Van Gogh in London

This post is mainly to tidy up the link to the raw footage I took when I went to London to explore in the footsteps of Van Gogh. This photograph shows one of the Whitechapel houses of the Victorian era. Back then, there might well have been a family of anything up to a dozen or more living in EACH room.
Here's the footage link: www.youtube.com/user/Vampyrrhic If you copy and paste to your browser bar it will take you there.

The area you'll see is Whitechapel, a buzzing cosmopolitian community. This was also the place that Jack the Ripper stalked in the 1880s.
In recent years the places Van Gogh stayed in London have become the focus of something of a treasure hunt. Recently a hymn copied by Van Gogh onto a scrap of paper was auctioned on e-bay.
The writer Ken Wilkie discovered an original drawing by Van Gogh. This was of the house at 87 Hackford Road, where he briefly lodged, and fell in love with the landlady's daughter. This was another incident of unrequited love that caused Van Gogh much heartache.

The Yellow House virtual tour & tribute videos

When I was doing the research for THE MIDNIGHT MAN I used books and walked London’s mysterious back streets. Sometimes, however, I had the more leisurely option of sitting here at my computer. Internet research revealed fascinating sites that featured Vincent Van Gogh. I’ll be adding more of my favourites here in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, here’s three fascinating examples.

Go here to take a virtual tour of Van Gogh’s Yellow House.
http://www.vangogh3d.co.uk/

On YouTube video there are an amazing number of tributes to the artist. Many use Don McLean’s 1971 hit ‘Starry Starry Night.’ Incidentally, the sheet music of the song, together with a set of Van Gogh’s brushes is buried in a time capsule under the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This is one of the best tribute videos: -.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gCORHq_-2Y The film-maker employs Van Gogh’s own paintings to tell the artist’s life story in an original and, at times, emotionally powerful way.

Here’s an extended live version of ‘Starry Starry Night’ with painting slideshow:-
http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/vincentslideshow.asp


Until next time,

Simon Clark

So... THE MIDNIGHT MAN, what's it all about, then?

Two things give you an immediate taste of a book - the cover and the description (often called a ‘blurb’ - suggestive of an unfortunate, yet spectacular, spillage).

I’d been to the supermarket to hunt for one of my favourite films, LUST FOR LIFE, starring Kirk Douglas. I didn’t find the DVD but it ended up one of those trips where I find myself picking up a lot of stuff I didn’t even need (garlic olive oil, spare shoelaces, novelty fridge magnet). But I got home to find a pleasant surprise, an e-mail from the publisher with the finalized cover copy for the novel, and here it is:-

THE MIDNIGHT MAN
1888. The Yellow House, Arles: Vincent van Gogh paints works of transcendent genius, while in London a killer launches a reign of terror.
Nidabi is attacked by her sadistic master but is rescued just in time by saintly Pastor Hux, a man who befriended Van Gogh many years ago. On a mission to help those most in need Hux is relentless in his attempts to save the souls of those he rescues.
In Arles, Van Gogh is helped by prostitute Ty and they quickly form a special relationship. Both are outsiders and she struggles to protect the artist as his passion to create threatens to shatter his mind.
But why are these two men haunted by the spectre of failure? How can loyalty endure in the face of evil? Soon a deadly momentum will draw two old friends back together – into a withering storm painted in madness, fear and death.

Van Gogh in London - a p.s.

Embedding the video mentioned in the Feb 8 entry below this one didn't work, unfortunately, so I've uploaded to YouTube. Kindly step this way to watch: BTW you'll need to copy and paste this address into your browser bar

www.youtube.com/user/Vampyrrhic

Van Gogh In London

When I researched Vincent van Gogh's stays in London in the 1870s I did what always works best for me. Get out there on the ground and visit the place, walk through it, smell the air, look at the buildings, savour its atmosphere. It always surprises me that when I visit a location for a book that's when the inspiration starts to flow.

So I headed for London and walked around the areas that Van Gogh had visited when he worked for Goupil's London Art Gallery and later as an assistant at a school. When Van Gogh was 23 he wrote from London to his parents, describing his own experience of the city. Here's an extract of the letter, 'Tomorrow I must be in the remotest parts of London: in Whitechapel - that very poor part of London which you have read about in Dickens... then to Lewisham.' He wrote part of the letter as he undertook this long trip on foot, even resting in a cabbage field to complete his account!

When I explored Whitechapel, with its surprisingly quiet maze of narrow streets, and buildings that still bear violent gouge marks in the brickwork from bombs that fell in WW2 I took some camera footage. This came in useful for describing buidlings and so on. Here's a clip of fairly raw video, which gives you an idea of Whitechapel (Jack the Ripper territory) and how it is today, but most of the buidlings you see will have existed when Van Gogh explored those backstreets.

The Midnight Man Journal

Van Gogh, ghosts, murder and madness...

THE MIDNIGHT MAN is the title of my novel due out in hardback from Severn House in April in the UK and July in the US. THE MIDNIGHT MAN is set in 1888, the most turbulent year of Van Gogh's life when he lives in the Yellow House in Arles. Here, his fragile health collapsed and he cut away part of his ear just before the Christmas of that year.

During the research for the novel I found a wealth of material about Vincent Van Gogh on the internet: films, websites and so on. So, in part, this blog charts the the development and publication of the novel, outtakes from the story itself, and it also acts as a gateway for all those fascinating gems that feature Van Gogh on the internet.

During the coming weeks, I plan to add more website links as well as charting the progress of the novel from a bunch of files here on my computer to the published book. As I write, I'm waiting for the cover of the book. I'm promised it will be wonderful. When it arrives I'll post it here along with the link to a short web film that features Van Gogh.

Vincent Van Gogh's work and life story had a huge impact on me, and probably helped shaped who I am and what I do. In short, I'm a fan, a huge fan. So this is where as I get chance to celebrate the life and genius of one of the greatest artists - ever!

Severn House link www.severnhouse.com