180910 Art Talk Sept 10th: Vincent van Gogh – a Soul in Torment

Date: 10th September 2018 10:30

Location: Salón de Actos, Espai la Senieta, Moraira (next to the large free car park)

Subject: Vincent van Gogh – a Soul in Torment

Lecturer: Cheda Panajotovic

Vincent Van Gogh was the son of a humourless pastor of the Dutch Reformed church who could never please his father. The young lad became taciturn, self-willed, sometime destructive and often bad tempered. When adult, he even became a pastor for a short time but even that effort did not please his father. In the end, he walked away and took to painting, supported totally and selflessly by his younger brother Theo.

We often think of Vincent as a ‘great little man’ who happened to paint well. In reality, he was a gifted linguist and an avid reader of literature mainly French and English. Throughout his artistic life he wrote long and regular letters to his brother which show a man of great intellect always analysing his work and its progress.

In this talk you will hear of the demons that plagued him but even more of the soul that poured out to us via his vibrant paintbrushes. If ever there was a man who should have lived more than his mere 37 years.