The Real Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37 in 1890

Last night my friend took me to see a play called Vincent at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

We didn't know much about it except that it was written by actor Leonard Nimoy, famously known for playing Spock on Star Trek. Apparently Nimoy had a life-long fascination of the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Not only did Nimoy write the play, he also performed it. 

He liked to paint scenes of everyday people

Vincent is based on more than 500 letters between van Gogh and his brother Theo, who were known to be very close. Theo owned an art gallery and was the one who financially kept his older brother afloat.

It turns out this is a one-man play was performed by Adam Harris, who I later found out during the intermission that he's a veterinarian by day! And this is not his first production! He previously performed Educating Rita, The Unknown Soldier, and Underneath the Lintel.

Harris is explosive from the start, with lots of energy to sustain the two-hour production. 

He plays Theo, who gathers us, his audience, as his friends to give his own personal memorial for Vincent who had recently succumbed to a gunshot wound in his chest. Theo says he was too distraught during the funeral to say anything but now seems prepared to speak, with several letters to help him paint a fuller picture of his brother.

There are some interesting details about van Gogh's life: He was hoping to become a minister and did preach in really poor parishes. Theo recounts that one time there was a terrible fire in a mine and one of the miners was left for dead but Vincent nursed him back to health.

A bandage around his head after cutting off his ear

And then he was socially awkward, falling in love with a cousin who was a widow, making the family mortified and terrified, as van Gogh could be emotional and stubborn.

He later fell for a "woman on the streets", who had two children and another on the way. Again his parents were hardly pleased and Theo had to financially look after all those mouths. Van Gogh finally left her.

Eventually he turned to painting but he was self-conscious and didn't want Theo to sell his pieces yet. He was emotionally fragile and doctors diagnosed him as being epileptic and was sent to recover in Arles, France.

That is where he became prolific in his paintings, and Theo reports Vincent would paint one or maybe even two canvases a day. We are then shown on a large screen a slide show of his works, some of which are famous, like The Starry Night, Sunflowers and Irises, and a few I have never seen before.

He then has an encounter with fellow artist Paul Gaugin, who Theo despises, because the meeting resulted in Vincent cutting his ear off and gifting it to a prostitute. His depression got worse and it is believed that contributed to him going into the fields to paint and shooting himself in the chest.

The Starry Night was shown during the play

Theo recalls in detail what they talked about before Vincent died, their childhood memories and asking for forgiveness for having his younger brother supporting him this whole time.

In the post script, Theo was so overcome by his brother's death that he too died less than a year later. Eventually Theo's remains were buried next to Vincent.

Harris as Theo is quite intense, with bursts of emotion that are explosive and thoughtful. He also sometimes plays Vincent, with darker lighting to illustrate this. He also reads Vincent's letters in his voice.

When Harris walked off stage to signal the intermission, we the audience had no idea what was happening until a female voice said there would be a 10-minute intermission!

My friend's friends who also went all said it was an intense play!

He was diagnosed as epileptic and depressed

Apparently Harris likes to do these one-man plays, perhaps making it easier for him to control the situation and not having to depend too much on others.

At the very end a woman came up on stage and sang Starry Starry Night which was a nice (and less emotional) finish.

Learned a lot more about van Gogh and glad to see this performance!

Vincent by Leonard Nimoy

Hong Kong Arts Centre McAulay Studio

November 18-20, 2021

An Afternoon of Art

A bronze sculpture of Wu Guanzhong by Wu Weishan (2019)

On my day off earlier this week I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Last year the museum finally finished a massive renovation that took over four years and HK$930 million. The refurbishment included adding 3,000 square metres of space, though in general the layout of the museum is the same.

Some exhibitions were fascinating, others I admit to going through quickly. These were some highlights for me.

I started from the top floor down, and there are beautiful drawings and paintings of Hong Kong from decades ago by Kong Kai-ming, who is now in his late 80s. Mostly self-taught in drawing and painting using pencil, fountain pen, watercolours and oil, he has captured scenes of the city, some of them long gone now.

Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai by Kong

These include the ramshackle huts that people lived in in Shek Kip Mei, the old Kowloon-Canton Railway Station by the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, and old apartment buildings in Wan Chai.

