I was born over 140 years ago in another country called Holland.
I used to draw and paint people who worked on the land, people like farmers.
It wasn't very easy trying to make things grow in the cold, wet soil.
I used to draw the farm people all day, and even painted them at night while they ate the potatoes that they'd grown.
My impression of the land in Holland was that it was dark, cold and gloomy, and so I used dark colours when I drew and painted - blacks and browns and dark greens.
But then I moved to another country - France.
How different it felt to cold, gloomy Holland.
How warm the sun was.
And the colours - so exciting, so alive!
Everything looked brighter.
And I began to use bold, bright colours to match what I saw.
Red, blue, green…and yellow, my favourite colour - yellow.
The colour of sun, of warmth, of happiness.
I never got tired of painting growing things.
Flowers, trees, grasses - they seemed so alive, and they looked different in different weathers… and at different times of day… and night.
Painting outdoors meant working quickly because the light and the weather was changing all the time.
So I tried using very quick dashes of paint, and I liked to use lots of it - really thick, so people could feel the roughness of it.
People today love my paintings, but it wasn't always like that.
I only sold TWO pictures in my whole life.
Even though people didn't always like them, I never let it stop me.
And nowadays, my pictures sell for millions of pounds and my sunflower paintings are famous all over the world.
You are all artists, you know, yes, every one of you.
Try painting your impressions of flowers and trees.
You can experiment by using thick and thin paint and lots of exciting colours.
Video summary
A dramatized autobiography of the artist Vincent van Gogh talking about his work.
He talks about how he drew and painted farmers and people who worked on the land in Holland, using dark colours to represent the gloominess of their labour.
After moving to France he began to paint using brighter colours, drawing the landscapes and using nature as an inspiration for his work.
This clip is from the BBC series, Watch, Art: Myself and other People on BBC Two.
Teacher Notes
- After viewing the clip, pupils could first explore using quick strokes and bold colours on paper.
- What effect do they think this has? Afterwards, pupils could be given a still life to paint, perhaps a vase of flowers, in the style of Van Gogh using quick strokes and lots of paint.
- During the activity, students could be reminded about Van Gogh's concept of creating an impression using paint rather than creating a realistic representation.
This short film is relevant for teaching Art and Design at KS1 and KS2 in England and Wales and Northern Ireland and first level and second level in Scotland.
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