Van Gogh
1948 · 18m · France
Directed by Alain Resnais
Genres: biography, documentary, experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
A pioneering documentary that traces Vincent Van Gogh's life entirely through his paintings and drawings, from his early realism in the Netherlands through Paris and Provence to his final days of madness, narrated by Claude Dauphin over a dramatic musical score.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Resnais shooting Van Gogh's paintings in black-and-white — stripping the color from the most colorful painter to find structure underneath. Conceptually mean, formally bold.
Resnais's Oscar-winning monochrome through the paintings inaugurates the artist-documentary as essay form and previews the editing intelligence that produces Night and Fog. An indispensable early work.
Resnais photographing Van Gogh's color paintings in black and white to evoke his life — that inversion forces you to read texture and brushstroke as gesture rather than chroma. Oscar-winning for short documentary, 19 minutes per Vimeo On Demand.
Reviews
This boundary-pushing short brilliantly evokes the life of Vincent Van Gogh, using only his paintings as visuals.
The black-and-white renderings of Van Gogh's paintings, coupled with a dramatic musical score, are surprisingly evocative.
Festivals
- Academy Awards 1950, Winner
- Venice Film Festival 1948, Prize Winner