Vincent Van Gogh is famous for a lot of things. First and foremost, he created his own inimitable style within the Impressionist movement. Second, he cut off his own ear, although we don’t know whether this was because of frustration over auditory hallucinations or a frustrated love affair or both. Regardless, he is a master of both modern painting and of modern life. It is for these reasons that his work is hard to come by on the open market.
Hard, but not impossible. This remarkable still life, entitled “Still Life With Two Sacks And A Bottle” has recently gone up for auction at Rau Antiques. I am personally fascinated by it. Any fan of Van Gogh will recognize both his signature style and also the fact that this painting is unusual within that style. It has less obvious brush strokes than much of his work. Some might consider the piece less painterly than his more famous works, but the distinctive quality of his artistry shines through, nonetheless.