Jenny Eugenia Nyström Self Portrait With Son Curt

Jenny Eugenia Nyström The Extraordinary Artist Who Loved Painting Children

“…The reason I mainly illustrate children’s books is probably because I have always loved children and have always wanted to show children something of the fair sunny land east of the sun and west of the moon, beauty which has remained in my memory from my childhood in Kalmar. Maybe now you can also understand why I prefer to draw beautiful images…”

Girl in Native Swedish Dress By Jenny Eugenia Nyström

Jenny Nyström was a Swedish artist and an illustrator. She was the first woman in Sweden to be awarded a royal medal for her historically themed paintings. She was a prolific painter and illustrator. Her fame was built on the popularity of her Tomte, Elf, Gnome themed illustrations (a mythological creature often associated with Christmas) illustrations. However, her joy came from her illustrations of children enjoying their lives. Her popularity to this day is built on her illustrations that depict everyday family life in books, magazines, and cards as well as her holiday themed illustrations.

Girl With Ducks by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

Jenny Nyström was born in Kalmar, Sweden. She was a creative artistic child. The daughter of a schoolteacher Jenny Nyström was the third of five children. When she was reminiscing about her happy childhood, she recalled it as idyllic. Jenny had a large extended family and when she was young, she lived in a house her maternal grandparents, two maternal aunts and her maternal great grandmother. Jenny’s father a schoolteacher managed her education while her mother concentrated on Jenny’s creative and artistic upbringing.

3 Girls and a Secret by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

In 1863 the family left Kalmar and moved to Gothenburg Sweden.  This was a very sad time for Jenny who felt that leaving the security and warmth of her family, friends left her adrift. Jenny recalled that images of the people and the area were indelible stored in her memory and fueled many of her future illustrations.

Tomte as Drawn by Fredrik Wohlfart Jenny’s Teacher 1864

In 1869 Jenny began to study at the Gothenburg Museum Art School. Her teacher, Fredrik Wohlfart, inspired her to paint images of “Tomte”. To perfect her illustrations Jenny researched Tomte folklore by reading a children's story by the Swedish Author and Poet Viktor Rydberg called “Little Vigg’s Adventure on Christmas Eve”. In it the boy Vigg was taken for a ride through space by a friendly “Tomte” on his visit to children to bring presents. (The “Tomte” is a Nordic mythological figure, who protects and watches over humans, animals, and homes usually in the country. At Christmas time he is usually awarded with a dish of white Christmas rice porridge). Jenny was a budding artist, and she was fascinated by the story that she sat down and drew a “Tomte” riding through space in a sleigh drawn by eight horses. With these illustrations the Swedish Christmas Tomte (a cousin to Santa Claus) was born. Jenny drew him as a small, tousled old man with a white beard, gray trousers and tunic and a red conical pointed cap. When Viktor Rydberg saw the drawing, he was so pleased that he asked Jenny to illustrate his 'book about Vigg’s adventures and the new version with Jenny’s illustrations was published the following year.

Self Portrait Paris 1884 by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

In 1871, Jenny’s illustrations were noticed by regional governor Albert Ehrensvärd. He invited her to Stockholm to visit art galleries and to go to the National Museum there. By 1873 Jenny had enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm where she studied for eight years. To support herself she sold magazine subscriptions and sold her paintings to the magazine Ny Illustrerad Tidning. Jenny travelled to Paris in November 1882 and enrolled at the Académie Colarossi, two years later, in 1884, she joined the Paris salon and had her first exhibit of her work.

The Convalescence by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

In the autumn of 1884, she became engaged to a medical student, Daniel Stoopendaal, whom she had met when she was studying.  In 1887, Jenny married Daniel Stoopendaal, and they moved into a large apartment on Tegnérgatan. Daniel caught tuberculosis and was never able to finish his studies and work.  This left Jenny Nyström as the sole support of the family.  Their only son, son, Curt Nyström-Stoopendaal, was born in June 1893.

Young Boy on His Dala Horse by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

Being the main support of the family was hard work cobbling together a living selling her illustrations and art works to several magazines, different book publishers and other employers. From the 1880s onwards until her death she illustrated many children’s books and historical novels. She also painted cover images for newspapers and journals.

Tomte With Baby and Presents in Backpack by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

 In 1911 she signed a contract to draw greeting cards for a publishing house. This meant that she needed to produce a certain number of watercolours each month as a background illustration for the cards. These illustrations gained great exposure for her name and art.

Young Girl Feeding Birds in Winter by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

Jenny Nyström was creative and productive her whole life.   She died peacefully in her home in Stockholm on 17 January 1946. Now 75 years after her death her cards are still being printed and enjoyed throughout the world.

Young girl and Mother on a Shopping Trip by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

Jenny Nyström became the mother to the Swedish Christmas Tomte, she also introduced the Swedish Christmas Card. Her colorful watercolors of friendly Tomte in red caps, usually watching over the family in red farm home set in a white winter landscape, has become classic. While her art was classic it was also modern and whimsical at the same time.  You might see a “Tomte” flying an airplane, driving a car, a truck, a motorcycle or even a train.

Tomte Delivering Presents from Airplane by Jenny Eugenia Nyström

She mixed exotic animals like elephants and giraffes as “Tomte” assistants for delivering Christmas presents across Sweden. She mixed these entertaining elements with classical traditional Christmas imagery such as Christmas goats, Christmas trees, sleighs, toboggans and more.

A Tomte Winter Scene by Curt Nyström Stoopendaal (1893-1965)

Jenny’s son Curt followed in her footsteps and also became a popular postcard and poster artist, staying very close to his mother’s artistic style. Even his signature, “Curt Nyström”, looks similar to his mother’s. Jenny’s brother-in-law, Georg Stoopendaal, painting in the beginning of the 19th century found postcards and Christmas Cards to be a good source of income, to augment his sales of landscapes and his more serious paintings.

A Tomte Relaxing by Curt Nyström Stoopendaal (1893-1965)

“Landschaft mit Kirche und Weg” (Landscape with church and lane) by August Macke-1911

” The most important thing for me is the direct observation of nature in its light-filled existence.” August Macke

German expressionist painter August Macke was born August Robert Ludwig Macke on January 3, 1887. His father, August Friedrich, was a civil engineer and a successful building contractor, who drew in his spare time. His mother, Maria Florentine was from a farm family and always instilled in her family a love of nature.  During his school years, August Macke had a fascination of art and a talent for sketching and painting.   

 Self-portrait by August Macke 1906

In 1903 he met his future wife Elisabeth Gerhardt, the daughter of Bonn factory owner Carl Gerhardt.  Elisabeth became his most important model. Macke painted portraits of her more than two hundred times.

Portrait of the artist's wife with a hat by August Macke 1909

In 1904, August left school and began training at the Royal Academy of Art in Düsseldorf. His family, who always thought he would be an engineer was opposed to this change in training.   But the rebel in Macke caused him to criticize the rigid curriculum. So he simultaneously began attending classes at Düsseldorf Kunstgewerbeschule with a more diverse art curriculum.    During this period August Macke also widened his interests an  designed stage decorations and costumes for a series of performances. Macke took a trip to Paris in 1907, where he fell in love with impressionism art.

Saint George by August Macke 1912

In 1908 to 1909 August served his mandatory one-year of military service, which interrupted his artistic work.  