While the sketches illustrate his passion to capture what is in front of him, Kong is not sentimental.

"Everything has its own lifespan and when it comes to an end, it's time to say goodbye. It's the same with old buildings; when they are no longer suitable for preservation, it is time to let them go," he said in an interview in 2018.

The accomplished artist has also taught at the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts, First Institute of Art and Design, School of Continuing Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Continuing Education at Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Correctional Services Department, not to mention publishing over 40 art books.

On the same floor is an interesting contemporary work by Koon Wai-bong called Crisp air in a bamboo grove. He creates a "bamboo forest" with long strips of silk hanging from the ceiling and on them are bamboo trees painted in a traditional Chinese style in green ink.

There is a slight wind in the room that moves the strips and the atmosphere is enhanced with birds chirping in the background.

Bamboo trees painted on silk by Koon Wai-bong

One floor down in the hallway is Rosanna Li Wei-han's ceramic figurines that are set in everyday Hong Kong scenes. Her figures are chubby and the faces full of expression, while the miniature settings are recreated in detail. When they are looked at with Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island in the background, it really makes these mini dioramas come to life.

Also on the same floor is Kwok Mang-ho, otherwise known as Frog King, an eccentric artist who dresses up in mostly black and red outfits with frog motifs and funny glasses. Quite the character. In the museum he has his own corner, and even a small studio space; if you're lucky you might see him there.

His work is colourful (in Chinese ink and a splash of red) and funny too. A strange character for sure.

On the first floor is contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing's seminal work, A book from the sky, that took him four years to complete.

Winslow Street scene by Rosanna Li

It takes up an entire room, with three long sheets of paper hung from the ceiling, along with several giant sheets on opposite walls, and then on the floor dozens of traditional Chinese calligraphy books opened at certain pages, others are closed.

What is most ironic about this is that Xu made up some 4,000 Chinese characters that are printed on all this paper all over the room. He managed to persuade printers to not only make the over 4,000 characters, but print them too.

Is Xu a genius for creating a roomful of gibberish? Or is the museum a fool for purchasing such a piece of "art" that either pays homage or satirizes the Chinese literary tradition, where scholars were highly regarded.

Seems like viewers could have numerous interpretations and opinions about this piece.

The exhibition I enjoyed the most was of Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong, celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth. He died 10 years ago, and since then his pieces have fetched astronomical prices at auction, but thankfully he gifted many of his works to museums, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Xu's work features over 4,000 made-up characters

Wu was born in 1919 but while he was studying art at the National Arts Academy of Hangzhou, the Sino-Japanese War broke out and he left Hangzhou, continuing his studies while moving with the academy to places like Jiangxi, Hunan and Sichuan provinces.

In 1947 he won a national scholarship from the government to study in France; his exam paper -- a copy of it in the museum -- was rated so highly because he demonstrated his knowledge of art and the history of art so well.

During his three years in Paris, Wu was drawn to the works of Camille Pissaro, Paul Cezanne and in particular was touched by Vincent van Gogh's work. Wu was impressed by van Gogh's decision of not staying in dazzling Paris, but instead the countryside that inspired his art.

The Dutch painter's life inspired Wu to return to China in 1950, but he found he and his work did not match the revolutionary style of portraying heroic workers, farmers and soldiers.

Wu's The Malan Village in pen and ink

When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Wu destroyed many of his oil paintings, worried the Red Guards would find them. He was later denounced as a "bourgeois formalist" and banned from painting for seven years. Then Wu was sent down to the countryside, away from his wife and family.

Later in the 1970s he was finally allowed to paint -- once a week. He used that precious time to paint on cardboard and he used a basket as his easel, which was typically for collecting animal dung. Like van Gogh, he painted rural scenes.

He eventually developed his definitive style, moving from realism to beautiful line drawings in ink, meticulously drawn, that later became more and more abstract to dots on the paper.

One particular painting was very interesting, called Leaving youth behind (2009). It's an ink brush painting of lotus leaves and stems that are limp and dying.

