However, personal correspondence published for the first time today shows that picture of Vincent van Gogh “is rubbish”, according to experts.

The letters, which go on display in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, demonstrate a disciplined and rational method behind his greatest creations.

“They show he knew what he was doing and that he was so far ahead of his time – that’s why they thought him mad,” said Hans Luijten, a curator. “What emerges here is somebody deliberately planning a campaign in his art.”

More than 100 van Gogh letters are at the heart of the exhibition, surrounded by some of his most celebrated paintings, including the cloud of crows above a wheat field painted at Auvers sur Oise just days before the artist shot himself.

Leo Jansen, one of the exhibition’s organisers, said:

“Every move was thought through – every brush stroke planned. The idea that he was a madman slashing the canvas with paint in a frenzy is rubbish and these letters show this.”

By Florence Waters, The Daily Telegraph.

Photo courtesy of wallyg

 
He believes that the two should be prized in equal measure and any failure to promote art could lead to a shortage of talented artists in later years. He has called for a day to be set aside each year for children to indulge their artistic side.

One exercise he wants to see brought in is one he played as a child, known as “the shape game”. Each child starts by drawing a shape then passing it on to the next to develop it as an illustration or drawing.

 ”Nobody’s ever talked about it but it’s a simple game which I believe is the essence of creativity. I’ve got nothing against reading but the two (reading and drawing) should go side by side.

Mr Browne, who is only the second illustrator to hold the Children’s Laureate post since Quentin Blake, pointed to Leonardo da Vinci’s habit of picking out battles, people and landscapes on an old wall as a sign that it boosts creativity. “You can say to a youngster ‘If you play the shape game, you can become an artist or a writer’,” he added.

Adapted from a Daily Telegraph Article, 5th August 2009

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Photo Courtesy of Jean-Sien Kin