Post-Van Gogh Retrospective:
Post-Van Gogh Series

Dr. T.F. Chen

Saint Vincent
Oil on canvas
24" x 36"
1990

In some ways, Vincent  van  Gogh can be considered a saint.

Born in an evangelical family, and once devoted to becoming a preacher, Van Gogh often sought his refuge in God. He knew the Bible well, and also studied the literature  of such   humanistic authors as Victor  Hugo, Emile Zola, Jules Michelet, and Charles Dicken. However, because of his unconventional method of preaching, Van Gogh had been rejected early on from pursuing a religious vocation. Finally , when he was twenty -seven years old , Vincent discovered his salvation through art. From that moment on until his suicide at thirty-seven, we see one of the most astonishing and moving struggles of an artist, as he suffered through pain, misunderstandings, and isolation, to reach his creative climax.

 Yet in just ten years of artistic activity, Van Gogh blazed though this world like a meteor, and now emerges as a giant in art history. Once exiled for his madness, Van Gogh is now acclaimed for his genius. The intense passion which destroyed him, also gave the world some of the most beautiful artwork we have ever seen . An explorer of the inner self,  a seer of a true, richer universe, Vincent Van Gogh serves as an inspiration to all.

 In this "Saint Vincent," Chen pays homage to one of his favorite artists.   

 Inspired by Van Gogh at an early age, Chen decided to be an artist and went to Paris to study at I'Elcole des Beaux-Arts in the 1960's. He obtained his Ph.D in art history from la Sorbonne and afterwards, travelled to Arles and Auvers to visit the sites painted by Van Gogh. Chen was so  deeply influenced by Van Gogh that on  the occasion of the centennial worldwide celebration of Vincent's death in 1990, Chen painted 100 paintings dedicated to the artist as a "Post-Van Gogh Series." "Saint Vincent" is one of these.

In this painting, Chen brought together two of Van Gogh's works. One of them is his self-portrait, which as he described to his sister Wil as" look[ing] Japanese...con-ceived as a bronze, a simple worshipper of the eternal Buddha."  The other one is Vincent's "Sower with Setting Sun"  (1888) which also had a Japanese influence. The dark silhouette of the tree runs diagonally across the picture, reminiscent of the Hiroshige print with the slanting plum tree that Vincent had copied in Paris.