Leaving youth behind reflects Wu himself

Wu once said: "Lotus is a popular subject matter in traditional Chinese painting, but those conventional lotus paintings cannot move me emotionally. The interlaced leaves of all sizes in the lotus pond is an intricate maze of straight and curved lines. Even their shadows are engulfed in the leaves, it is difficult to tell whether the leaves are above or under the water. I seem to be an insect under the leaf, being lost in this labyrinth of flowers and leaves."

For this particular painting, Wu recalled while the Gang of Four was in power, he went to Beihai Park in Beijing during the winter and the lake was frozen, but the withered lotus leaves and stalks were not cleared away.

"High and low they stood, their bodies all black and bruised, like a bunch of mummies standing. Qi Baishi has drawn many paintings of withered lotus, but never was there this powerful touch of tragedy. They reminded me of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais. I was driven by a strong urge to draw these frozen lotus carcasses... I even thought for a time that the frozen lotus carcasses were in fact a reflection of me."

The Great Wall has dynamic brushstrokes

His painting The Great Wall (1988) is so dynamic, showing the Great Wall winding its way over mountains and hills like snakes. One can't help but be drawn into the painting and feel the energy of his brushstrokes.

Hong Kong is very lucky to have many of Wu's works for everyone to see and appreciate his life and passion for art.

Review: China's Van Goghs

One of the "factories" that churn out copies of famous paintings everyday

On my flight back to Hong Kong, I watched several documentaries, which I much prefer over movies, mostly because I can learn new things about different people, cultures, companies and countries.

A very interesting documentary I saw was China's Van Goghs that was released in 2016. Directed by Yu Haibo and Kiki Tianqi Yu, it focuses on Dafen, in Shenzhen that is the world's largest oil painting village.

Apparently it was started in 1989 by a Hong Kong artist and entrepreneur by the name of Huang Jiang, but with a name like that, he most probably was originally from the mainland. German media outlet Der Spiegel reports he was an errand boy in Hong Kong before he started copying art work and then went back to China to find cheaper space and labour.

Zhao Xiaoyang paints a large version of Van Gogh's portrait

When Huang started there were 20 painters -- now there are over 10,000.

China's Van Goghs focuses on two artist-entrepreneurs: The main character is Zhao Xiaoyang from Hunan province. He, his wife, brother and his brother-in-law have painted over 100,000 copies of Van Gogh's works.

Another character is Zhou Youngjiu from Guangdong, who has a mini factory of his own, where his employees have churned out over 300,000 copies.

There are numerous scenes watching these artisans at work all day, painting the same famous works over and over again. It looks like grinding factory work instead of something that should seem spontaneous or have more artistic merit. But hey, it's a way to make a living.

Zhao has been painting Van Gogh's works for 20 years. He feels that having copied his works for so long that he believes he knows the Dutch artist -- even seeing him in his dreams.

Incidentally Zhao has a client in Amsterdam who he has painted copies of Van Gogh's works for over four years. Apparently their professional relationship is so good that if Zhao can pay for his return plane ticket, this client will host him -- pay for his accommodation and food.

Zhao paints his version of Cafe Terrace at Night

This prospect makes Zhao very excited -- not only would it be his first time going outside of China, but also see Van Gogh's originals up close to help him further appreciate the works he copies daily.

His motivation is very strong because he admits (after having copious amounts of alcohol), that he didn't even finish elementary school education -- it was too expensive for his mother to pay for, making Zhao ashamed of his background. But perhaps this trip will make up for it.

Once he's there Zhao is shocked to discover his client is hardly a gallery owner, but has a souvenir shop where they sell hundreds of these fake copies per month -- at eight times the cost he charges for the paintings.

It's a sad realization for the Chinese artisan, which makes Zhao question his desire to be a so-called artist.

Zhou on the other hand is too busy to go on this trip of a lifetime. In one scene, he berates one of his employees for getting the proportions of a Van Gogh self portrait completely wrong. It had been corrected three times, and now it's almost looks finished, but doesn't look like a decent copy at all.

It is not clear how it got to that point at such a late stage, but the young painter throws down his brush in frustration saying he won't paint anymore, but Zhou ignores him and orders him to fix the painting.