August Macke and Elisabeth Gerhardt photographed in Bonn during 1908

After completing his military service, he married Elisabeth Gerhardt in October 1909. The couple’s honeymooned in Paris, where August Macke encountered works by the Fauves and the Futurists. At one exhibition he met Franz Marc. August and Franz soon became close friends, and the more established artist began to mentor him.

August, Elisabeth, Walter and Wolfgang Macke photographed in 1911

Elisabeth and August had two sons, Walter and Wolfgang. The couple often socialized with other artists such as Franz Marc and his wife Maria. They also spent time with Gabriele Münter and her group of Avant Garde Artists.  Münter studied and lived with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and this group of artists became leading-founding members of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter.

“A work of art is a parable, it is man’s thought, an autonomous idea of an artist, a song about the beauty of things: a work of art is the noble differentiated expression of man who is capable of something more than merely saying: ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’ “Auguste Macke.

"To hear the thunder is to perceive its secret. To understand the language of forms means to be closer to the secret, to live." - August Macke

The Garden by August Macke 1911

From 1910 to 1913 Macke was extremely busy creating his art and championing his opinions about art and nature. Exhibitions in renowned galleries ensured that his reputation grew beyond Germany, including participation in an exhibition of Karo-Bube (Jack of Diamonds) in Moscow. In addition, he appeared as an organizer of important exhibitions. At the Gereonsklub in Cologne, he showed works by avant-garde artists who had previously been little known.

Big Zoo Triptych by August Macke 1913

At the outbreak of World War I, Macke was drafted into Infantry Regiment No. 160 on August 1, 1914. His letters from the field reflect the horrors and cruelty of war. He was killed on September 26, 1914, at the age of 27 in Champagne France. Macke is buried in a collective grave in the military cemetery at Souain.

The Farewell by August Macke 1914

The Last picture he ever created was The Farwell.

 Woman in the Garden by August Macke 1911

“Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, abstract painting, are only names given to a change which our artistic thinking wants to make and is thinking. Nobody has ever painted fallen raindrops suspended in the air, they’ve always been depicted as streaks (even the cave-men drew herds of reindeer in the same way). Now people are painting cabs rattling, lights flickering, people dancing, all-in the same way (this is how we all see movement). That is thew whole frightfully simple secret of Futurism. It is very easy to prove its artistic feasibility, for all the philosophizing that has been raised against it. Space, surface, and time are different things, which ought not to be mixed, is the continuous cry. If only it were possible to separate them. I can’t do it.”– August Macke, in a letter to philosopher Eberhard Grisebach, March 1913

Children at the Fountain by August Macke 1914

In the ten years that August Macke painted he created an impressive body of work. His art style underwent many artistic changes.   As a gifted artist Macke integrated his philosophy of art and of life into his paintings.

Edvard Munch and The Dance of Life

 The Scream on Display At Sotheby's Auction House 2012

Admit it – you’ve seen this painting before, and you probably know what it’s called, but you know nothing about who painted it.  You might know his name, but you couldn’t identify another one of his paintings if your life depended on it!  And that’s sad, because Edvard Munch was not only responsible for possibly the most instantly recognizable painting ever created (yes, we’re talking about The Scream), but also thousands of other works including paintings, prints, watercolors, drawings, woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, photographs, and sculptures over 6 decades of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. 
 

Edvard Munch-Self Portrait with Brushes 1904

Munch was a pioneer and influencer of 20^th century artists, and one of the most prolific painters of all time.  He painted his most famous work, his first version of The Scream, in 1893.  He called it The Scream in Nature, but in Norway people call it Skrik, or in English “Shriek”.  Most of the English-speaking world just calls it The Scream.  Munch created multiple versions of many of his paintings, and there would eventually be 3 other versions of The Scream – pastel versions in 1893 and 1895, and a 2^nd painted version around 1910.  He also mass-produced the painting through a lithograph, which enabled him to sell many black and white versions. 
 
In 2012, the 1895 pastel version of The Scream was sold at Sotheby’s in London for 120 million US Dollars, which at the time was a record sale for a work of art.  The Scream is also a popular target of art thieves – a version was stolen from Oslo’s National Gallery in 1994.  The thieves left a note saying, “Thanks for the poor security”.  It was recovered 3 months later.  In 2004, the 1910 version of The Scream, along with another of Munch’s works, Madonna, was stolen at gunpoint from the Munch Museum in Oslo. Both were recovered 2 years later
 

Edvard Munch-The Sun 1909

Munch painted this poem on the frame of his 1895 pastel version, revealing his reason for naming the painting:
 
I was walking along the road with two friends
The Sun was setting – The Sky turned blood red.
And I felt a wave of Sadness – I paused
tired to Death – Above the blue-black
Fjord and City Blood and Flaming tongues hovered 
My Friends walked on – I stayed behind
– quaking with Angst – I felt the great Scream in Nature

 
As you would expect from a man capable of creating this iconic image, Munch had a very tragic childhood.  He was born near Loten, Norway in 1863, and his family moved to Kristiana (what is now known as Oslo), Norway, the following year.  Tuberculosis took his mother when he was five years old, and his older sister Sophia when he was 14.  He also had tuberculosis as a child but managed to live through it.  He was raised by his father, a doctor who suffered from mental illness and obsessive religiousness, and his aunt Karen.  Munch’s father entertained his children with scary ghost stories and readings from Edgar Allen Poe, and warned his children that their dead mother was watching them from heaven and grieving from their misbehavior.   Munch’s father and brother also died when he was still young, and another sister developed mental illness.  The result of all this was a neurotic, sickly man with deep seated anxiety, vulnerability, and a sense of doom and imminent death. 

“Illness, insanity, and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all my life.”
 

Edvard Munch-Melancholy 1894

His aunt Karen is credited with introducing young Edvard to art.  He showed a flair for drawing at an early age but received little formal training.  He attended the Royal Technical College in Kristiania to train as an engineer but dropped out after a year due to his poor health.  He began devoting more time to painting, and in 1881 enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design, also in Kristiana, where he studied sculpture. 
 
Munch’s early painting were in the Naturalism style, consisting mainly of landscapes.  For example, Winter Landscape with House and Red Sky, 1881 and Landscape Maridalen by Oslo, 1881.
 
 

Edvard Munch-Landscape Maridalen by Oslo 1881

In 1883 he had his first public exhibit at the Industry and Art Exhibition in Kristiania with his painting Head Study. You can see that at this point Munch was painting more in the Realism style.   In December, Munch made his debut at the Autumn Exhibition, where he exhibited Girl Kindling a Stove and Morning, which was acclaimed by artists.

Edvard Munch-Girl Kindling a Stove 1883

In March 1884, Munch was recommended for the Schäffer scholarship, which he received in September. He attended an open-air academy in late summer.  In 1885, Munch traveled abroad for the first time. He first went to Antwerp, Belgium where he exhibited a portrait of his sister Inger at the World Exhibition in April and May.  Afterwards, he went to Paris and studied the collections at the Louvre. He also attended the Salon des Independents, the annual exhibition of contemporary art where Impressionist painters were able to display their paintings.  In 1886 Munch exhibited four paintings at the Autumn Exhibition, including one of his main works, The Sick Child.

