Still Life with Van Gogh's Irises

30 x 36"     Oil on Linen

There is a common practice in the history of art of artists copying the work of other artists that they admire. If you were to visit the Louvre on any given day in the 19^th century you would certainly come across an artist or two making a copy. Van Gogh made copies of works by Delacroix and Millet. Picasso made many copies of works by Velazquez. Rubens copied all of the works by Titian in the collection of Phillip IV on a visit to Spain. It is a way for one artist to get inside the head of another artist, to see how they think about color and composition, to follow the rhythms of their brushwork and understand how they apply the paint to the canvas.

I have always loved the way Van Gogh painted irises and never fail to visit the version he has in the collection of the Met Museum when I am in New York. Recently I decided to make a copy of that masterpiece. Instead of making a stand alone copy, however, I decided to incorporate his painting into one of my still lifes. It was my way of not only getting into his head but also inviting him into mine. Vincent and I had many lively conversations as I worked, about space and form and luminosity, about design, about brushwork and mixing color, about rhythm and motion and vitality. I copied his way of working and showed him mine. We discussed the work of other artists and he questioned my use of books about Rembrandt and Van Dyck and suggested one about his friend Gauguin might be a better choice. In the end he was very complimentary about what I had done and I thanked him for his contribution to the piece. As we parted company we agreed to work on another painting together in the near future…