If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it.

Wheatfield with Crows. Vincent Van Gogh, 1890.

This nightmarish work was completed days before the beloved Post-Impressionist’s suicide. The violent dark blues clash with the yellow of the fields, and the chaotic paint strokes -more like slashes- seem to indicate the internal battle Van Gogh was fighting with himself. Although he went on to become one of the best known painters and a modern master, his work was never truly appreciated during his lifetime.

“Van Gogh always succeeded one notch beyond other artists,” Johann de Meester writes. “If he was dark like the Dutch, he was darker than they; if he was light and colorful like the French, he surpassed their brightness.”

Degas and Valernes (1864) Edgar Degas.

#painter swag#I am quite enjoying your mustache old chap#why thank you Edgar we do have quite smashing mustaches don’t we#and hats#oh yes our hats also

A Road in Louveciennes(1870). Jacob Camille Pisarro.

The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning (1897). Jacob Camille Pisarro.

Although Pisarro preceded the Impressionists by a few years, the St. Thomas native is often grouped together with them because of the influence he had on the young Impressionists- and they on him. In a time when Impressionism and its characteristic ‘sketchy’ paintstrokes, lack of a central focus, and omission of details the eye doesn’t see clashed with the static art critics of the day, the antagonistic writer Emile Zola said to the painter: “You should realize that you will please no one…why the devil do you have the crass insolence to paint solidly and study nature frankly? …an austere and serious kind of painting, an extreme concern for truth and accuracy, a rugged and strong will. You are a great blunderer, sir—you are an artist that I like.” Pisarro generally opted for subjects that were not necessarily ‘beautiful,’ which were often lost on viewers. More ordinary subjects allowed the viewer to consider what the artist was trying to convey.