LOVING VINCENT

A movie that would encompass 8 years, 860 oil paintings, 1,026 drawings, 800 letters and 20 people just to tell the story of one man - Vincent Willem van Gogh 

Loving Vincent Poster

First conceived in 2008 as a short 7-minute film about the life of Vincent van Gogh Loving Vincent was released in 2017 as a full length animated biographical drama about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh, but more specifically, about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.   

Vincent van Gogh in 1872 at age 19   Photo: Public Domain

With a budget of $5.5 million, an online recruitment teaser for the project announced they were seeking “very pure oil painters”.  The teaser went viral with more than 200 million views, resulting in more than 5,000 applications being received from around the world.  Production began with a team of 125 artists from over 20 countries. 

Date night this week was attending the showing of Loving Vincent at the Yuma Historical Theater in downtown Yuma, Arizona.  Film length was 1 hour 35 min.  Before we left Mike did not display a great amount of enthusiasm but this morning told me how much he enjoyed it.  Personally I found it to be totally creative, unique and informative.  I appreciated how the information surrounding van Gogh’s death was presented, leaving the viewer to ponder the question - suicide or murder?

It was July 27, 1890 and a bright sunny day.  Most accounts of what happened that day would have you believe that van Gogh simply walked out into a sunny field in the middle of the day and shot himself once in the chest.  Not dead, he mustered enough energy to get up and walk back to his home, subsequently dying on his bed. 

Vincent van Gogh self portrait   Photo: Public Domain

Why would someone with a passion for the world take his own life?  Was it a self-inflicted gun shot as some would have you believe, or was he shot by a 16 year old bully as others suggest?  

 

“We can not speak other than by our paintings.”  Written by Vincent van Gogh in a letter the week before his death.  (1853-1890)

Fun facts about the film:

1. 94 original van Gogh paintings were used as-is 

2. Another 40 had to be reimagined for the screen 

3. Many of Van Gogh’s canvases were 1.33:1, but some were long and thin, so they had to be adapted to fit the film

4. Rotoscoping was used for most of the animation.

5. Production included the shooting of sixty minutes of live-action over just a 12 day period.

6. Midway through production it was “pretty much conclusively” proven that van Gogh had cut off ALL of his ear, rather than part of it and, as a result, they ended up having to repaint around 3,000 frames of the film.

7. Out of 65,000 painted frames, just 1,000 survived.  After finishing the painting of each frame, animators had to then remove the full painting with a spatula. Consequently, just a fraction of the hand-painted frames survived.

8. An exhibition of 200 paintings were put together to accompany release of the film.

Next time you are in Museumplein in Amsterdam, check out the Van Gogh Museum.  It opened in 1973 and houses the world's largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh. The collection includes world famous paintings like Sunflowers, Almond Blossom, The Starry Night and The Potato Eaters. 

The Starry Nigh   Photo: Public Domain

This was certainly worth the $7 admission charge.  Find a viewing near you or purchase the DVD online at Amazon.