Both Zhao and Zhou realize that if they want to become true artists, they need to follow their own calling -- not copy someone else's works.

The documentary is so interesting because it not only reveals the mundane lives these artisans live, but also delves further into their aspirations not only for themselves, but for their children. They are careful to make sure the next generation "eat bitterness" too so that they know it's not easy to make a living.

Dafen is also a microcosm of China's factory industry and mentality -- that the artisans need to find other ways to make money other than copying others.

Following Zhao in Amsterdam and Paris was fantastic seeing Europe through his eyes, how his preconceived ideas about big cities weren't the same as in China, in particular how clean Amsterdam was. He was also thrilled to see people's appreciation for his original art, when he spontaneously painted in the same spot Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night.

These little observations are what make China's Van Goghs a wonderful documentary, and it's a reminder of the wage and education disparity in the country that has so far to go before there is more equity in society.

China's Van Goghs

Directed by Yu Haibo and Kiki Tianqi Yu

Released 2016

80 minutes

Review: Loving Vincent

The film incorporates some of Vincent van Gogh's most famous works

Just saw a fantastic movie tonight -- Loving Vincent, that is almost near the end of its two-week run in theatres in Hong Kong.

It's a gorgeous film to watch -- though my dad says he found it difficult to watch because the entire film is painted on canvas -- animated second by second in 65,000 frames. It's understandable that it can be hard on the eyes, as dabs of paint are constantly moving as a person or image makes a movement, as it is painted in the style of Vincent van Gogh.

His self portrait compares with actor Robert Gulaczyk

One hundred and twenty-five artists were recruited to paint this first-ever film animated by paintings. Live actors did the scenes, and painters recreated them in van Gogh's painting style, incorporating 94 of his famous works in the film.

Not only that but the story line is fascinating too. There are different theories as to how van Gogh died -- did he kill himself or was he shot by someone else? This is what is explored in the film through the son of the postmaster who goes on a journey to discover the truth.

Van Gogh and his brother Theo exchanged letters frequently, which is why the postmaster, Roulin, is very familiar with the Dutch artist. The film starts a year after van Gogh's death where the postmaster has one last letter from van Gogh to his brother and instructs his son Armand to deliver it.

Postmaster Roulin (right) with his son Armand

However, Theo died soon after his brother passed away, and the postmaster's son doesn't know who to deliver the letter to. Each person he meets, such as Pere Tanguy who sold van Gogh painting supplies, Dr Gachet, his daughter Marguerite, and even a boatman, tell him a different story about van Gogh, his personality, his artistic talent, his being bullied by others, his financial troubles.

They also gives a different account of how or why van Gogh died, leaving Armand -- and us the viewers -- with a more rounded picture of the artist, whose parents felt he didn't live up to their expectations of their son, and so he was determined to make something of himself on his own terms.

At the age of 28 he picked up painting with no prior experience and within eight years he painted some 800 paintings -- more prolific that many artists in the same time span. However he only sold one painting in his lifetime, a tragedy that his brilliance and contribution to the impressionists was only discovered after his death.

Actor Chris O'Dowd, the original work, and the film's painting

Personally I found the film mesmerizing -- it was just amazing to see each frame had been painted in oil in the style of van Gogh. It definitely could not have been computer generated -- van Gogh would probably be horrified!

My friend YTSL remarked that the characters in the film were painted to look like the actual actors, who were chosen because they looked similar to the people in the original paintings.

Meanwhile, the backstory scenes of van Gogh's life are painted more realistically in black and white to differentiate between the past and present.

125 artists were recruited to paint each of the scenes

Loving Vincent is a labour of love and it shows. Co-director Dorota Kobiela also wrote the script; she was inspired after reading van Gogh's letters to Theo and studied his paintings, and wanted to incorporate them together.

It's a gorgeously rich film that deserves recognition for all the work put into it, in particular the passion and literally every brush stroke.

Loving Vincent

Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman

95 minutes

Unfinished Paintings Left to Imagination

Jan van Eyck's St Barbara is very detailed as a sketch

Yesterday before going to see The Met exhibit "Manus x Machina", we went to visit the new Met Breuer, which occupies the building where The Whitney used to be, on 75th Street and Madison Avenue.

