Do you recognize this painting or its 19th century Dutch artist? “Irises” was painted by Vincent van Gogh 126 years ago, but its appeal is timeless. You can recreate a portion of the original during “Vino van Gogh, Paint, Drink, and be Merry!”
To support Whiteside County youngsters at April House Children’s Advocacy Center, 501 N. Madison Street, Morrison, IL, this fundraiser is being sponsored by Friends of April House. It will be Thursday, November 5, 2015, at Cross Creek Golf Course, 15523 Henry Road, Morrison. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. A complimentary glass of wine is included.
The $50 cost covers all materials and instructors, who will guide participants to create a quality canvas painting, suitable for framing.
Bring your creative friends. Call Dixie Vegter to reserve your place at 815-772-7966.
Information on this piece of art, which hangs in the van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
In May 1889, after episodes of self-mutilation and hospitalization, Vincent van Gogh chose to enter an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. There, in the last year before his death, he created almost 130 paintings. Within the first week, he began “Irises,” working from nature in the asylum’s garden. The cropped composition, divided into broad areas of vivid color with monumental irises overflowing its borders, was probably influenced by the decorative patterning of Japanese woodblock prints.
There are no known drawings for this painting; Van Gogh himself considered it a study. His brother Theo quickly recognized its quality and submitted it to the Salon des Indépendants in September 1889, writing Vincent of the exhibition: “[It] strikes the eye from afar. It is a beautiful study full of air and life.”
Each one of Van Gogh’s irises is unique. He carefully studied their movements and shapes to create a variety of curved silhouettes bounded by wavy, twisting, and curling lines. The painting’s first owner, French art critic Octave Mirbeau, one of Van Gogh’s earliest supporters, wrote, “How well he has understood the exquisite nature of flowers!”