Edvard Munch-The Sick Child 1907

During these and subsequent trips to Paris, where he attended the Salon des Independents Exhibitions and saw paintings by van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Munch became familiar with and began adopting the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles.  Munch took up the more graphic, symbolist sensibility of Gaugin, and in turn became one of the most controversial and eventually renowned artists among a new generation of continental Expressionist and Symbolist painters.  He also lived in Paris at the same time as Vincent Van Gogh, but there was no evidence that they ever met.

Edvard Munch-The Seine in St Cloud 1890

From 1892 to 1896, Munch lived in Berlin. The city’s intellectual community furthered his interest in exploring the joys and disappointment of love, and his paintings began showing emotions like loss, anguish, and despair.  Munch came to treat the visible as though it were a window into a not fully formed, if not fundamentally disturbing, human psychology.  

Edvard Munch-Taverne in St. Cloud 1890

In the first decade of the 20th century, during the peak of the Art Nouveau movement, Munch continued his evolution, exploring his versions of Impressionism, Expressionism, and Modernism. 

Edvard Munch-The Family on the Road 1903 

In 1906, he painted a posthumous portrait of famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose nihilist beliefs coincide with The Scream’s depiction of existential dread.   

Edvard Munch- Friedrich Nietzsche 1906

His version of Starry Night can easily be mistaken for a work by Van Gogh
 

Edvard Munch- Starry Night 1893

Munch faced criticism from critics that his paintings didn’t seem to be finished.  But he wanted them to look that way.  He wanted them to be raw and rough, and not smooth and shiny. It was emotion he wanted to depict. "It's not the chair that should be painted," he once wrote, "but what a person has felt at the sight of it."

Edvard Munch-The Lonely Ones 1896

Munch never married and referred to his paintings as his children.  When he died in 1944 at the age of 80, basically a revered self-imposed recluse, authorities discovered over 1,000 paintings, 4,400 drawings, and more than 15,000 prints, as well as many other works in different mediums locked in the 2^nd floor of his house.  He bequeathed these items the Norwegian Government, and most of these items are now displayed in the Munch Museum, which opened in 1963.   

Edvard Munch in 1926 

 Edvard Munch-The Dance of Life 1899

Andy Warhol generated renewed interest in Munch in 1984, when he was commissioned to create pop-art from The Scream.

Please visit our store to see our selection of Cross-Stitch Patterns inspired by the works of Edvard Munch.  

Think about it – you’re sitting in your kitchen, and you say to yourself, “Now that’s a beautiful basket of fruit – I’m going to paint that!”.  You might find that the way the sun is reflecting through a window is casting an interesting glow on the apples that you try to capture.  Or you’re struck by the subtle shading of apricots and plums.  And if you’re an artist like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, or Claude Monet, it’s going result in a typically beautiful painting, but still easily identifiable as a basket of fruit.  But if you’re name is Giuseppe Arcimboldo, your wild imagination results in an entirely different result. When Giuseppe looked at vegetables, fruit or flowers, he didn’t see vegetables or fruit or flowers sitting in a basket or in a vase. He saw these things incorporated into other ordinary objects, like people.  His paintings cause you to look twice – or more, and make you really study the painting, to convince yourself that yes, that’s what you’re seeing. They’re surreal!

 Self Portrait by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1570

Some people describe his work as inspired and inventful while other consider the works grotesque. Regardless, Arcimboldo truly did pave the way for surrealistic painters such as Salvador Dali, René Magritte and Pablo Picasso.

Let’s start by showing you exactly what we’re talking about.  Look at the picture on the left below:  It’s pretty obviously intended to be the face of a person wearing a woven hat.  But the facial features are made entirely of fruit.  On the right, a relatively normal basket of fruit.  But they are the same painting, just flipped upside down.  Pretty bizarre, right?

Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1590 

Reversible Basket of Fruit by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1590

Giuseppe was born in 1527 and is classified as an Italian Renaissance painter. He was a conventional court painter of portraits for three Holy Roman emperors in Vienna and Prague.  As expected of an artist of his era he produced religious work, and among other things, a series of colored drawings of exotic animals in the imperial menagerie.

With the possible exception of Hyeronimus Bosch, Arcimboldo is considered to be the most original of all Renaissance painters, a genius who, with his astonishing portraits, formed by elements such as fruits, animals or objects, seems to anticipate several 20th century avant-gardes such as surrealism.

 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. of Austria and his wife Infanta Maria of Spain with their children by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1563

At the age of 22, Arcimboldo joined his father, also an artist, in designing and creating stained glass works.  From there he received commissions to paint frescoes and design tapestries for Cathedrals in Spain. In 1562, he became the court painter to Ferdinand I of Vienna, and later for Maximilien II and his son Rudolph II of Prague. At this time, he was also employed as the court decorator and costume designer.  Though royal portraits of the time were intended to idealize their subjects, the Habsburgs adored Arcimboldo's inventive renderings. Their court was known for welcoming intellectuals and encouraging avant-garde art. Arcimboldo happily worked for the family for more than 25 years and would continue to accept commissions even after moving back to his homeland in Milan.

At the time that Arcimboldo was painting his nature inspired portraits the studies of botany and zoology, were in their infancy.  Artists including Leonardo da Vinci, who was a predecessor of Arcimboldo in Milan, created paintings centered around natural studies.  Arcimboldo’s composite paintings show a scientific knowledge and respect.  Each item in the composite portraits each plant, grass blade, every flower is clearly recognized. Arcimboldo’s works may be playful, but he and his contemporaries were fascinated by the beauty found in the natural world. His dedicated depiction of flora and fauna down to the finest details. 

THE FOUR SEASONS

Arcimboldo painted numerous paintings about "The four seasons." He represented the hypothetical faces of every season with the most typical element of any of them. The allegorical paintings are peppered with visual puns (Summer’s Ear is an ear of corn) as well as references to the Hapsburgs.  Earth features a lion skin, a reference to the mythological Hercules, to whom the Hapsburgs were at pains to trace their lineage. Many of the figures are crowned with tree branches, coral fragments or stag’s antlers.

The face of Spring is made of flowers, the Summer has a face of fruits and a body of wheat, while the Autumn is a curious summary of fallen leaves, fruits and mushrooms. The series ends with the Winter, arguably the most complex portrait of the entire series, in which we can find elements as "cold" and "dry" as the bark that forms the face, and others so "live" and "warm" as the leaves of the hair and the two fruits hanging on the neck. Perhaps the optimistic Arcimboldo was unable to depict the winter as a "cold" season, so he added these "kind" elements to the typical cold elements of the winter.  Winter wears a cloak monogrammed with an “M,” presumably for Maximilian, that resembles a garment the emperor actually owned.

 La Primavera (Spring) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1563

 Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1563

THE FOUR ELEMENTS

Another of his famous series of paintings included Earth, Water, Fire and Air—The Four Elements. Arcimboldo assigned to any element a face formed by the most characteristic of each of them. Nevertheless, the series possesses some elements that make it quite different, and even more interesting, than the previous one. Every face is formed by only one kind of element. The face of "The Earth" is formed exclusively by land animals, "The Air" is made of birds, and "The Water" by fish and marine animals. A special case is "The Fire” represented by several blazing elements, from the embers that form the hair to the two cannons in his chest. The nose and ear of Fire are made of fire strikers, one of the imperial family’s symbols.  These paintings are more visually rich than the works from the previous series.

 Air by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1566

 Fire by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1566

 In addition to the Seasons and the Elements, Arcimboldo also painted some famous individual portraits: for example, Flora, The Waiter, The Jurist, The Librarian and Vertumnus.