The Met Breuer houses modern and contemporary art, and for its inaugural exhibition, the museum had an interesting show called "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible", on until September 4.

Leonardo's beautiful rendering of a woman

It's an interesting exhibition -- giving visitors a chance to look at paintings or works that aren't finished and try to figure out what the artists' intentions were.

There are 197 works on show, which is a lot to go through, but many of them are interesting and range from Leonardo da Vinci to Rembrandt to Manet, and Andy Warhol.

We were immediately mesmerized by Jan van Eyck's St Barbara made in 1437. The painting is hardly completed and yet the sketch is so detailed that it is beautiful in itself.

Nearby is Leonardo da Vinci's Head and Shoulders of a Woman (La Scapigliata), where the artist has drawn a graceful face of the woman with untamed locks that are not clearly executed, but leaves this to the viewers' imagination.

Just the face and lapdog missing here...

While many have the face or subject clearly defined and painted, leaving the background unfinished, the opposite is true of Anton Raphael Mengs' portrait Mariana de Silva y Sarmiento, Duquesa de Huescar.

Everything from the neck down is painted perfectly, but her face is rubbed out and even her lapdog is left blank. It's kind of disturbing not to be able to see her face, but interesting how the artist approached the painting and wasn't able to complete it.

There's a painting by Gustav Klimt, a posthumous portrait of Ria Munk III, who committed suicide after her fiance called off their engagement. Apparently he worked on her portrait twice before and the family wasn't happy with it and this was the third attempt, but Klimt died before he could finish it.

One has a good idea of what the painting would look completed, with the sumptuous and vivid colours coming through the canvas.

Klimt's beautiful portrait half finished

Paintings by JMW Turner are also in the show, a series of canvases that showcase his signature impressionist style, but they are so blurred that they don't even have any clues of where the painting is set.

On the second floor, the modern art is harder to figure out if it is "finished" or not. Most amusing is Andy Warhol's Do it Yourself (Violin), a paint-by-numbers canvas with only some parts coloured in.

We were pretty tired by the time we got to the second floor; thankfully there were fewer pieces there, but we were pretty brain dead by then.

Nevertheless we quite enjoyed the show. It turns out museums like The Metropolitan receive many works that are unfinished and this is a good opportunity for the museum to showcase these pieces to visitors, who rarely get to see them.

Andy Warhol's paint-by-numbers cheeky painting

They give some insight into the artists' intentions as well as technical artistic methods. Hopefully more curators will consider including these kinds of works when profiling artists or themes to give more depth to the exhibition.

Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible

Until September 4

The Met Breuer

945 Madison Avenue

New York

The Papal Palace in Avignon and Following Van Gogh

Walking towards the Palais des Papes or papal palace in Avignon

It's really hot in the south of France today, hitting 34 degrees, but a friend back in Hong Kong told me temperatures are between 33 to 35 degrees plus humidity. However mornings and evenings are nice here in en Provence, though it's scorching hot during the day.

The Avignon Bridge inspired by Saint Benezet

Before going into the papal palace or Palais des Papes, we saw the Avignon Bridge that spans the Rhone River. It was built due to the inspiration of Saint Benezet, a shepherd boy who heard the voice of Jesus Christ tell him to build a bridge over the river.

He was ridiculed at first, but was soon believed after Benezet miraculously lifted a giant boulder. The bridge was built from 1177 to 1185 and when Benezet died, his body was interred in the chapel above the bridge. It has since been moved to another chapel.

The papal palace was also a fortified fortress

However, the bridge does not go across the river completely -- the water there runs so fast that it was difficult to keep rebuilding the bridge and the lack of funds resulted in giving up on completing the bridge and it has been left as it is since 1669.

The bridge is also famous for the song, Sur le Pont d'Avignon... but I barely remember the lyrics from when I sang it in elementary school!

After a few pictures of the bridge, we visited the papal palace that began construction in 1252. Pope Clement V was elected in 1305 and at the time two Italian families sparked a civil war in Italy, making it unsafe for the pope, and so he chose another place that was a state for the church, that happened to be Avignon.

