Van Gogh, one of the representative artists of post-impressionism, created many works that directly hit people's hearts, such as Starry Night, Wheat Field with Crows, Night Cafe, Sunflower and so on.

He painted more than ten Sunflowers in his life. One day in August, 1888, after drawing the last stroke, I stepped back and looked at the picture as a whole, which was very satisfactory. So, according to the general habit, he picked up the brush again and signed his name on the painting, which means that the painting has been completed.

But Van Gogh didn't sign "Van Gogh". We used to call him by his first name, but signed "Vincent".

It's totally illogical

It also has a sketch of Van Gogh 1862 (some people think this is his first painting). Why did it disappear in later works?

Universal signature method

Painters signed their works, which was very popular during the Italian Renaissance. At that time, personal value was gradually valued, and painters began to separate from cooperative painting workshops and could accept orders independently. Therefore, the signature becomes the symbol that distinguishes the painter from other peers. 1

Some names are signed on the back of the screen, but in order to facilitate identification and improve visibility, most of the signatures are generally on the screen.

Van Gogh's full name is Vincent Willem van Gogh, and the Chinese translation is generally Vincent Willem van Gogh.

In daily use, it is customary to call him Van Gogh for short, because this is his surname and Vincent is his first name.

A museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has collected more than 200 works of his golden age, including Sunflower. This museum is named after Van Gogh.

Sports stars Durant, Kobe Bryant and Messi, these are all surnames.

Edward Manet (? Douard Manet's signature on the work also uses the surname-Manet.

There are also painters who write their names, such as Impressionist claude monet, because their names are very short. What if the name is too long, but you want to finish it? Answer: shorthand. Jean-Francois Miller, a French realist painter admired by Van Gogh, signed his name "J·f· Miller" in his painting. No matter what, you should write your last name.

Why didn't Van Gogh do this?

Van Gogh's reasons

Before Van Gogh began painting, he worked as a missionary and was familiar with Dutch, English, French and Belgian. By 1880, he has been to four countries. So van Gogh had a deep understanding of language communication.

Vincent is more fluent than Van Gogh in daily English communication, so many of his friends call him Vincent. Van Gogh's pronunciation is so awkward that even many people in France don't know how to pronounce it. Van Gogh once wrote a letter to his younger brother Theo, saying that although my name is nothing now, in the future, it should be written on the exhibition catalogue like I signed on the canvas-Vincent, not Van Gogh. The reason why I did this is very simple, because people here don't understand the pronunciation of the latter name.

Although Van Gogh said that the reason was simple, it reflected his artistic ambition-to become a great artist known to everyone.

Van Gogh pinned his artistic ideal on Vincent.

Final results

In the starry night, the red cypress stands tall and winds up, as if eager to touch the starry sky. Isn't that what van Gogh did? He hopes that his works can touch the public and look forward to seeing Sibaitan in the starry sky, even if he participates in an art group exhibition. It was not until he died at the age of 37 (1890) that he saw the ideal of "Vincent". After leaving for a few years, his works finally caused a sensation, from Holland to the world, from obscurity to rapidly becoming a world-famous great artist. The Dutch government also built his museum-Van Gogh Museum. But at this time, the "Vincent" that Van Gogh hoped for was still little known, but "Van Gogh" was popular all over the world.

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