 The Jurist by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1566

 The Librarian by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1566

 The Waiter by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1574

Giuseppe Arcimboldo died at the age of 66 on the 11th of July, 1593 in Milan.

Today his work can be seen in several different museums and galleries, including: The Louvre in Paris, Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado.

Artists like Salvador Dali have cited the groundbreaking painter's composite heads as a major source of inspiration. But it was Museum of Modern Art director Alfred H. Barr's inclusion of his works in the 1930s exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism that re-introduced the world to Arcimboldo's originality and influence.  Retroactively, art historians dubbed the Renaissance Mannerist the grandfather of Surrealism.  

 FLORA by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1589

 Vertumnus, a portrait depicting Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor painted as Vertumnus, the Roman god of the seasons, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, circa 1590–91

 Arcimboldo’s works once again enjoys widespread acclaim. Vertumnus is on display in Sweden's Skokloster Castle along with The Librarian. Spring belongs to Madrid's Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, while the Louvre in Paris displays Autumn and Winter. Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna boasts Summer, Fire and Water. Italy's Museo Civico holds The Vegetable Bowl (also known as The Gardener), and Four Seasons in One Head calls the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. home. Spring belongs to Madrid's Museo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, while the Louvre in Paris displays Autumn and Winter. Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna boasts Summer, Fire and Water. Italy's Museo Civico holds The Vegetable Bowl (also known as The Gardener), and Four Seasons in One Head calls the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. home.

Be Sure to Check Out Our Counted Cross Stitch Patterns Inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Henri-Edmond Cross- The French Artist Who Played a Crucial and Vital Role in the Development of Modern Painting

Henri Edmond Cross (1856–1910) was a leading Neo-Impressionist painter, a pioneer of Pointillism, and a founding member of the Salon des Indépendants.

Cross was born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix, the only surviving child of his French father, Alcide Delacroix, and British mother, Fanny Woollett.  The family moved to Lille when Henri was 9.  He showed an interest in drawing when he was young and his parents sent him to Carolus-Duran, a painter and art instructor, for private drawing and painting lessons when he was 10. He was encouraged as a child to develop his artistic talent by his father’s widowed cousin, Dr. Auguste Soins, who paid for much of Henri’s artistic training.  Henri spent a short time in Paris when he was 19, studying under the tutelage of the French realist painter François Bonvin before returning to Lille.  At the age of 22 in 1878 he enrolled in a three-year course at the Écoles Académiques de Dessin et d’Architecture in Lille and studied under Alphonse Colas.  Three years later he returned to Paris and studied in the atelier (studio) of Émile Dupont-Zipcy. 

Self Portrait with a Cigarette by Henri Edmond Cross Painted-1880
(Painted in Realism Style)

The year 1884, was a milestone in French art.  Up until then any artist wanting to progress in their chosen career relied completely on having their works exhibited at the Paris Salon, and for that to happen they had to submit their paintings to a jury which decided whether their works were good enough to be exhibited. The jurists were, at this time, increasingly rigid and conservative in their views of what was considered acceptable for exhibit and were not receptive to the works presented by Impressionist artists, whose works had moved away from the traditional academic style.  The Impressionists would often have their paintings rejected by the Salon jurists or if they did manage to have a painting accepted it would be hung in such a way that it was almost hidden from view.  In 1863 the jurists rejected a surprisingly high percentage of paintings and this caused a furor among the “discarded” artists, resulting in the Salon des Refusés, an art exhibition held in 1863 in Paris for those artists that had been refused by the jury of the official Salon.  In 1880, the Salon again rejected the work of many Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, which led to a 2nd Salon des Refusés in 1883.  ​

Peasant Woman Relaxing in the Grass by Henri Edmond Cross - 1890
(Painted in Impressionist Style) 

The following summer a number of these disgruntled artists banded together and formed the Société des Artistes Indépendants (Society of Independent Artists) and based the society on the premise “sans jury ni recompense” (without jury nor award), allowing any artist who wanted to participate to display their work.  They held their own inaugural exhibition, Salon des Indépendants, in May 1884 where Henri Cross exhibited some of his paintings, along with other founding members of the Société including Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Georges Seurat.  Vincent Van Gogh also displayed some of his work at the exhibition.  

It was around this time that Cross changed his name, first to Henri Cross, and later to Henri-Edmond Cross, to differentiate himself from other French artists named Delacroix, (a very common name in France).  Delacroix means “Of the Cross” in French, so using the Anglicized version of the name (Cross) made sense.

In 1891 Cross became Vice-President of the Society.  He was by this time becoming one of the leading figures in the small world of Neo-Impressionist painters in France.

Cross had begun wintering in the warm climes of the South of France in 1883, finally moving there full-time in 1891.  He met his future wife, Irma, there in 1888, and they married in 1893.  His health was poor, suffering from vision problems, rheumatism, arthritis, and eventually cancer, so after moving to the south he rarely travelled out of the area.  His friend Paul Signac moved to nearby Saint-Tropez in 1892, where they frequently hosted gatherings attended by visionaries such as Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet. 

​Cross’s painting styles evolved significantly over the years.  His early works, mainly portraits and still-lifes, were dark and in the Realism style.  After meeting Claude Monet in 1883, he gradually shifted to doing landscapes, in a brighter Impressionist style.  Impressionism uses lively colors and quick brush strokes to capture the texture of the subject and the impact of light on its surface rather than individual details. Instead of mixing colors on a palette, Impressionists placed the brush strokes on the canvas and let the viewer's eye do the mixing of colors. It is based more on emotions and the passing moment than science.

Most of Cross’s friends in the Société des Artistes Indépendants were Neo-Impressionists, a movement which peaked between 1886 and 1891.  Cross initially resisted that movement and continued working in the Impressionist style until 1891, when he adopted the Neo-Impressionist style.  Neo-Impressionism took advantage of the evolving knowledge of how the retina sees light and the mind combines colors.  Neo-Impressionism took the colors and themes of Impressionism but took a scientific approach to art, focused on the theory and division of color and vision and breaking things down to a more fundamental and basic level.   The primary techniques used in Neo-Impressionism abandoned actual brush strokes and replaced them with small, distinct patches (Divisionism) or dots (Pointilism) of color, which interacted optically to create shadow and dimension.  The dots appear to intermingle and blend in the observer’s eye.

​Cross’s first Neo-Impressionist painting was a Divisionist portrait of his future wife, Irma Clare in 1891. 

 His affinity for the Neo-Impressionist movement involved not only adoption of the Divisionist and Pointilist techniques, but also the political philosophies of the members of the movement.  Many believed in anarchist principles and hoped for a utopian society, and this influenced his choice of subjects - scenes depicting a utopian world that could exist through anarchism.

Many of Cross’s paintings from the early to mid 1890’s are in the Pointilist style. Other artists who used this technique include Georges Seurat, Maximilien Luce, and Paul Signac. Other well-known artists who briefly made works in Pointillist style were Vincent Van Gogh and, early in their careers, Picasso, Mondrian and Kandinsky.

