Van Gogh turns Japanese

Did you know what a strong influence Japanese art had on the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh? No, neither did I - until I went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam the other day (where I’m on holiday at the moment).

It’s not highlighted much in general discussions or histories of his work but Van Gogh loved Japanese paintings for their vivid, bright colours and composition, especially the work of Hiroshike.

He emulated their bright colours and even moved from the dim grey light of the Netherlands to Arles in the South of France in the hope of finding a more Japanese quality of light.

The museum had his famous sunflowers and that famous farmhouse chair, his room, the stark self-portraits and the swirly landscapes and night skies - all those well-known, eye-catching pieces. But the most striking and charming ones for me were a handful of paintings he did in the Japanese style. There’s this one of a courtesan which is just delightful and another of a stylised Japanese bridge with little Japanese people crossing it under little Japanese umbrellas - complete with fake Oriental script he had faithfully but randomly copied from various books!