Van Gogh

Colonial Players' production of Steven Dietz's "Inventing van Gogh" provides an intriguing set of mysteries about the existence of a mythical last self-portrait by the artist, the man himself and the modern art scene. First-time CP director Michelle Harmon rates high marks for meeting the challenges that arose during production. She had signed on to direct "Radio Golf" by August Wilson, which ended up being pulled from the schedule "because of rights issues. " "Inventing van Gogh" was chosen as a replacement.

Colonial Players' production of Steven Dietz's "Inventing van Gogh" provides an intriguing set of mysteries about the existence of a mythical last self-portrait by the artist, the man himself and the modern art scene. First-time CP director Michelle Harmon rates high marks for meeting the challenges that arose during production. She had signed on to direct "Radio Golf" by August Wilson, which ended up being pulled from the schedule "because of rights issues. " "Inventing van Gogh" was chosen as a replacement.

Forty works that may - or may not - have been made by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh are on view at the Breda Museum in the Netherlands. The exhibit is the result of research by the museum's curator, Ron Dirven, to track down hundreds of the artist's works said to have been dispersed at Breda's flea market in 1902. As the story goes, van Gogh abandoned a huge cache of his work in 1885, when he left his family home in the village of Neunen. His mother moved to nearby Breda a few months later, taking several chests of her son's work with her. The chests ended up in the care of a carpenter who gave them to a second-hand merchant.

Madness vs. genius In ‘The Swan Thieves," author Elizabeth Kostova writes about a gifted painter who is afflicted with bipolar disorder. She made up her story. Kay Redfield Jamison actually lived it. Jamison, a psychiatrist at the John Hopkins University who has chronicled her battle with manic-depressive illness, is scheduled to speak Monday night at the Walters Art Museum on what she hypothesizes is a link between creative genius and the particular form of mental illness characterized by frenzied bursts of energy and near-catatonic lows.

VINCENT AND THEOHemdale Home Video$92.95Director Robert Altman, one of the few maverick American filmmakers of the last 25 years, enters the realm of the artist's bio-pic with "Vincent and Theo"; as usual, he presents us with something fresh, unexpected and moving.Artist Vincent Van Gogh has long been the subject of films, ranging from documentaries to dramas like "Lust for Life," starring Kirk Douglas. Mr. Altman's take is decidedly different from much of what's been done before -- stresses the relationship between Vincent and his brother Theo, and this is as it should be.A brave and tortured man, like his brother, Theo had a task that was nearly as daunting as the artist's: He attempted to clear a path for Vincent's radical work in the art world (and the world of finance as well -- their existence involved a continuous state of near-poverty)

To the world, Vincent van Gogh was the quintessential starving artist, who never received recognition in his lifetime and committed suicide at 37 thinking himself a failure.That he is now established as one of the greatest and most beloved artists of all time - that in 1990 his "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold for the world-record price of $82 million - may be the cruelest story in the history of art.The story's true, but it has been fed by a legend that's not. According to popular lore, van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire life.

COMPARING THE BURNT facade at 184-186 Main St. in Annapolis to a Van Gogh is a stretch. Yet the thinking behind this analogy seemed to prevail last week when the Historic Preservation Commission in the state capital decided unanimously to deny a demolition permit to the owner of that property."

''Vincent & Theo'' is Robert Altman's long and languid story of the Van Gogh brothers, Vincent and Theo, whose lives were anything but joyous.It is easy enough to walk out of the film in the first hour, but Altman's method becomes more apparent as the film moves along. And the movie, if not always dramatically stirring, does look good.The tough part is staying with it long enough to become involved. ''Vincent & Theo'' is undoubtely helped by the fact that Altman and his camera men try to approximate the primary colors with which Van Gogh dealt.

DOROTHY LANDS IN VIRGINIAThe Wizard of Oz meets Mr. Wizard as Virginia's Air & Space Center sponsors the traveling exhibit "The Science of Oz" through Sept. 12.Visitors begin by walking along the Yellow Brick Road where activated light sensors trigger different songs from the movie. Next, experience what it's like to see a tornado from afar and step inside to experience high-speed cyclonic winds."Oh! That Scared Me!" shows why a cowardly lion experiences physiological changes when startled and "Race the Tin Man's Heart" explains the volume of blood a heart pumps every minute and discusses the circulatory system.

ART LOVERS will go to see the Baltimore Museum of Art's show based on Edgar Degas' statue, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, for the many paintings and statues by the Impressionist master.Dance lovers will go for what it shows of the human body in this dance form and of the social phenomenon of ballet a century ago. (A way for hard-working slum girls to improve their own and their family's lives, not unlike some professional sports today.)Others will go because they couldn't get tickets to the nation's blockbuster art show of the season, an exhibition of paintings by Vincent van Gogh at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

If Vincent van Gogh were alive today, he'd probably be in and out of treatment centers, on talk shows and magazine covers, a media darling and bad boy. The Dutch artist's tempestuous life has been a continuing source of fascination for writers. Steven Dietz's Inventing van Gogh, currently at Mobtown Players, is the third play I've seen about the troubled 19th-century artist, who only sold two paintings during his lifetime. The first play was an experimental piece; the second a musical.