In 1895 Cross gradually began changing his technique, partly because he found it tedious and time consuming, and also because of issues with arthritis and his eyes.  Along with his friend Paul Signac, he began to develop a Neo-Impressionist technique that was more intensely colorful and varied in its application, using broad, blocky brushstrokes and leaving small areas of exposed bare canvas between the strokes.  The resulting surfaces resembled mosaics, and the paintings are seen as precursors to Fauvism and Cubism, techniques used by early 20th Century artists.  Examples of this are Cross's "The Artist's Garden at Saint-Clair", from 1904-05 and "Garden of the Painter at Saint-Clair" from 1908.  (Cross liked to paint his garden, apparently!)

The Promenade by Henri Edmond Cross - Painted 1897

Man Working on a Boat by Henri Edmond Cross - Painted 1899

Beach Evening Effect by Henri Edmond Cross - Painted 1902

San Giorgio Maggior by Henri Edmond Cross - Painted 1903-4

Cross died of cancer just four days short of his 54th birthday, on May 16, 1910.  In July 1911, the city of Cross's birth, Douai, mounted a retrospective exhibition of his work.   His work is widely acknowledged as having wide influence on later developments within the French avant-garde, and as a major pioneer of 20th-century painting.

Madame Hector by Henri Edmond Cross - Painted 1903-4

Portrait of Henri Edmond Cross by Maximilien Luce 1898 

•  Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri-Edmond_Cross

• The Art Story -Henri-Edmond Cross French Painter and Printmaker - https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cross-henri-edmond/

• Artnet-Henri Edmond Cross- http://www.artnet.com/artists/henri-edmond-cross/biography

• Olga’s Gallery-Henri Edmond Cross Delacroix- https://www.freeart.com/gallery/c/cross/cross.html

• ArtCyclopedia-Henri Edmond Cross- http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/cross_henri-edmond.html

Illustration of a Lilac Flower, Fritilaria Flower and Candolle Rose by Pierre Joseph Redouté

The Raphael Of Flowers Was The Nickname of Pierre-Joseph Redouté

• Redoute was the premier botanical artist 1790 – 1830.
• Redoute was an art tutor to Marie Antoinette (the last Queen of France) and she became his patron.
• Redouté received the title of "Draughtsman and Painter to the Queen's Cabinet".
• In 1798 The Empress Josephine Bonaparte, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, also became Redoute’s patron and appointed him to paint the flowers of the garden at Malmaison.
• Redoute’s works were exhibited in The Louvre.
• Redoute produced over 2,100 paintings for published plates depicting over 1,800 different species, many of which had never been drawn before.
• ​His two most famous books were:

                          Les Liliacees (1802 - 15) 500 plates of lilies.

                          Les Roses (1817 - 21) He's best known for his roses.

Illustration of an Alstromeria Lily by Pierre Joseph Redouté

Pierre Joseph Redouté was one of the most prolific and respected botanical artists of the 18th and 19th centuries.  He illustrated approximately 50 botanical books during his lifetime. Redouté lived during a highly politically turbulent period yet he managed to survive and thrive. He was impacted by the French Revolution (1789-1799) where over forty thousand French citizens were executed. Later, with the combination of the Napoleonic wars and the successive changes of royalty -leadership on the French throne. Each change impacted Pierre-Joseph Redoute’s life. However, through perseverance and devotion to his art, Redouté became a remarkable artist and mentor to young artists.

Pierre Joseph Redouté 

Pierre Joseph Redouté was born in 1759 , at St Hubert, Belgium. Redouté was one of five children born into a family of artists. His grandfather, Jean-Jacques Redouté  (1687-1752) and father, Charles-Joseph Redouté (1715-1776) had both earned a living from painting portraits, interior decorations and religious works and it was expected that the next generation of sons would follow suit.  Redouté was a very talented artist and botanical illustrator. His work , able to skillfully bring exotic and native plants to life.

 Vue Du Jardin Des Plantes/Jardin Anglais et derriere de la Serre

Planning on a career painting flowers he moved to Paris in 1782. Redouté began making botanical drawings for the Jardin du Roi (the present-day Muséum national d’histoire naturelle), where he befriended Dutch painter. A professor of floral painting at Jardin du Roi, Gerard van Spaendonck (1746–1822) mentored Redouté.    While at the  Jardin du Roi  Redouté developed his artistic style, including engraving and water coloring methods.

Illustration of a Bellflower by Pierre Joseph Redouté

In 1784 Redouté met Charles Louis L’Héritier, 1746–1800, who was a self-taught botanist and a wealthy magistrate.  He mentored Redouté teaching him how to dissect flowers, draw plant anatomy, and highlight botanical details.  L’Héritier hired Redouté to illustrate botanical plates of several books as well as native and exotic plants in Kew Garden, Jardin du Roi, and other European gardens.

Illustration of Anemone Flowers by Pierre Joseph Redouté

Basically, Redoute’s good fortune was that both Spaendonck and L’Héritier helped launched Redouté’s scientific career. Redoute’s talent and specifically his attention to detail made his artworks unique and highly sought after. His elegant illustrations brought Redoute’ to the attention of royalty. Redouté was fortunate to become an artist who was patronized by the kings of France from Louis XVI to Louis-Philippe. ​His profile also has a unique claim to fame. His artworks and reputation was enhanced by his patronage by two of the premier first ladies of European history - Marie Antoinette and Josephine Bonaparte.

 Portrait of Marie-Antoinette with the rose. Oil on canvas, Versailles. Dated 1783 and painted by Vigée-Le Brun

By 1788 Redouté was the illustrator of two of his patron's books, Stirpes Novae and Sertum Angicum; a year later he was nameddraughtsman to the cabinet of Marie-Antoinette.

During the Terror of the French Revolution he was appointed to the staff of the former royal botanical garden, which had become the Jardin des Plantes and the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle.  Redoute was now showing his illustrations of flowers, fruit, and mushrooms in the official Salon and socializing with well-known painters: David, Vien, Gerard, Fragonard, and Carl Vernet.

Illustration of a Bouquet of Pansies by Pierre Joseph Redouté

During this period Redouté prospered and began to gravitate towards the rising star of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Malmaison The Home of Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte

His youngest brother, Henri-Joseph, served under the general in Egypt as a zoological draughtsman. Redoute was  creative and prolific drawing more than a thousand botanical plates. By the time of the 1805 edition of Rousseau’s Botanique Pierre-Joseph Redouté was a celebrity,’ le Raphael desfieurc, and a well-to-do business man with a fashionable clientele, a private apartment in the Louvre, a country residence near Paris at Fleury-sous-Meudon (where Jean-Jacques had once botanized), and a salary of 18,000 francs a year as Josephine’s decorator and flower painter at Malmaison.

Josephine’s Garden Party in the Rose Garden at Malmaison

A subsequent commission came with the new French empire. Napoleon Bonaparte married Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796. Joséphine enjoyed horticulture and botany and, with the wealth and power of her husband, purchased Malmaison and remodeled its gardens, filling them with both native European plants and specimens from botanical expeditions overseas. Redouté became Joséphine’s court artist and illustrated a stunning and accurate record of her work in Jardin de la Malmaison (1805), by botanist Étienne-Pierre Ventenat. Redouté’s later publications for Joséphine included Les liliacées (1802–1816) and Les roses (1817).

Josephine’s Garden at Malmaison

A contemporary of Redouté, the memoir-writer Joseph-Francois Grille, describes him:

“A dumpy body, limbs like an elephant’s, a head as heavy and flat as a Dutch cheese, thick lips, a hollow voice, crooked fingers, a repulsive look, and beneath the skin an extremely delicate sense of tact, exquisite taste, a deep feeling for art, a fine sensibility, nobility of character, and the perseverance needed for the development of genius: such was Redouté, who had all the pretty women in Paris as his pupils.”

