I think also that I had seen very few of his paintings in person and when you see his late works, after he figured out what he was, they explode off the canvas like nothing I've ever seen before. My wife and I went home and bought a reproduction we were so moved, and then promptly decided not to hang it when it arrived as it lacks that....whatever factor it is in his real works that make them shimmer like something from another plane of spacetime.
I really recommend people who don't like van Gogh to visit that museum.
This is true and big.
The paintings are nice on books and screens but are stunning in real life. There is a lot of nuance in the colours that pictures don't replicate.
Same happens to Vermeer landscapes. His "View of Delft" is just nice on screen but almost magical when seen in real.
Might be possible in a few decades, though.
The focus of the light is key — by lighting the painting and not lighting the walls around it, that makes it pop a lot more than typically area lighting common in residential applications. Color temperature is also very important. Finally, in my case; my walls are painted a dark, lead-pipe grey so it makes the paintings really jump.
The brand of my lights is Wac Lighting controlled by Lutron dimmers in case you are interested. Color balanced LED. LED used to be inferior for galleries, but the tech has gotten very good (added benefit of running a lot cooler than the old halogen.)
I wouldn’t overthink it.. just as long as you stay out of the 4500K+ range (approaching daylight,) things will look great. The warmth of the 3600K range is great — anything less than that and the warmth of the light starts to affect color rendition, anything more and the light gets bluer and harsher.
Your eyes can be the guide. But having correctly focused light at the correct intensity (not too bright for instance) is key. There are use cases for daylight balance — if you are in a mixed light situation such as a windowed or skylight with abondant sunlight, you might consider going a little cooler on the color temperature — but again, use your eyes.
It can be really fun messing with lighting and art! Good luck.
Generally a higher CRI equals a higher quality light source. A halogen/incandescent lamp has a perfect score, 100. High end LED sources are usually in the range of 95-98, but that number can be gamed, which has lead to the creation of CQS.
https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/is-color-quality-scale-bette...
You guys should cherish the DIA, it's a gem.
Interesting that you mention that. Our grandkids all got Van Gogh reproductions for their rooms(). I found it difficult to find the size of the originals and even harder to find reproductions at the same size (looking for cheap stuff on Amazon.) Worse yet, some of the repros were not the same aspect ratio indicating they had been cropped.
I'm not even close to any kind of art expert but it seems to me that the size of the original or what the artist does with an available size canvas are intentional.
() At 3 years old, our eldest grandson looked at a picture on our wall and correctly identified it as a Starry Night. We have no idea where he learned that but were impressed regardless.
I went there once right after new year's, the museum and restaurant were closed but it was so quiet elsewhere, it was great.
The museum also has a fun sculpture garden.
[1] https://krollermuller.nl/en/search-the-collection/keywords=%...
Then you get to see his work up close. It's outstanding. It's jaw-droppingly beautiful and intricate. Some of the pieces absolutely overwhelmed me. His paintings are mostly done with a line technique, where he'll paint lines over and over again until the canvas is complete with a comprehensible picture. I'm not sure what it is about screens, but they just don't convey the detail properly at all. On his wikipedia page, Millet's work appears to me as the bleak flat paintings I'd have ignored before I saw his work in person - copies of the exact same paintings I'd seen in person, which overwhelmed me.
I don't really understand why, but there's something fundamentally different about seeing some art in person.
Maybe he had a trustfund. Maybe he spent 99% on art supplies and 1% on potatoes. I dunno.
His family, especially his brother Theo, was well off and they sent him an allowance to survive as well as art supplies. (I would not be surprised that they were afraid that, if they send more money he'd spent it on alchool instead of supplies)
As for space, I think he sent most of his paintings to his brother in exchange for the allowance.
Then maybe read a biography?
The mesmerizing colors and poignant landscapes, the neurotic physicality of the brush strokes, all told through Van Gogh's letters to his brother -- it was a vivid experience. I understood that Van Gogh saw the world in a different way, and for a moment I saw it too.
Actually, some of the pigments van Gogh used have significantly faded or shifted in color over time. https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i5/Van-Goghs-Fading-Colors-I...
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436524?sortB...
The Rijksmuseum next door was impressive, though extremely crowded.