Rebel of the Avant-garde

Influence on Modernism

Around 1880, the Impressionists formed the painterly avant-garde. They ignored the ‘common rules of painting’ to bring their own subjective impression of nature to the canvas. However, it was always meant to remain a realistic impression of nature. Thus, colors were always reproduced true to nature. Van Gogh did not submit to these restrictions. He used color to express the feelings he experienced when observing nature. Perhaps without consciously intending to, Van Gogh became the pioneer for coming generations of painters who, thanks to his example, now reproduced their ‘inner impression of things’ in their paintings with absolute freedom, without external rules. Young artists, impressed by Van Gogh’s courage and representation, soon called him the ‘Father of Modernism’.

André Derain (1880–1954) was, alongside Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958), one of the main representatives of Fauvism, an art movement characterized by vibrant colors and expressive use of color. Van Gogh had already painted his boats in 1888 with large areas of color that don’t really follow perspective, as they are too two-dimensional.

The German-Russian Expressionist Alexej von Jawlensky was co-founder of the artists’ group ‘Blue Rider’ in Munich, together with Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Unlike Van Gogh, however, the brushwork in the background does not follow the contour of the head.

Similar motif – same statement. Odilon Redon took the motif of the almond blossom and enhanced the spiritual dimension from Van Gogh’s work with a Buddha figure under his tree.

All these paintings were the most expensive painting of all time in their day. Notable: Only three years separate the sale of the ‘Sunflowers’ and the ‘Portrait of Dr. Gachet’. The price doubled in this time.

Title: Shot Sage Blue, Marilyn Andy Warhol
Date: 10.5.2022
Seller: Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation
Buyer: unknown
Price: 195.04 million $
Location: Christie’s New York

Title: The Women of Algiers (Version ‘O’), Pablo Picasso
Date: 11.5.2015
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: 179.4 million $
Location: Christie’s New York

Title: Three Studies of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon
Date: 11.2013
Seller: unknown
Buyer: unknown
Price: 142.4 million $
Location: Christie’s New York

Title: No. 5, 1948, Jackson Pollock
Date: 2.11.2006
Seller: David Geffen
Buyer: unknown
Price: 140 million $
Location: Private sale through Sotheby’s

Title: Femme à la montre, Pablo Picasso
Date: 8.11.2023
Seller: Heirs of Emily Fisher Landau
Buyer: unknown
Price: 139.4 million $
Location: Sotheby’s New York

About 100 years after Van Gogh’s death, his paintings reached a market value that corresponded to their art historical significance. In 1987, a ‘Van Gogh’ became the ‘most expensive painting in the world’ twice in a row – and for the third time in 1990. In 2022, the painting ‘Orchard with Cypresses’ achieved a price of over 100 million dollars at an auction in New York.
Such astronomical sums have so far only been paid for works by 14 artists worldwide
(as of 2024).

The blossoming fruit trees around Arles reminded Van Gogh of Japanese woodcuts, which he greatly admired. He arrived in Arles in the spring of 1888, and blossoming fruit trees in the open air were among his favorite motifs.