Redouté’s school of botanical drawing in the Salle Buffon of the Jardin des Plantes, 1830,  drawing by artist Julie Ribault, 1830

During these years, Redouté married Marie-Marthe Gobert, and they bought an apartment in Paris. They also purchased and a large country house and garden at Fleury-sous-Meudon on the outskirts of Paris. At the Estate at Fleury-sous-Meudon they renovated the house and “tamed the wilderness” of the garden and incorporated into the garden design many plants Pierre-Joseph wished to grow.

The artist home Maison de Redouté à Fleury-sous-Meudon France

After Empress Joséphine's death (1814), Redouté had some difficult years until he was appointed a master of draughtsmanship for the National Museum of Natural History in 1822. In 1824, he gave some drawing classes at the museum. Many of his pupils were aristocrats or royalty. He became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1825.

Illustration of a Bearded Iris Flower by Pierre Joseph Redouté

Redoute taught and painted up to the day he died of a stroke on June 19 or 20, 1840. He was survived by his wife, Marie-Marthe Gobert, whom he married in 1786, and their two daughters. He was interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Brusseleer Institut Redouté-Peiffer in Belgium circa 1922

A Brussels school bears his name: the Institut Redouté-Peiffer in Anderlecht. The Institut Pierre-Joseph Redouté gets its name from the painter of roses.  Opened in 1913, the school that currently bears the name of Institut Redouté-Peiffer has been hosting students in horticulture and market gardening since 1922, in the vicinity of Parc Astrid (Anderlecht). It has a large alpine-inspired rock garden designed in 1958 by the director of the Institute and former pupil of Jules Buyssens, Paul Dewit.

His work continues to be popular and is widely reproduced to this day.

Illustration of a Bouquet of Roses by Pierre Joseph Redouté

Pierre-Joseph Redouté | Wikipedia

Botanical Art and Artists:

The Royal Horticultural Society:

Redouté. The Book of Flowers by H. Walter Lack   2018

Redoute's Finest Flowers in Embroidery by Trish Burr 2002

Instant Wall Art - Botanical Prints: 45 Ready-to-Frame Vintage Illustrations for Your Home Decor by Adams Media 2015

Paul Klee The Bauhaus Master And Father Of Abstraction Was An Excellent Art Teacher And His 100-Year-Old Art Theories Are Still Influential, Relevant and Taught Today!

Paul Klee The Bauhaus Master And Father Of Abstraction Was An Excellent Art Teacher And His 100-Year-Old Art Theories Are Still Influential, Relevant and Taught Today!

Paul Klee’s In The Desert Detail 1914

The work of the Swiss Artist Paul Klee shows that he was truly the master of Modernism, his style reflected his influence of Expressionism, Surrealism and Cubism.  Paul Klee who stated that he enjoyed ‘taking a line for a walk’. Klee was a defining voice of 1920s Bauhaus, he began his career in the dying days of the German Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, before becoming an important proponent of the Expressionist ‘Blue Rider’ movement of the 1910s. By the 1920s he had forged a unique aesthetic of abstraction that, as he once said, “does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible”

GOOGLE Salute to Paul Klee’s 139^th Birthday Doodle

Google Doodle celebrates the 139th birthday of Paul Klee (December 18, 1879 - June 29, 1940,) the influential Swiss-German artist. Influenced by movements such as cubism, surrealism, and expressionism, Paul Klee explored numerous styles to develop his own approach to art-making—both rigorous and childlike—which defies categorization.   Today’s Doodle pays homage to his Rote Brücke (Red Bridge), a 1928 work that transforms the rooftops and arches of a European city into a pattern of shapes rendered in contrasting yet harmonious hues. As Klee wrote in his diary, in 1914: “Color and I are one… I am a painter.”

From Google Info

Paul Klee’s Self Portrait 1927

Paul Klee was born on 1879 near Bern Switzerland.  His father Hans Klee was a music teacher, and his mother was a musician. As a boy Paul learned to play violin. He received a well-rounded classical education in the in Bern. Ancient Greek, modern French, classic and contemporary French and German art, and literature were his favorites. Klee was gifted as both a musician and an artist.

Klee was restless unsatisfied with his education and left the Academy and traveled in Italy in 1901 to 1902. His early artistic work was exclusively pen-and-ink drawings and etchings, some of which were satirical.

Paul Klee and Wife Lily Stumpf 1906

In 1906, Klee married the pianist Lily Stumpf and they settled in Munich, then an important center of avant-garde art. In 1910-11 Klee had his first major exhibitions. He contributed 17 graphic works to the the exhibition of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), the avant-garde artistic society founded by W. Kandinsky and Franz Marc. That same year Klee visited Robert Delaunay in Paris. The latter’s influence on Klee’s development is considered the strongest outside his immediate circle of avant-garde Munich painters.

Paul Klee’s In The Beginning 1916

In April 1914 he and fellow painters August Macke and Louis Molliet visited Tunisia. Klee returned from the trip inspired and stated that he now understood light in a new way.

During the First World War, Klee was called up for infantry training and then attached to an air force unit where he repaired damaged aircraft, painting their numbers and insignia. Though Klee had few opportunities for artistic work, he managed to do some painting on aircraft canvas. In 1918 he returned to Munich. The avant-garde circle in Munich had been dispersed - Macke and Franz Marc had been killed while Kandinsky had returned to Russia. Klee stayed in Munich alone and continued to develop his ideas.

“Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see”. Paul Klee

Paul Klee’s The Temple Gardens 1920

In November 1920 Klee was invited to teach at the Bauhaus at Weimar, where his friend W. Kandinsky would become a faculty member in 1922. Bauhaus was an innovative school aiming at uniting fine and applied arts and architecture in a new manner suitable for an industrial age. Klee’s teaching included lecturing with demonstrations on form and color in relation to nature and also supervising bookbinding, metal and weaving workshops.

 Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook, one of his essays on art theory, was published in Bauhaus in 1925. In the essay Klee defined and analyzed the primary visual elements and the ways in which they could be applied.

For more information about this and a great illustrated article see the Tate Museum story:  https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/paul-klee

In April 1931, two years before the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis, Klee resigned to take up a professorship at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. He held the post for only two years before the Nazi campaign against modern artists brought about his dismissal. In 1933, Klee left Germany to return to Switzerland. In the summer of 1935 the symptoms of his fatal illness (later diagnosed as sclerodermia) appeared. He was in pain but he remained productive to the end, which came in June 1940.

A photo taken in 1925 of Paul Klee in his Weimar workshop

Paul Klee created over 9000 works of art in his lifetime. Most art critics highly appreciate Klee’s contribution to the development of art in the 20th century. He was extremely inventive, bravely experimented with styles and materials, and the visual effects they gave, ignoring rules and fashion.

Here are a few interesting facts About Paul Klee:

Paul Klee’s The Drummer 1940

1.) Klee was a talented musician.

Young Paul studied violin at seven years-old. His talent earned him an invitation to join the Bern Music Association four years later. As a painter he often practiced his violin to warm up before painting.

Paul Klee’s  what am i missing 1930

2.) He enjoyed creating comic and caricature drawings.

