Our RV Adventures

Following up on yesterday’s blog, after our lunch at Katz’s Deli, and stocking up on hot stuff at iBurn, we got to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts about 1pm for our much-anticipated visit to their Van Gogh, His Life In Art exhibit.

We picked up our pre-paid tickets at the Will Call desk and joined the small crowd entering the hall. ‘Small’ is the reason we went on a Tuesday, and it worked.

First up was one of his most famous works, ‘Sunflowers’, though in this case, it was a reproduction.

This is probably the prime example of Van Gogh’s Yellow Period, painted when he was staying in the Yellow House in Arles, France, along with then-friend, Paul Gauguin.

Next up was another reproduction, ‘Undergrowth’.

‘Undergrowth’ is a prime example of Van Gogh ‘Pointillism’ phase. Pointillism is a method of painting using small dots (points) of paint, rather than stroked with a brush.

Van Gogh later incorporated this style as well as several others, combining them to come up with own style.

Another famous work, and another reproduction, is his ‘Blossoming Almond Tree’.

Earlier Van Gogh had become fascinated with Japanese styles of painting with ‘Blossoming Almond Tree’ one of the results.

Next up, and the last reproduction in the exhibit is ‘The Potato Eaters’.

Considered his first true masterpiece, it was painted in his native Netherlands, before he moved to France. He was intrigued with the faces and figures of the farm families and workers in the Dutch countryside, and painted many scenes of the area.

The dark lighting and gaunt faces held his interest through many paintings.

Van Gogh painted more than 30 self portraits during his career and this is one of the most famous.

And also the real thing, on load from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a place we hope to visit  next month.

One of my favorites, this next work, painted only about a month before his death in July 1890, shows off his combination of styles.

‘Portrait of A Girl In A Straw Hat’ with its bright colors and tight composition. His muted and almost impressionistic background makes the figure of the girl stand out from the canvas, almost in 3D.

‘Irises’, also painted only a couple of months before his death, combined several of his favorites, irises, Japanese style, and his favorite color, yellow.

Fittingly, the last ‘painting’ on the tour was actually his very last work. ‘Wheatfield with Crows’.

I said ‘painting’ because it was actually a photo-reproduction, blown up to about 10’ x 12’ and mounted on the wall as you leave the exhibit. The size allows you to see how he took Pointillism and then elongated the points, using slashes of paint that capture your eye, and at the same time, blend into a complete picture.

However the wall was not big enough to show the entire painting, so here it is below.

On July 27, 1890, at age 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a 7mm revolver, and died 2 days later, not from the actual gunshot, but from the infection that set in due to a surgeon not being available to remove the bullet and treat the wound.

In fact if he had been treated he very possibly would have survived since there was no obvious internal organ damage and he was able to walk back to his room after he shot himself. He was sitting up, smoking his pipe, and in good spirits, when his brother Theo arrived the next day. But then quickly went downhill, dying on July 30th. According to his brother, Theo, his last words were, “The sadness will last forever.”

I’ve just given you the highlights here, but there were many more paintings in the exhibit, showing the evolution of his style.

One thing I didn’t know, or may have forgotten from my art classes, was that Van Gogh was not a ‘natural’ painter. It was not something ‘he always wanted to do.’

After failing at a number of other occupations, one day he just ‘decided’ he wanted to be a painter. So he started off copying drawings and paintings from books, and even took some lessons at an art school.

But I guess there had to be some real talent buried in there somewhere.

The Van Gogh exhibit is here in Houston until June 27th before it moves on around the country.

Well Recommended. See it if you can.

Thought for the Day: 

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We were out the rig doorWhio and on our trip about 9:45 this morning, heading into Houston for the day.

But our first stop was at my client’s to pick up some things and drop off some things. Actually the dropping off was the initial reason, but then the UPS truck pulled up with some things that I had ordered, so it was just serendipity, I guess.

Then it was on up to the Montrose-Westheimer area to have lunch at Katz’s Deli once again. And this visit was much better than the last one, with the waiter that we had just abandoned us. Jaygi, our waitress this time, took great care of us.

We had planned to once again have their great Broccoli-Cheese Soup, but they were out because a delivery didn’t show up. Bummer!

But when I found out that Jan had never had Bagels with Lox and Cream Cheese, I ordered us some of that.

I first had it in the early 60’s when we were flying back and forth to Colombia, SA where we were living at the time. We (me, my mother, and my sister) would always stay at a hotel in Miami Beach while waiting for my father to catch up with us. And there were small Jewish deli’s everywhere.

So I learned to love Bagels, Lox, and Cream Cheese, Matzo Ball Soup, Potato Latkes, Chocolate Rugelach, and of course, a big bowl of Chicken Soup.

Howard’s mother would be so proud.

Jan got her usual Open Face Tuna Melt and Steamed Veggies,

while I had the Reuben Dog with their made-to-order potato chips.

Both really good, especially the pickles. Jan always used to give me hers, until I insisted she try one. Now I only get mine.

Next it was on around the loop to the IBurn store on Bellaire,  a place we don’t visit enough, because they’ve always got new stuff. Hot stuff.

Jan got the some Habanero Salsa and a new bottle (a big bottle this time) of her favorite Marie Sharp’s Belizean Heat, her go-to hot stuff.

I got a new bottle of my fav, Volcanic Pepper Dust, that’s now been upgraded with Carolina Reaper peppers, and a jar of their Scary Cherries, with the cherries soaked in Carolina Reaper-infused syrup. My son-in-law Lowell turned me on to these, so it’s time for a new jar.

Jan and I had a nice talk with the young lady owner, especially about the ‘fabled’ Pepper X, which is supposedly more than twice as the Carolina Reaper. I had hoped to buy some, but they didn’t carry it. She said that they think it’s all hype.

It has not been officially tested and rated yet, it’s just all hearsay. And the company wants a VERY large order guarantee. So they’ve passed for now.

And of course, as I mentioned before, it’s not being sold on Amazon.

Hell, everything’s sold on Amazon, so I guess I’ll wait and see what happens.

Next we headed over to the Museum District and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to see the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. But this blog’s running long and I have a lot of photos for you, so I’ll save our visit for tomorrow’s blog.

Finishing up for today, I wish that whoever is in charge of these things would come up with a pronunciation and stick with it.

Back in college I took several Art Appreciation classes for electives, and it was always Vincent Van ‘Go’. And this was from French guys with doctorates in Art History. And yeah, I know Van Gogh was Dutch, but it’s just the next country over, and he did most of his painting in France anyway, and died there too, so don’t confuse things.

But now it seems like it’s Van ‘Goff’ or even Van ‘Goth’. And this is not the first time they’ve pulled this stunt.

Leading up to 1986, everyone was talking about how Halley’s comet was coming. And it was always pronounced ‘Heylee’s Comet. Then suddenly one day it was Hallee’s Comet.

Who decided?

And there was when Your-Anus (Uranus) suddenly became Urine-Us

Like that’s a real improvement?

And don’t get me started on why for 76 years Pluto was a planet, and suddenly it’s not.

Thought for the Day: 

Pluto and Goofy are both dogs. Goofy walks, talks, and wears clothes, while Mickey keeps Pluto collared and chained up in the backyard. Is it some sort of weird sex thing? 

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