A Few of My Favourite Paintings at the 'Van Gogh and the Seasons' Exibition in Melbourne

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I’m on school holidays at the moment, so I really had nothing better to do than go stare at a dead guy’s artwork.

Just kidding, it was actually quite cool. I recently went to the ‘Van Gogh and the Seasons’ exhibition in Melbourne. It was held at the National Gallery of Victoria and featured many of the artist’s paintings and artwork. It was interesting to see all of the different types of artwork he had done, as there were sketches, heaps of differently styled paintings and even Japanese art.

Besides seeing his work, I also learned a lot about Van Gogh. One thing I learned was that some people - mainly Brits - pronounce his name ‘Van Gof’ rather than ‘Van Go’. His journey through life was also marked by depression and inner turmoil. He was a missionary, but lost his faith after experiencing severe mental illness and had to spend a lot of time in a psychiatric hospital. We all know he cut off his ear, but he also later shot himself in the chest with a pistol, at the age of 37, dying two days later.

Following are some of the paintings that stood out to me. All the following photos were taken on my phone.

'Avenue of poplars in autumn,' late October 1884



'Pine trees at sunset,' December 1889



'The parsonage garden at Nuenen in the snow,' January 1885



'Roses and peonies,' June 1886



'A wheatfield, with cypresses,' early September 1889



'Still life with wildflowers and carnations,' summer 1887

We were also told that he loved to paint peasants. These are a few of the many that were in the exhibition.

'The sower,' December 1882



'Farmers planting potatoes,' September 1884

And finally, my favourite from the exhibition, his famous self portrait:

'Self portrait,' autumn 1887