Klee expressed his mocking attitudes toward people and establishments through comic sketches. His illustrations went ignored during his lifetime

Paul Klee’s Red Balloon 1922

3.) Klee’s stylistic approach was inspired and greatly influenced by children

He admired the unstudied simplicity and expressive freedom in children’s drawings. He drew like a draftsman, adding symbols including letters, hieroglyphics and musical notation.

 4.) Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but considered a German citizen.

Due to Swiss law, he held his father’s citizenship and was called for duty by the Germans during World War I. Legislation exempted him from combat because he was an artist. Instead, Klee worked as a clerk and painted camouflage on aircraft.

Paul Klee’s Senecio-1922

5.) Klee had two distinct drawing techniques.

One of Paul Klee’s earliest works were drawn on a blackened pane of glass using a needle. The rough outlines that defined his post-war works were achieved through oil transfer. His drawings were traced onto watercolor paper using transfer paper layered with gummy black ink.

Paul Klee’s Crystalline Landscape 1929

6.) Klee was sought after and esteemed art teacher.

At the Bauhaus, his lectures were compiled in a collection containing over 3,300 pages. This compilation, regarded as the bible for contemporary artists, is called the “Paul Klee Notebooks”.

Paul Klee’s Sail Boats 1927

7.) He died of a painful progressive autoimmune rheumatic disease scleroderma

Near death and in pain, Paul Klee created “Death and Fire”, one of the most popular depictions of mortality. It has the word “tod” (German for death) hidden twice in the painting.

Be Sure to Look at Orenco Originals counted cross stitch and counted needlepoint patterns inspired by Paul Klee...Click Here

Paul Klee, 1939

Further Research:

Paul Klee's Beginnings 1922

ON LINE:

Paul Klee: from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klee

Paul Klee 1879-1940 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/klee/hd_klee.htm

Paul Klee-The Tate Museum

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-klee-1417

Paul Klee's Seaside Resort in the South of France 1927

BOOKS:

Paul Klee: Selected by Genius, 1917-33 by Roland Doschka, Ernst-Gerhard Guse, Christian Rumelin, Victoria Salley, Stadthalle Balingen. Prestel Publishing, 2001.

The Paul Klee Catalogue Raisonne, Volume 9 (1940) by The Paul Klee Foundation. Thames & Hudson, 2004.

The Diaries of Paul Klee, 1898-1918 by Paul Klee, Felix Klee (editor). University of California Press, 1964.

Paul Klee: 1879-1940 (Basic Art) by Susanna Partsch. Taschen, 2000.

Paul Klee: Painting Music (Pegasus Library) by Hajo Duchting. Prestel, 1997.

Be Sure to Look at Orenco Originals counted cross stitch and counted needlepoint patterns inspired by Paul Klee...Click Here

Beatrix Potter was interested in every branch of natural science except astronomy. Potter collecting fossils, archeological artefacts from London excavations, and studied entomology.  She sketched and painted her specimens with great skill. By the 1890s her scientific interests centered on the study of fungus-mycology. Beatrix found that her gender kept scientists from taking her seriously.  There is a collection of her fungus paintings at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Perth, Scotland.

In 1890, the firm of Hildesheimer and Faulkner bought several of her drawings of her rabbit Benjamin Bunny to illustrate verses by Frederic Weatherly titled A Happy Pair. In 1893, the same printer bought several more drawings. Beatrix was pleased by this success and determined to publish her own illustrated stories. Potter's artistic and literary interests were deeply influenced by fairies, fairy tales and fantasy. She was a student of the classic fairy tales. And stories from the Old Testament, she grew up with Aesop's Fables, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies, the Scottish folk tales and mythology.  One of her most famous works.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, started out as a story she wrote for the children of a former governess in a letter. Potter later transformed this letter into a book, which she published privately. In 1902, Frederick Warne & Co. brought this delightful story to the public. Their new edition of The Tale Of Peter Rabbit quickly became a hit with young readers. More animal adventures soon followed with The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903) and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904) among other stories.

The immense popularity of Potter's books was based on the lively quality of her illustrations, the non-didactic nature of her stories, the depiction of the rural countryside, and the imaginative qualities she lent to her animal characters. In 1902, The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published, and it was an immediate success. It was followed the next year by The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and The Tailor of Gloucester, which had also first been written as picture letters to the Moore children. Potter 23 books in all. The last book in this format was Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes in 1922, a collection of favorite rhymes. Although The Tale of Little Pig Robinson was not published until 1930, it had been written much earlier. Potter continued creating her books until after the First World War, when her energies were increasingly directed toward her farming, sheep-breeding and land conservation.

Potter was also an astute businesswoman. As early as 1903, she made and patented a Peter Rabbit doll. It was followed by other "spin-off" merchandise over the years, including painting books, board games, wall-paper, figurines, baby blankets and china tea-sets.

 Vincent Van Gogh Tormented Artist

Vincent Willem van Gogh, 1853-1890, was a Dutch post-impressionist painter- artist, his early life was unremarkable and as a young man he floundered failing from one job to the next. Although he is now known as a well-respected artist, Van Gogh basically only painted for the last 9 years of his life, and in that short time he created more than 860 paintings! 

Van Gogh was born in 1853 in the Netherlands. He was raised in the middle-class home of his father who was a Dutch Reformed Church Minister. In childhood Van Gogh was described as an intelligent, serious almost dour young man. He took art lessons in middle school but did not think he was particularly good at it. When he left school, Vincent became an art dealer in England, France and the Netherlands. Vincent was not successful at selling art and so he became a teacher and a minister’s assistant. Failing again and to his parents displeasure he had several short-lived jobs.  At his parent’s insistence he returned to school and trained to be a minister. However, the ministry was also not for Vincent as he failed his seminary examinations.

Van Gogh’s House in Cuesmes Belgium

where he lived in 1879-1880

In his twenties, Van Gogh spent almost 10 years bouncing from one job to the another.  In the early 1880’s, at the age of 29, Vincent began drawing and painting in earnest. He decided to try his hand at being an artist when he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Art in Brussels, where he studied the mechanics and theory of art. He was not a successful artist as there was little interest in his work. He survived on occasional painting commissions. During this time, however, Vincent’s personal life was disastrous, and he was overcome by bouts of depression and self-loathing.

Van Gogh’s The Potatoes Eaters Van Gogh painted 1885

Following the 1885 death of his father, Vincent painted what is considered his first major work, a very dark dour piece titled "The Potato Eaters".  In August of the same year, his work was displayed on exhibition for the first time in The Hague. In November on 1885, Vincent moved to Antwerp, where he became interested in painting with vivid colors. While in Antwerp, he studied Japanese Art and applied the techniques he admired to some of his own paintings. He was completely enamored with Japanese wood block artists and produced several paintings that were homage to Japanese artists Utagawa Hiroshige and Keisai Eisen.  During this period, Vincent’s health was poor.

In 1886, Vincent moved to Paris and began to associate with other Parisian Impressionists such as Émile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. During his time in Paris Vincent adopted a new style that emphasized bright complementary colors, and he experimented with pointillism

Van Gogh’s Sunflower Study Van Gogh painted 1887

Van Gogh met many artists in Paris. In 1887, he met Paul Gauguin during a visit to an artist cooperative with his brother Theo. The brothers both admired Gauguin’s use of bright colors. Van Gogh met Gauguin again when Gauguin attended a Paris Art Exhibition of Van Gogh’s works that he had organized for the Impressionists Artists of the Petit Boulevard. After seeing the exhibit Gauguin traded one of his paintings from Martinique for two of Van Gogh's Sunflowers studies.

