Vincent Van Gogh: A Prisoner In His Own Mind...never saw this painting before

[Ichingcarpenter]

Prisoners Exercising by Van Gogh an Analysis

http://wanderingmind.hubpages.com/hub/Prisoners-Exercising-by-Van-Gogh-an-Analysis

[Takket]

1. facinating...

I care very much for someone who deals with the same struggles of feeling that Van Gogh does in this painting. So I can relate (by proxy) to what is being discussed here very much. thanks for posting!

[navarth]

2. Wow....I've never seen this painting before either...

A few years ago I read Lust For Life and a compendium of letters from Vincent to Theo. I have no memory of a mention of this painting. So powerful. The prototypical tortured genius. Rest in Peace, Vincent.

[mountain grammy]

3. I've never seen this one.. wow!

didn't even see the birds until I read the article.

[jtuck004]

4. Bank$ters viewing their victims, before they go pick up their government checks, their

rewards for donations to the party that turned it's back on the people walking in the circle.

Don't forget history lest you repeat it.

[tclambert]

5. I immediately wondered if the blond prisoner with no hat is supposed to be Van Gogh himself,

or perhaps a figure he identifies with. In which case, Vincent must be saying, "This is what I feel like, stuck walking in an endless circle, going nowhere, trapped by insurmountable obstacles, while the figures of authority and prosperity ignore me and my work. My spirit wants to fly above all this human misery, like two little butterflies fluttering about, only temporarily visiting this prison. Stuck on Earth, I will continue to walk around this circle and become a faceless shadow."

[jwirr]

10. I also wondered if this was a self-portrait.

[catnhatnh]

6. Jesus H. Christ....Read This!

"While all other characters in the painting where hats, the blonde man walks bear headed, and his gate seems to angle away from the path of the circle as though he intends to leave it."

where=wear
bear=bare
gate=gait


For fuck's sake-I'm a high school drop out and this moron has ruined this "analysis" by being a functional illiterate. I know people hate grammar Nazis, but if you pretend to be educated you should at least do it convincingly...

[trumad]

7. LOL

[catnhatnh]

8. You are ABSOLUTLEY right...

...that sucker is bear headed.

[Mariana]

14. Also, shouldn't it be "blond man"

instead of "blonde"?

[catnhatnh]

9. I take it back.

I read the rest of the piece and the part I quoted above was the most lucid part of the whole.

[chervilant]

11. Thanks for this post.

Van Gogh is my favorite artist. My favorite Van Gogh is "Crab on its Back," which I was privileged to see in 1998 at the National Gallery in DC. When you are up close to this picture, you see individual slashes of brilliant colors, each laid precisely next to each other. But, the image does not coalesce into 'crab' until you back away to viewing distance. At that distance, the crab seems lifelike, as though it's about to right inself on the canvas.

Most profound experience, seeing so MANY of his works in one place!

(I don't recall seeing this one, though, and I think I would.)

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. I found out the painting is now in the russian art museum

Which is why I haven't seen it before

[azmom]

13. Lucky you. He's one of my favorite too.