Van Gogh's Yarn Box....

Last Sunday afternoon Loret Karman organized a special tour in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. To tell you the truth...Van Gogh is not my favorite painter, but after this afternoon I have seen something very different in his paintings.

Imagine this:

You walk in the exhibition with little balls of hand dyed yarn round your fingers. 
8 women do the same, but only with different colored yarn balls.
Yes, I can hear you thinking: rather odd and what is the reason for doing this..

But let's start with the beginning.

Loret, who I never met in real (only virtual through Facebook) is dyeing her own yarns.

She is absolutely one of the few people I have met, who has a very good sense for colors  but she also is interested in the paintings by Van Gogh. One of the first questions she asked me (just after a Big Hug) was..do you like Van Gogh's work? After my answer (see above) she told me..you will see it from a totally different angle this afternoon..it will be an Experience.

It had all started with the find of a box in the museum. A red Chinese box, filed with little balls of yarn. And this box has belonged to that famous painter. It can be seen in the museum and it was kind of moving for me. 
Those little balls were used by him to get a good color-scheme for his paintings.

Imagine this man, winding little skeins -in various color-combinations- round his finger.. A bit more orange next to blue..or just a little..perhaps..pink and blue perhaps..no, not too much pink in the evening-sky....

Perhaps a strange idea, but Delacroix has also used this kind of method for his paintings.

Loret was so intrigued by this box, that she dyed a color-palette in exactly the same 

colors of the yarns in the box

.

 She showed some examples of how the colors worked in knitting. 

In a way you can knit your own Van Gogh, and hang it on the wall..

Or..wear a Van Gogh long Mitten on a cold winter's day...

If you look close at paintings, you can see that the paintings are miraculously built up.

Ans Loret has made little samples to show us.. What happens if you put more..or less orange in it..and this all after a selfportrait for the Master himself.

She showed some more examples of how paintings were built up. I loved the color-scheme above, knitted in little blocks after each other..I am now thinking of something similar to make a knitted tie for my self..I never wear a tie, but this is so tempting..

Or those ideas for a knitted jacket after a painting..I-cords round the lapels of that piece..

After the talk, we all had to go to the 2nd floor to see box in real and the newly discovered painting.

"Sunset at Monmajour, 1888, Private collection".

(sorry for the not so good picture because of the museum light and no flash ofcourse)

I ended up with little pieces of yarn in the colors of the sky..

And because we were with a group we shared little pieces of yarn form various Van Gogh series of the hand-dyed yarns by Loret.

(It was rather funny while were doing this, a visitor took a piece of yarn with her, while others were intrigued by what we were doing)

In a way you can say that all the colors above can be found in his paintings. (so there is a painting in those pieces of string...)

For me it was a mind-blowing experience..and it was great to hear the story told by Loret. She knows so much and has such a passion for her topic. And next to that she is a lovely person, and I felt very comfortable with her. 

If you can take this tour...Go, it is Wonderful and it will give you such a different view on the paintings by Van Gogh.

And..ofcourse...I couldn't resist to buy the Dutch Palette. 

Not a clue what to do with it. 

A tie perhaps...

Not that I wear a tie, but it would be the first tie knitted out of this yarn.

Last night I made a swatch (in linnen-stitch on needles 2,5)  from the palette I got last Sunday..

I see little colored blocks...and the name will be..

My Van Gogh Round My Neck Tie..

P.S.

Just found a little video in which Loret talks about her work.