In February of 1888, Van Gogh decided to move to Arles in Southern France and begin what he called the Studio of the South. His plan for the studio was for it to be an artist colony where artists could work together and inspire each other. Van Gogh’s Brother Theo, an Art dealer, agreed to try to sell their work. Van Gogh rented four rooms in a building on the Place Lamartine in May. This building is known as the "Yellow House".

Van Gogh’s The Yellow House Van Gogh Painted 1888

The yellow house is the one that Van Gogh was to share with  Gauguin but as it turned out, his dream of a studio in the south shared by like-minded painters lasted only two months. 

Paul Gauguin’s painting of Vincent Van Gogh painting Sunflowers in the yellow house

 Paul Gauguin came to paint with Van Gogh in Arles. They had a very tumultuous relationship and within a month, Van Gogh and Gauguin were arguing constantly. One night after an argument, Gauguin walked out. Van Gogh followed him, and when Gauguin turned around, he saw Vincent holding a razor in his hand. Hours later, Van Gogh went to the local brothel and paid for a prostitute named Rachel. With blood pouring from his hand, he offered her his ear, asking her to "keep this object carefully." Gauguin Left Arles and returned to Paris.

We have an upcoming blog that addresses the complicated relationship between Gauguin and Van Gogh.

The next day, the police found van Gogh in his room and admitted him to the hospital. Theo arrived to see Van Gogh, who was weak from blood loss and having violent seizures. The doctors assured Theo that his brother would live and would be taken good care of. On January 7, 1889, Van Gogh was released from the hospital. Vincent was alone and depressed. Van Gogh took to painting as a distraction but could not find peace and was hospitalized again. He would paint at the yellow house during the day and return to the hospital at night.

 The Garden in the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Painted by Van Gogh 1889

Van Gogh decided to move to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence after the people of Arles signed a petition saying that he was dangerous. On May 8, 1889, he began painting in the hospital gardens. In November 1889, he was invited to exhibit his paintings in Brussels. He sent six paintings, including "Irises" and "Starry Night."

The Home of Dr, Gachet Painted by Van Gogh in 1889

In January 1890, Dr. Paul Gachet, who lived in Auvers, about 20 miles north of Paris, agreed to take Vincent as his patient. Van Gogh moved to Auvers and rented a room. In July of that year, Vincent van Gogh committed suicide.

Portrait of Dr Gachet Painted by Van Gogh 1889

In his lifetime Van Gogh produced close to 900 paintings and 700 drawings, only one of which sold during his lifetime. Although Van Gogh was a very unhappy and perhaps unstable person he is considered a genius today and has influenced generations of painters.  His painting Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890), one of his most admired pieces, was sold at auction for 82.5 million dollars in 1990. This was the highest price ever paid for a work of art in 1990. 

Workers in the Red Vineyard Painted by Van Gogh 1888

In Early 1890, Theo sold The Red Vineyard for 400 Francs.  Theo, who was suffering from syphilis and weakened by his brother's death, died six months after his brother in a Dutch asylum. He was buried in Utrecht, but in 1914 Theo's wife, Johanna, who was a dedicated supporter of van Gogh's works, had Theo's body reburied in the Auvers cemetery next to Vincent.

Theo's wife Johanna then collected as many of van Gogh's paintings as she could, but discovered that many had been destroyed or lost, van Gogh's own mother having thrown away crates full of his art. On March 17, 1901, 71 of van Gogh's paintings were displayed at a show in Paris, and his fame subsequently grew enormously. His mother lived long enough to see her son hailed as an artist and a genius. Today, Vincent van Gogh is considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. 

In 1973, the Van Gogh Museum opened its doors in Amsterdam to make the works of Vincent van Gogh accessible to the public. The museum houses more than 200 van Gogh paintings, 500 drawings and 750 written documents including letters to Vincent’s brother Theo. It features self-portraits, “The Potato Eaters,” “The Bedroom” and “Sunflowers.” 

Sunset at Montmajour  Painted by Van Gogh 1888

In September 2013, the museum discovered and unveiled a van Gogh painting of a landscape entitled "Sunset at Montmajour.” Before coming under the possession of the Van Gogh Museum, a Norwegian industrialist owned the painting and stored it away in his attic, having thought that it wasn't authentic. The painting is believed to have been created by van Gogh in 1888 — around the same time that his artwork "Sunflowers" was made — just two years before his death.

In Arles, Van Gogh painted over 200 paintings; portraits, self-portraits and evening café scenes. Following Vincent cutting off his left ear Vincent spent 1889 in an insane asylum, where he created over 150 paintings, including the Starry Night, a magical painting that makes the brilliantly lit night sky appear as if it is rolling like waves over a pastoral village. Many of his other paintings also featured dazzling night scenes with glowing stars.

Starry Night Over the Rhone Painted by Van Gogh 1888

Quick Facts About Vincent Van Gogh

• Van Gogh suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy as well as other mental and physical conditions.
• Vincent only sold one painting during his lifetime and only became famous after his death
• Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his ear. He only cut off a small portion of his ear lobe.
• Van Gogh painted "The Starry Night" in the asylum where he was staying in Saint-Rémy, France, in 1889, the year before his death. “This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big,” he wrote to his brother Theo.
• Van Gogh wrote over 800 letters in his lifetime. Most of them written to his brother and closest friend Theo. In his letters, Van Gogh mentions over 1,100 works by different artists, as well as at least 800 books and magazine articles. He looked for intellectual and artistic nourishment.
• Vincent was obsessed with painting and sketching self-portraits.  Over the course of 10 years, van Gogh created more than 43 self-portraits. "I am looking for a deeper likeness than that obtained by a photographer," he wrote to his sister. "People say, and I am willing to believe it, that it is hard to know yourself. But it is not easy to paint yourself, either. The portraits painted by Rembrandt are more than a view of nature, they are more like a revelation,” he later wrote to his brother.
• Vincent’s brother Theo died six months after Vincent and is buried next to him in Auvers, France.
• Vincent’s brother’s wife collected Vincent’s paintings and letters after his death and dedicated herself to getting his work the recognition it deserved.
• Van Gogh created approximately 900 paintings in 10 years. In his lifetime, Vincent van Gogh completed more than 2,100 works of art; 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. Several of his paintings now rank among the most expensive in the world; "Irises" sold for a record $53.9 million, and his "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold for $82.5 million.

Further Exploring and Reading:

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

More about Vincent and Gauguin:

http://www.gauguin.org/link.jsp

Van Gogh’s Night Visions:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/van-goghs-night-visions-131900002/

Touring Europe in the Footsteps of van Gogh:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/travel/van-gogh-france-belgium-netherlands.html

Van Gogh and some of his works:

https://www.vincentvangogh.org/   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

Movies about Van Gogh:

• Loving Vincent -2017

 Directors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Writers: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman

• Vincent and Theo- 1990

Director: Robert Altman and Writer: Julian Mitchell

Be sure to visit the museum in person or on line.  It is an awesome site:

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en

The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Wikipedia

Address: Museumplein 6, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

Founded: June 2, 1973, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The museum's collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.