Vincent Van Gogh’s obsession with his art might have caused him tremendous personal agony, but his output was tremendous – almost 900 paintings, many of which are counted among the greatest works of all time. In a new tribute to Van Gogh, the makers of an animated documentary will feature 120 of his most famous paintings.
Loving Vincent will unfold as a series of paintings in Van Gogh’s style, and will comprise 56,800 frames, each of which will be a hand-painted oil on canvas. Twelve such frames will make one second of the movie. The film, directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, aims to replicate the look of the post-Impressionist painter’s style.
The film is being produced by Polish studio Breakthru Films, which won an Academy Award in 2006 for the stop-motion animation Peter and the Wolf. The biographical documentary was initially planned as a short, but was expanded into a full-length film because of the intense fascination that Van Gogh continues to generate.
Animators have previously used painting on glass extensively to superb effect. One fine example is Aleksandr Petrov’s production of Ernest Hemingway’s novel Old Man and the Sea in 1999, which also won an Oscar.
The Dutch artist, who was born in 1853 and died in 1890, has been the subject of several films and documentaries, among them Vincente Minnelli’s Lust For Life (1956), starring Kirk Douglas. Van Gogh’s experiments with light, composition and texture inspired filmmakers to experiment with the telling of his life story. Paul Cox’s Vincent (1987) consists of John Hurt reading out passages from the painter’s letters. Akira Kurosawa cast Martin Scorsese as Van Gogh in his movie Dreams (1990). Robert Altman’s Vincent and Theo (1991) depicts the relationship between Van Gogh and his brother. Alan Yentob’s documentary Van Gogh: Painted with Words features Benedict Cumberbatch as the brilliant painter.