Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Vincent van Gogh - Almond blossom - Google Art Project.jpg

Almond blossom

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 19 Jul 2014 at 17:33:47 (UTC)

Original – Van Gogh's work Almond Blossom reflected his interest in Japanese wood block prints. Vincent van Gogh said (citation): Arles was "the Japan of the South."

Reason

From the National Gallery of Art's "Effects of the Sun in Provence (citation):

"It was sun that Van Gogh sought in Provence, a brilliance and light that would wash out detail and simplify forms,

reducing the world around him to the sort of pattern he admired in Japanese woodblocks.

Articles in which this image appears

Almond Blossoms, Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, List of works by Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh's family in his art

FP category for this image

Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Artwork/Paintings

Creator

Vincent van Gogh

No idea, Coaty

• Support as nominator – (and Crisco trimmed image) Hafspajen (talk) 17:33, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
• Support This is an example where the image on the museum site is richer than the version supplied to Google Art Project, but as I mention below I can't get at it myself. Perhaps someone else knows how and can overwrite the file with the museum version. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 18:45, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Done. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 08:45, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

ON reflection, I've reverted to original and I'll upload the tiled version as a separate file since it's not strictly speaking a Google Art project image. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 18:24, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Comment Video. Almond blossom, Hafspajen (talk) 19:06, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Seriously? You've got me worried. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 08:40, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

OH; people think, light blue, oh, that can't be van Gogh. They expect him to have strong colours, but it is not true - he painted a lot of etheral, light and airy paintings too, pinks and light blues. That's HIM too... It is just prejudice. Hafspajen (talk) 02:57, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Not paint but... what, exactly? Plastic? — Crisco 1492 (talk) 08:46, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

• Plastic?? Do you mean the very thick paint when the light reflects on it? That was van Gogs style. He always did that. He used up twice as much paint than the others, took thick brushes and lots and lots of paint on it, so it is like you can clearly see how the brush touched the canvas. Kind of nice too. If you observe the Sunflowers, same there. He painted in a wild, energetic and spontaneous way... Hafspajen (talk) 02:49, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• In the video, he says that the reproduction they were showing was not paint (although it looked like it)... so what was it? That's an interesting video. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 08:05, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Hm, well, you got me on that. I don't know why he said that, the Dutch curator at the museum, and it is not explained. The only thing I can come up with that he possibly (?) meant that van Gogh didn't always bought his paints in a tube or painted out of a tube - but made sometimes his own colors. He grounded the pigment and prepared it himself - but this doesn't sounds like a very good explanation. Hafspajen (talk) 11:54, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Not quite sure what the nuances of this discussion are, but it's just a Giclée print whose characteristic is it's fidelity to the original (but it 2-D and not relief - one day that will happen of course). Point of my response was that the thought suddenly occurred to me that VGM in fact displays it Giclée reproductions on its pages. That's really quite possible. I'm not aware that van Gogh ground his own pigment. Van Gogh's method of working very much flavour of the month in van Gogh circles. I have Marije Vellekoop's recent Van Gogh at Work and there's no mention there. Perhaps he did for a while during one of his experimental phases, but certainly not as a regular practice. He was constantly asking his brother to order (and pay for) colours for him. I'm the sort of photographer who takes photos of other people looking at paintings BTW. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 22:44, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Yes, that brother of him who never sold his pictures or made any advertisment for them. One should never trust only one manager. Sometimes he did, if I remember that right (reading his letters), but I said that it was not a very convincing explanation. The - Dutch curator just stops in the middle of the sentence so the rest is cut of. He could have said something more afterwards that put that in a context. Anyway, paint in tube is a fairly new invention- and most painers did made their own paint - in the history of painting... Hafspajen (talk) 23:39, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• The entire family an epic tragedy. Vincent a suicide, his brother Theo dead from neurosyphilis six months later, the remaining brother also a suicide, their younger sister Wil, an early feminist, sectioned 1902 and lingering on for some 40 years entirely unresponsive to her surroundings, and the other sister tormented by an illicit affair in her youth which saw her only child put out for adoption. That's what I call dysfunctional. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 00:06, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

• It is a terrible loss. He was still so young, only 37... A very sad story. Hafspajen (talk) 00:16, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

• Stop press. New van Gogh discovered in cafe in Reading, UK (VGM unimpressed) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coat of Many Colours (talk • contribs) .

The image could be made from the files named 4-x-x.jpg in this folder. – Editør (talk) 10:40, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

• Did they seriously leave that folder open to the public? There's a plug-in for Gimp which allows people to put this together easily. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 10:42, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

All files used for the zoom function are in open folders. – Editør (talk) 10:51, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

Many thanks for that. I'll try and put together their Potato Eaters if I can Coat of Many Colours (talk) 22:44, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Got the tiles. It's a straight forward 14 x 10 mosaic (at level 4). Ill stitch them with Mathematica, but it will involve some string manipulations opening files I don't normally do, so it will be a day or two I expect while I clue up on that. Should be 3586x2517 pixels and I'll overwrite Commons:File:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg with it, but I can tell you right now someone will come along and lighten it to their satisfaction. Still I'll have done my best. Thanks very much for pointing me to the folders. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 00:06, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

@Editør: Done at Commons:File:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg: I've included the code in the File Description for other Mathematica users who might like to upload other images. I'll see if the VGM has a better version of Starry Night and maybe upload others. I'll do this one as well. Thanks for the heads up on the folders.Coat of Many Colours (talk) 19:29, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

Nice! – Editør (talk) 10:14, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

It seems wise to check all versions on Commons first, because the image of Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette on the Van Gogh Museum website is not better than the one in the article. – Editør (talk) 10:35, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Yes, that right. Starry Night (which is is in any case at MoMA) is represented on Commons by a massive 200 Mb something file. But I'll probably stitch and upload the much lower, but still high, resolution VGM offers to a separate file, Coat of Many Colours (talk) 10:56, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Having had another look at it, I've also nominated the skull painting, because it is such high quality image. – Editør (talk) 11:41, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

• Support Lol at the no idea thumbnail. ///EuroCarGT 19:43, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
• Support Yann (talk) 19:50, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
• Comment. Looks like it needs a crop. Kaldari (talk) 22:12, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
  • Do you mean the ~3 black pixels on the right and bottom? — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:37, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

  There are thin lines visible at the bottom and on the right. – Editør (talk) 10:41, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

  That's exactly what I meant. Does he mean this, or is there a more serious issue that I can't see? — Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:08, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

  I imagine it can be cropped. Hafspajen (talk) 18:16, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

  Alright, trimmed. They were one pixel thick. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:25, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Support – Editør (talk) 08:02, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
• Support. A brilliant reproduction of a stunning painting. I feel Commons:Template:Artwork would be a helpful addition. J Milburn (talk) 10:19, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

• Done. Coat of Many Colours (talk) 01:22, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Promoted File:Vincent van Gogh - Almond blossom - Google Art Project.jpg --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 17:40, 19 July 2014 (UTC)