Seeing Through the Artist’s Eyes
Van Gogh, Detail of a Self-Portrait drawing
Michelangelo's Art Through Michelangelo's Eyes (2005) was my first publication because it demonstrates how important it is to look at poetic art that way, through the eyes of the artist. I have continued to show how the same method works with other artists too, often with visually astonishing results.
Studying Van Gogh this afternoon I came across this apt quote. Without saying how, Vincent urges his brother Theo to look at art by the great masters in the same way. Note too how he puts the stress on all of them.
“I think that if one has tried to follow the masters attentively, one rediscovers them all at a certain moment deep in reality. I mean one will also see what one calls their creations in reality, the more one has similar eyes – a similar sentiment – to theirs.”1
1. Peter Hecht, Van Gogh and Rembrandt (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum) 2006, p. 20
Posted 19 Nov 2012: Artist as PoetBehind the EyeHand / EyeVan GoghTheoryVisual Perception
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