The palace was also a fortress, and the tower in particular is very protected, as the pope's living quarters were there, as well as the treasury where gold, jewellery and his clothing were kept, and the other "treasury" was the wine cellar.

The Langlois Bridge that van Gogh painted

The pope's living quarters were very lavishly decorated -- there are lots of blue colour on the walls, which originated from lapis lazuli, a semi precious stone, and the floral motifs include lots of birds, as it was believed these creatures were symbols of paradise. Green colours were made from vegetables, notably spinach. His library also contained 2,000 books which was a lot during the 14th century.

Seven popes stayed here and during this time it led to the Papal Schism, where there was a pope in Avignon and one in Rome. Our guide said the two popes had similar outlooks so it wasn't too much of a problem.

But the last pope, Antipope Benedict XIII (antipope meaning the opposition to the pope in Rome), finally returned to the Vatican after Catherine of Siena convinced him to return, and the next pope was elected in 1378.

The amphitheatre is still being used for events like bullfights

The papal palace also has a large austere room where the cardinals gathered to elected the next pope. Instead of smoke, the bells were rung to signal a new pope was elected.

While the last pope took all the tapestries, gold, wine and furniture back to the Vatican, it was sad to hear that during the French Revolution the papal palace was severely damaged, with frescoes destroyed and statues beheaded.

We also got to see the "haute cuisine", or a large room with holes where spits would have been to roast up to seven or eight whole cows at a time to feed 300 people. The French came up with the word "barbecue", as barb means "head" and queue for "tail".

The hospital in which van Gogh stayed in and painted

In the dining area, there was a fireplace to heat up food, and the pope sat opposite the fireplace. He also had an instrument to test food for poison. The pope also figuratively didn't sleep lying down -- it meant death -- so he slept in a chair...

Our next stop was Arles, which was one time was a Roman colony in the 1st century BC. We saw some reminders of the town's Roman history -- the amphitheatre, circus and arc of triumph are still standing and continue to be used today.

Theatres are still used for performances, while the amphitheatre, formerly the location for gladiator fights and races, is now the place for bull fights, with one coming up on July 18.

At the asylum in St Remy is van Gogh's bedroom

But the other important historical importance of Arles is that Vincent van Gogh spent a year here in 1888 and was inspired by the brilliant colours he saw here, and felt the sky was bluer here than in Paris.

He painted such works as Bedroom in Arles, The Night Cafe, Cafe Terrace at Night, Starry Night Over the Rhone, and Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers. We also saw the Langlois Bridge that van Gogh also painted.

Painted Paul Gauguin visited van Gogh, who hoped the two could paint together, but after a while they quarreled, and Gauguin left, due to personal differences (Gauguin was arrogant and domineering, while van Gogh admired him and desperate to make their friendship work).

This was the view from his studio across from the bedroom

Van Gogh ended up in a hospital here, a yellow and blue-trimmed building with a nice courtyard filled with colourful flowers. However he didn't stay there long as other patients felt he was too crazy.

He then went to Sainte Remy in 1889, in an asylum that was a former monastery. It's set in the middle of nowhere really, some Roman ruins nearby, and olive trees. Inside there is an arched hallway and another pretty floral courtyard.

Then upstairs we saw the small bedroom van Gogh lived in, the small bed and the tiled rustic floor, and the window had a view of the countryside -- and in our case we saw a small patch of lavender in the backyard.

The fragrant lavender bushes grown behind the asylum

He also had a small room across his bedroom in which he could paint, and it looked down on the courtyard, though he was also allowed to paint outside with an escort. It's a pity the small museum only houses photographic reproductions of his paintings, not even decent copies like Monet's house in Giverny.

Nevertheless, it gave us a good idea of where van Gogh spent another year here, seeing what he saw, and imagining how he was inspired by his surroundings.

Tragically a year later, van Gogh's mental state deteriorated and on July 27, 1890, he apparently shot himself in the chest, though the gun was never found and there were no witnesses. He died 29 hours later.

A bronze statue of van Gogh with sunflowers

In the last few years of his life van Gogh was prolific, making 43 self-portraits and a number of his now famous works that can be found in Musee d'Orsay, and MOMA to name a few.