The Van Gogh Enigma: Re-Mythifications of the Artist’s Genius in "Loving Vincent" and "At Eternity’s Gate"

Abstract

Few painters have had as many films made about their lives as Vincent van Gogh. The interest in his story is due in part to the mystery surrounding his last days, in Arles, France. It is thus no coincidence that all the biopics about the Dutch painter focus on this stage of his life, including the recent works Loving Vincent (2017), an animated film by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, and Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (2018). A comparative study of these two feature films, representing two different aesthetic and dramatic approaches, is conducted in pursuit of the two objectives of this paper: to identify the conventions of the subgenre of the artist biopic; and consequently, to analyze how both films reflect on the artist’s creative practice in order to determine whether the film camera is in fact capable of capturing the brushstroke and the mystique of the genius.Few painters have had as many films made about their lives as Vincent van Gogh. The interest in his story is due in part to the mystery surrounding his last days, in Arles, France. It is thus no coincidence that all the biopics about the Dutch painter focus on this stage of his life, including the recent works Loving Vincent (2017), an animated film by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, and Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (2018). A comparative study of these two feature films, representing two different aesthetic and dramatic approaches, is conducted in pursuit of the two objectives of this paper: to identify the conventions of the subgenre of the artist biopic; and consequently, to analyze how both films reflect on the artist’s creative practice in order to determine whether the film camera is in fact capable of capturing the brushstroke and the mystique of the genius.Vincent van Gogh es uno de los pintores a los que el cine ha dedicado un mayor número de biopics. El interés por su figura se debe, en parte, al misterio que ha rodeado sus últimos días en Arles, Francia, por lo que no es casual que los biopics sobre el neerlandés se centren en esa etapa de su vida, incluidos los recientes Loving Vincent (2017), cinta de animación de Dorota Kobiela y Hugh Welchman, y Van Gogh, a las puertas de la eternidad (At Eternity’s Gate, 2018), de Julian Schnabel. El estudio comparativo de ambos largometrajes, dos diferentes propuestas plásticas y dramáticas, ha de permitirnos, como primer objetivo, constatar los códigos genéricos del biopic de artista. Por otra parte, en consecuencia, a localizar en ambas películas una reflexión sobre el gesto creador y a responder si la cámara cinematográfica, en definitiva, es capaz de visibilizar el trazo y la mística del genio.