From Mad Painter to Mad King

I'm grateful to Joe Montague of Riveting Riffs for the interview.

Letters of Vincent van Gogh

In this article, the author Waldemar Januszczak is certainly correct when he refers to van Gogh's letters as "the greatest cache of writing about art left behind by any artist".
For more information go here.

Gauguin and van Gogh in Arles

Director’s Notes

In my film The Eyes of van Gogh, Paul Gauguin’s arrival at the Yellow House in Arles is the happiest day in Vincent van Gogh’s life. He will now be able to work with the man who, among living artists, he regards with the highest respect and esteem. He’ll have a friend and companion in art. From this will come his greatest dream: the realization of the School of the South. From this day forth, he believes, everything he’s dreamt of is possible.

To prepare for Gauguin’s arrival, Vincent has been working day and night with little sleep or food. He’s determined to show Gauguin as much good work as possible. All of Vincent’s hyperactivity and nervousness are focused completely on Gauguin. He and what he represents to Vincent are the emotional center of the scene. In his overwhelming excitement and eagerness he cuts off thoughts in mid-sentence and then jumps to a different thought entirely.

Aural Hallucinations in the film The Eyes of Van Gogh

In my film The Eyes of Van Gogh, the audience first becomes aware that Vincent van Gogh is hearing voices when Dr. Peyron, played by Roy Thinnes escorts him to his room in the insane asylum at St. Remy.

Vincent absorbs the atmosphere of the room like a sponge. He finds it desolate. He can feel it, taste it - almost hear it. When he hears the voices of his mother and father he reacts very much as he did at the time as a child. He is, in turn, startled, confused, and ultimately trembling in fear and anticipation.

Those voices began to torment van Gogh the night he threatened Paul Gauguin with a razor and continued after Gauguin left Arles. They are insidious and ugly yet, perversely, irresistible.

Throughout the film, he has no control over them. When they occur he feels transported to another world. Voices and sounds in the present are barely heard. He reacts to them, not retrospectively, but rather in relation to what they meant when they took place. He lives in the moment they occurred and takes the audience with him.