‘Loving Vincent’ at 12 oil paintings per second

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That is a daguerreotype of Vincent Van Gogh.

Let’s say it together…. ‘dag uerrreo type’. The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate. It is also a lesson learned that just because you invented something, doesn’t mean you should stick your fucked-up silly name to it.

Most people recognize Vincent Van Gogh like this…

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The famous painter was born in the Netherlands in 1583 and died in France in 1890 at the age of 37.

Van Gogh’s work as a post-impressionist painter was notable for its beauty, emotion and color, and highly influenced 20th century art. He struggled with mental illness, and remained poor and virtually unknown throughout his life.

Recently, over 100 artists came together to create, “Loving Vincent”,  a feature-length movie about the life and death of Vincent Van Gogh, animated with 12 oil paintings on canvas a second.

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It’s an unconventional approach that seems to capture the flow and texture of Van Gogh’s paintings. While Bedroom in Arles (1888) would translate well into a modern movie set, it fails to record the signature brush strokes and movement of a painting like Road with Cypress and Star (1890). It is the combination of unique style and kinetic interplay of colors that make Van Gogh’s work so cherished and accessible. They are also what make it so hard to translate into other media. Rather than re-imagine his work, Loving Vincent serves instead to extend it.

Witness art paying tribute to art.

This had to be included… and if you are not a Dr. Who fan (you should be), it is a quick clip that does a nice homage to Vincent Van Gogh.

(Needs a set up: Dr. Who travels about time in an old London police phone booth. He just does, ok? One episode finds him crossing the paths of Vincent Van Gogh during his lifetime. The show made sure to emphasize how the artist could barely give his paintings away when he was alive. At the end of the episode, The Doctor brings Vincent back to modern day so he can see what people think of his paintings hundreds of years later. Great scene that should give you the feels.)