Monday, June 18, 2007

The Power of Art - Vincent

What follows is personal opinion, of course. And what I'm going to opine on is Simon Schama's Power of Art and his presentation on van Gogh. (Part of a series of programs presented on public television.)

Edited later: I decided to remove my arrogant critique of this TV program. Its been bothering me all day. I shall simply say that I loved the visual presentation. The narrative seemed to not sit quite right with me and I'm not sure why.

I look forward to seeing the rest of the series and I hope they are shown soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really interesting read, thanks C. I enjoyed it a lot.. I don't know much about his life but enjoyed reading you...sandy

The Crusty Crone said...

I certainly sound full of it, thats for sure! Just another example of how I should let things marinate before opening my mouth. Blah Blah Blah. But I still feel a bit disappointed in the narrative, even if I can't put my finger on why, exactly. And its probably just a personal-preference kind of thing.

Sue J said...

Hi Crusty, I have been watching a series about Vincent, over the last three Sundays and he did have several stays in the asylum. I think you're right about the money Theo gave him too. He did move in with Theo and wife at one stage and it didn't work out very well. He didn't like anyone else being the centre of Theo's attention, and the presenter (BBC - forgot his name, but it wasn't Sharma) suggested that much of what he did was to gain Theo's attention. The series covered his start in business; his time in England and his wanderings in Europe. It visited all the places depicted in his paintings and drawings. A very interesting series. Like you say, it would be hard to do it all justice in an hour.
Also, I think Gaugin had several children when he nicked off to Tahiti to fool around.