rue Lepic with a panoramic view over the rooftops of Paris.


Shortly after arriving in Paris, Vincent enrolled in the studio of the painter Fernand Cormon. He would go there each day and work feverishly painting from live models and drawing from plaster casts. He would also travel around Paris, painting landscapes, still-lifes, scenes and portraits of friends.


More influential, however, were the artists that he met during this period. By this point, the Impressionists were no longer outcasts but rather had become popular stars of the art world. Indeed, in 1886, the Impressionists held their last group exhibition, which Vincent attended. Still, Theo kept a stock of Impressionist paintings at his gallery and gradually Vincent adopted a brighter palette and a more Impressionistic style.


Vincent became acquainted with a number of the Impressionists. Armand Guillaumin saw some of Van Gogh's works and invited him to visit his studio. Guillaumin liked Van Gogh but came to fear Van Gogh's temperamental outbursts.


Within the Impressionist circle, Camile Pissarro was known for his tolerance and ability to get along with anyone. Like Van Gogh, Pissarro often painted scenes of peasants and people laboring in the fields. Thus, the two had a common interest. Although Pissarro was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, at the time that he met Van Gogh he had converted to Pointillism, which also interested Van Gogh.


The father of Pointillism was Georges Seurat. Van Gogh met him at an exhibition. However, the artist who taught Pointillism to Van Gogh was Paul Signac. Vincent experimented with the style but eventually found that it was too confining to express his emotions.


Van Gogh met Signac at the paint shop of Julien “Pere” Tanguy. The shop offered pigments which Tanguy ground himself and which he often would exchange for a a finished painting. He also exhibited works by Paul Cezanne and other avant garde artists. In addition, Tanguy would let young artists exhibit their works in his shop. Naturally, it became popular with young avant garde artists.


Emile Bernard was one of the artists who frequented Tanguy's shop. Vincent may have known him from his time at Cormon's studio but in any event, they became close friends. Van Gogh organized an exhibition at the Grand-Bouillon restaurant of his paintings along with those of Bernard and other artists. The exhibition attracted some interest in the artist community but Vincent was forced to leave after he quarreled with the restaurant owner. Another exhibition organized by Vincent at the cabaret Au Tambourin also ended in failure.


One of Van Gogh's closet friends was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. He too been a fellow student at Cormon's studio and was a patron of Tanguy's shop. Although from much different backgrounds, both men knew what it was like to be a social outcast. 

Perhaps the artist who would play the largest role in Van Gogh's life was Paul Gauguin. Vincent met him through Theo who was exhibiting Gauguin's work in his gallery and Vincent came to idolize Gauguin. By this point, Gauguin had moved away from Impressionism towards a more symbolic approach to art. He counseled working from the imagination rather than trying to re-produce the image of an object or scene.


By 1887, Vincent envisioned the formation of a Port-Impressionist group including the various artists that he had met and become friends with in Paris. The artists could work together and exchange ideas with Vincent acting as a facilitator. This group would be physically centered at Theo's art gallery. Considering the disparity in these artists' styles and personalities, the idea was impractical and remained just a dream.


Still, by late 1887, Van Gogh had brought together the ideas that he had learned during his time in Paris and his style had pretty well developed into the style that is instantly recognizable as Van Gogh's.


Also, by this time, Vincent was thinking it was time to move on. Theo was devoted to his brother but he found it difficult to live with Vincent. In addition, Theo was planning to be married soon. Not wanting to be in the way, Vincent decided to embark on the next phase of his life and in February 1888 purchased a train ticket for the South of France.

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Click here for Part III (Triumph and Failure)

See our profiles of these other Post Impressionists
​Emile Bernard

​Paul Cezanne

​Paul Gauguin

​Henri Toulouse Lautrec

Odlion Redon

Henri Rousseau

George Seurat

​Paul Signac
​​

See our profiles of the Impressionists and members of  their circle.

Frederic Bazille
Eugene Boudin
Marie Bracquemond
Gustave Caillebotte
Mary Cassatt
Paul Cezanne
​Edgar Degas
​Henri Fantin-Latour
​Eva Gonzales
Paul Gauguin
Armand Guillaumin​
Edouard Manet
Claude Monet
​Berthe Morisot
​Camille Pissarro
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Alfred Sisley
​​Suzanne Valadon
​Victor Vignon
​

Art reviews and articles index

Above: A self-portrait dating from Van Gogh's Parisian period.
Below: Van Gogh did several still-lifes.  In "Three Pairs of Shoes" his color choices are similar to those of his Dutch period.  

Van Gogh's choice of color and style became more Impressionistic as he was exposed to the works of the Impressionists.  Above: "The Blute-Finn Windmill."  Below: "The Bois du Boulogne With People Walking."  

​Van Gogh's  portrait of Pere Tanguy reflects his mature style.

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Artist appreciation - Vincent Van Gogh​ (Part II The Paris Years)