Eugène Boch
Eugène Boch | |
---|---|
The Poet: Eugène Boch, portrait by Vincent van Gogh, 1888 | |
Born | (1855-09-01)1 September 1855 Saint-Vaast, La Louvière, Hainaut |
Died | 3 January 1941(1941-01-03) (aged 85) Monthyon, Seine-et-Marne, France |
Nationality | Belgian |
Known for | Painting |
Eugène Boch (1 September 1855 – 3 January 1941) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, La Louvière, Hainaut. He was the younger brother of Anna Boch, the only female member of Les XX.
Life
Eugène Boch was born into the fifth generation of the Boch family, a wealthy dynasty of manufacturers of fine china and ceramics, still active today under the firm of Villeroy & Boch. In 1879 he enrolled in the private atelier of Léon Bonnat in Paris. In 1882, when Bonnat closed his atelier, Boch continued his studies at the atelier of Fernand Cormon. The Salon admitted some of his work in 1882, 1883 and 1885.[citation needed]
In 1888, Boch was introduced by Dodge MacKnight to Vincent van Gogh.[citation needed]
In 1892 he settled in Monthyon (Seine-and-Marne), not far from Paris. In 1909, he married Anne-Marie Léonie Crusfond (?–1933), and in 1910 they moved to their recently-built chalet "La Grimpette", where both lived out their lives.[citation needed]
Boch supported poor artists of talent, including Émile Bernard, whom he met at the Atelier Cormon, and Paul Gauguin. He also exchanged works with many artists, including by Van Gogh, and little by little, grew an important collection of contemporary art. Boch and his sister Anna spent a large part of the family fortune promoting other artists. They bought pictures from many leading contemporaries of their time, the majority of whom were also their friends.[citation needed]
In 1888, Van Gogh painted Boch's portrait, The Poet, which is now in the Musée d'Orsay.[1] In a letter to his brother Theo about the painting, Van Gogh described his artistic approach and vision for the portrait.
Because instead of trying to render exactly what I have before my eyes, I use colour more arbitrarily in order to express myself forcefully. Well, let’s let that lie as far as theory goes, but I’m going to give you an example of what I mean.
I’d like to do the portrait of an artist friend who dreams great dreams, who works as the nightingale sings, because that’s his nature.
This man will be blond. I’d like to put in the painting my appreciation, my love that I have for him.
I’ll paint him, then, just as he is, as faithfully as I can — to begin with.
But the painting isn’t finished like that. To finish it, I’m now going to be an arbitrary colourist.
I exaggerate the blond of the hair, I come to orange tones, chromes, pale lemon. Behind the head — instead of painting the dull wall of the mean room, I paint the infinite.[2]
Boch received Van Gogh's portrait of him, The Poet, from Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Van Gogh's sister in law.
After his death, Boch's great-nephew Luitwin von Boch purchased part of Boch's collection with the intention of creating a museum for the work of Boch and his sister Anna.[citation needed]
References
- Berko, Patrick & Viviane (1981), Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875, Knokke 1981, p. 51.
- Boch, Anna; Eugène Boch (1994). Hommage à Anna et Eugène Boch. Musée de Pontoise. LCCN 95179953. OCLC 31175453.
- Faider-Thomas, Thérèse (1971). Anna Boch und Eugène Boch: Werke aus den Anfängen der modernen Kunst. Mettlach, Villeroy & Boch. OCLC 420158. (Catalog of an exhibition held at the Moderne Galerie, Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, 6 May – June 6, 1971)
External links
- (in English) Eugene Boch.com – includes painting reproductions
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works
- Early works (1881–82)
- Portraits (1881–1890)
- Peasant Character Studies (1881–1885)
- Van Gogh's family in his art (1881–1888)
- Sien (1882–83)
- Cottages (1883–1885)
- Water Mill at Gennep (1884)
- Still life paintings, Netherlands (1884–85)
- Old Church Tower at Nuenen (1884–85)
- Amsterdam (1885)
- Wheat Fields (1885–1890)
- Le Moulin de la Galette (1886)
- Still life paintings, Paris (1886–87)
- Montmartre (1886–87)
- Self portraits (1886–1889)
- Outskirts of Paris (1887)
- Asnières (1887)
- Seine (1887)
- Japonaiserie (1887)
- Sunflowers (1887–1889)
- Trees and Undergrowth (1887–1890)
- Copies by Vincent van Gogh (1887–1890)
- Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888)
- Saintes-Maries (1888)
- Boats du Rhône (1888)
- Décoration for the Yellow House (1888)
- The Roulin Family (1888–89)
- Hospital in Arles (1888–89)
- Flowering Orchards (1888–89)
- Almond Blossoms (1888–1890)
- Paintings of Children (1888–1890)
- The Wheat Field (1889)
- Reaper (1889)
- Olive Trees (1889)
- Wheat Fields (1889)
- Butterflies (1889–90)
- Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy (1889–90)
- Auvers size 30 canvases (1890)
- Auvers Double-squares and Squares (1890)
- Lost works by Vincent van Gogh
- Display at Les XX, 1890
- Boy Cutting Grass with a Sickle (1881)
- Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg (1882)
- The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague (1882)
- Church Pew with Worshippers (1882)
- Woman on Her Deathbed (1883)
- Landscape with Trees (1883)
- Peatery in Drenthe (1883)
- Landscape with Wheelbarrow (1883)
- Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam (1883)
- Breton Women (1888)
- Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman (1890)
- 87 Hackford Road (1873 or 1874)
- Marsh with Water Lilies (1881)
- Sorrow (1882)
- Portrait of a Man in a Top Hat (1882)
- Torso of Venus and a Landscape (1887)
- Head of a Girl (1888)
- Van Gogh Museum
- Van Gogh House (Drenthe)
- Maison Van Gogh
- Kröller-Müller Museum
- Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole
- Vincent van Gogh (1886 painting)
- Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887)
- The Painter of Sunflowers (1888 painting)
- Lust for Life (1934 novel)
- Van Gogh (1948 film)
- Lust for Life (1956 film)
- Van Gogh (1956 opera)
- Vincent and Theo van Gogh (1963 statue)
- "Vincent" (1971 song)
- Vincent (1987 film)
- Vincent & Theo (1990 film)
- Vincent and Me (1990 film)
- Dreams (1990 film)
- Vincent (1990 opera)
- Van Gogh (1991 film)
- Vincent in Brixton (2003 play)
- The Yellow House (2007 film)
- "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010 TV episode)
- Loving Vincent (2017 film)
- At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)
- Theo van Gogh
- Wil van Gogh
- Johanna van Gogh-Bonger
- Andries Bonger
- Theo van Gogh (film director)
- Anton Mauve
- Johannes Stricker
- Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 and 1970; "F")
- Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; "JH")