Art from Anguish: Van Gogh and Munch

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Art from Anguish: Van Gogh and Munch
Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch are artists that have been known for their turbulent lives and magnificent paintings. Both men were highly affected by lives filled with angst, depression, illness, and loss. Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh was an inspiration to Expressionist painter, Edvard Munch. Van Gogh and Munch are both known for their painting techniques in which thick brushstrokes of paint are used. I will address the pain and illness of these painters and how they used this as a driving force for inspiration in their art. I find it no coincident that they both had been physically maimed; one by a self-inflicted wound and the other by an accident, and that they both were drinkers of absinthe which was known to cause hallucinations.
I will first address Vincent van Gogh and his tempestuous life and the magnificent art that was the result of his illness. According to Dr. Deitrich Blumer, in the article “The Illness of Vincent van Gogh”, she writes, No incidents of mental illness are recorded among van Gogh’s ancestors” (American Journal of Psychiatry Blumer 519). According to her research and that of Gastaut, a former Doctor of Vincent’s, he likely suffered an early brain injury as a child because of what is observed from childhood pictures contrasted against later self-portraits in which he is painted with a significant craniofacial asymmetry (Blumer 519). His condition would later be exasperated by his drinking of absinthe, an alcoholic beverage that is known to cause hallucinations.
Van Gogh suffered severe disappointments in the different careers he tried his hand at. He failed as an art dealer and preacher, and as far as he was concerned, h...

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Works Cited
Bering, Henrik. "The Pain Painter." Policy Review.136 (2006): 83-91. ProQuest. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
Blumer, Dietrich. "The Illness of Vincent Van Gogh." The American Journal of Psychiatry 159.4 (2002): 519-26. ProQuest. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
Heenk, Liesbeth. Secrets of Van Gogh 2: Van Gogh’s Inner Struggle. Amsterdam: Amersterdam, 2013. Ebook.
Lubow, Arthur. “Edvard Munch: Beyond the Scream.” Smithsonian 36.12 (Mar. 2006). ProQuest. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=19849848&site=ehost-live
Perry, Marvin, J. Wayne. Baker, Pamela Pfeiffer. Hollinger, and George W. Bock. The Humanities in the Western Tradition: Ideas and Aesthetics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print.
Rieder, Edmund G. X., D.O. "Unresolved Grief Reaction: Edvard Munch." Psychiatric Annals 12.3 (1982): 332-8. ProQuest. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.

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