Famous Artists Imitation Series ① Vincent Van Gogh

Imitation work of Vincent Van Gogh - Flowering Plum Orchard 1887 oil on canvas [Van Gogh Museum]

Do not tell me such a famous painter made imitations. Most people would think like this. However famous artists also paint imitations for various reasons before becoming famous and above all they do it to study their own painting styles or find expression techniques when they were studying painting to become a painter.

In fact art colleges require students who study art to imitate other works. In addition to it there are cases that artists who already became famous make imitations as they are greatly inspired by other artists works. It will be easy to think of the music market where remakes are popular these days.

As the first artist of the series I would like to introduce Vincent Van Gogh and talk about the comparison between the original work and the imitation work of Gogh. Although it is not well known in fact Gogh has left a number of imitations. In this article I would like to introduce some of Goghs imitations from the works of Japanese Edo period painter Utagawa Hiroshige.

It appears that Gogh was absorbed in Japanese art (which is called the Japonism syndrome) when he was actively making artworks which is well illustrated in a letter to Theo in September 1889.

I envy that Japanese artists express all things simply. Their simplicity doesnt seem boring or impatient. Their works are as simple as breathing and they easily express characters with just a few features like unbuttoning clothes.

The above letter shows that Gogh was fascinated by Asian art which is simple and values the beauty of space. It comes to my mind that perhaps he made imitations to study that part.

The above works looks similar but different and show Goghs unique expression techniques.

An imitation work and a fake work may be similar in that it is drawn after other works but the meaning is completely different. Isnt that why imitation works are also evaluated as part of the work? For that reason I think that imitating an existing work such as a design or a remake of a song is also considered a Secondary work.

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