To close their 5th season dedicated to artists and films about their lives, Gaby and Andreina discuss the 2018 film Van Gogh: At Eternity’s Gate.

Directed by Julien Schnabel and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent Van Gogh, the movie is a visually arresting and moving depiction of the painter’s last years. In their discussion, Gaby and Andreina discuss the representation of the artist’s imagination and subjectivity in film, Julien Schnabel’s rich directorial approach, and their connection to Van Gogh and his art.

***Spoiler alert! While reviewing this film, we go through key scenes and may reveal the ending, so be warned of spoilers!***

Links and sources:

Interview with director Julian Schnabel at the TIFF 2018

Interview with Willem Dafoe

Interview with Oscar Isaac

John Berger, The Sense of Sight

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh Museum

In this episode, Andreina and Gabriela learn more about the French sculptor Camille Claudel (1864-1943), through two films: Camille Claudel (1988) and Camille Claudel 1915 (2013).

An artistic prodigy from a very young age, Claudel gained recognition and acclaim as an artist during her lifetime. However, in the popular imagination, she is most often remembered as Auguste Rodin's lover.

Andreina and Gabriela discuss how Camille Claudel is portrayed in the two movies and how her dimension as a female artist and woman in a male-dominated art practice is conveyed: do the films give us a good sense of who she was as an artist?

Join us in this third episode of our series of discussions about artists and their art in film.

Links and sources:

Abstract of article “Camille Claudel: trajectory of a psychosis”

The Art Institute of Chicago: Member Lecture: Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel through Five Works

Camille Claudel, Bust of Rodin

August Rodin, Thought (Camille Claudel)

Gaby and Andreina continue their exploration of art through period film and discuss the film Mr. Turner.

Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall as the English romantic painter J. M. W. Turner, the movie tells the story of the painter during the last 50 years of his life when he was at the peak of his artistic abilities.

Gaby and Andreina discuss Timothy Spall's portrayal of the painter and how the tone and style of the movie shape our perception of Turner's art.

Links and sources:

J. M. W. Turner

Untold Lives Blog: Hannah Danby – JMW Turner’s housekeeper

The Art of the Sublime

J.M.W. Turner RA (1775 - 1851)