Forty works that may - or may not - have been made by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh are on view at the Breda Museum in the Netherlands. The exhibit is the result of research by the museum's curator, Ron Dirven, to track down hundreds of the artist's works said to have been dispersed at Breda's flea market in 1902. As the story goes, van Gogh abandoned a huge cache of his work in 1885, when he left his family home in the village of Neunen. His mother moved to nearby Breda a few months later, taking several chests of her son's work with her. The chests ended up in the care of a carpenter who gave them to a second-hand merchant.

Don Olson's wish for today is that at twilight, all of us face southeast and observe the rising of the full moon. At that moment, Olson hopes we will collectively turn our thoughts to Vincent van Gogh. If it were possible, Olson, a Texas astronomer, would transport all of humanity to a field in the south of France to do today's moon-watching there. Olson is convinced that on this very day, 114 years ago, that is exactly what Van Gogh, the great Dutch post-impressionist, did and exactly where he did it. Today is one of the few occasions since that long ago evening when what van Gogh saw -- the alignment of the moon with the landscape -- will be perfectly duplicated.

DOROTHY LANDS IN VIRGINIAThe Wizard of Oz meets Mr. Wizard as Virginia's Air & Space Center sponsors the traveling exhibit "The Science of Oz" through Sept. 12.Visitors begin by walking along the Yellow Brick Road where activated light sensors trigger different songs from the movie. Next, experience what it's like to see a tornado from afar and step inside to experience high-speed cyclonic winds."Oh! That Scared Me!" shows why a cowardly lion experiences physiological changes when startled and "Race the Tin Man's Heart" explains the volume of blood a heart pumps every minute and discusses the circulatory system.

THIS IS the decade for recycling the arts. A look at the marquees on Broadway reveals that such shows from yesteryear as "Annie Get Your Gun," "Cabaret," "Chicago," "On the Town" and "The Sound of Music" are playing there once again. Many of the same paintings by Picasso have been reshuffled to appear in multiple exhibitions, most recently "Picasso and the Weeping Women" (1994) and "Picasso and Portraiture" (1996).The latest art blockbuster, "Van Gogh's Van Goghs," at the National Gallery of Art in Washington through Jan. 3, is a partial encore of similar shows held at the Baltimore Museum of Art and other venues in 1961 and 1970.

To the world, Vincent van Gogh was the quintessential starving artist, who never received recognition in his lifetime and committed suicide at 37 thinking himself a failure.That he is now established as one of the greatest and most beloved artists of all time - that in 1990 his "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold for the world-record price of $82 million - may be the cruelest story in the history of art.The story's true, but it has been fed by a legend that's not. According to popular lore, van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire life.

For a lesson on France, second-graders at Worthington Elementary studied textbooks and maps, then toured the Louvre museum and gazed at the Parisian skyline from the Eiffel Tower.Thanks to University of Maryland, the Ellicott City school is plugged into the Internet, a worldwide computer system of 25 million users that provides everything from tours of the White House to the latest satellite photos of the solar system."It can take them anywhere," said second-grade teacher Donna Mamula, whose students are planning to take an electronic field trip to see volcanoes in Hawaii in March.

Washington--The Kreeger Museum, consisting of the house and collection of modern art of the late David Lloyd Kreeger and his wife, Carmen, becomes Washington's newest museum today when it opens on an appointment-only basis.It's an attractive addition to the area's art scene, although it falls short of being a stunning one.The house, designed by architect Philip Johnson in 1967, is a modern structure that looks like a breath of fresh air in this fussy postmodern era.The collection sounds glorious on paper.

ART LOVERS will go to see the Baltimore Museum of Art's show based on Edgar Degas' statue, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, for the many paintings and statues by the Impressionist master.Dance lovers will go for what it shows of the human body in this dance form and of the social phenomenon of ballet a century ago. (A way for hard-working slum girls to improve their own and their family's lives, not unlike some professional sports today.)Others will go because they couldn't get tickets to the nation's blockbuster art show of the season, an exhibition of paintings by Vincent van Gogh at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

What I want and aim at is confoundedly difficult, and yet I do not think I aim too high," wrote 28-year-old Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo in 1882. "I want to do drawings which touch people."At the time, Van Gogh had virtually no training as an artist and had been a failure at nearly everything he tried - art dealer, schoolteacher, book-shop assistant, theology student and lay preacher to the poor. For months, he lived as a common tramp.Yet within a very few years, this solitary, tormented man would emerge as the greatest Dutch master since Rembrandt, a largely self-taught genius whose astounding natural gifts only revealed themselves during the last years of his tragically short life.