I did know the history, and most of the paintings, particularly as Van Gogh's letters have featured heavily on the radio recently. I also thought the portrayal was absolutely outstanding.
It was considered "cheesy" (by some fan forums posters) how the BBC recreated some of the paintings in sets and direction, but to be honest I loved it, as I also did when they did that on some of those TV adverts back in the 90s with various paintings "coming to life" or recreated for the camera. This episode (and perhaps more so, the "Dr Who Confidential" on BBC3 afterwards) definitely made the 'magic' in Van Gogh's paintings more apparent to me. Unlike mostmodern art, especially Jackson Pollock style "abstract" art, I can see the appeal of impressionism and why it started to change the then-received wisdom of representational painting.
The fan forums have expressed concerns over changes to VVG's life story, for instance many don't think the mental illness he suffered from was depression, and there are hints in the episode that he may have been synaesthesic (like the line about "hearing" colours), and presumably the STD he was meant to be suffering from couldn't fit into a teatime show, but anyway I did like the episode's portrayal
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Personally, I think Van Gogh was depressive - his letters certainly give that impression - but we can never know. People who complain about something that is that open to interpretation are on very uncertain ground and a screenwriter may choose which interpretation he or she pleases.
If you are going to complain about the liberties with real history, there are plenty - Van Gogh was not in Arles at that particular time, the Sunflower series were not painted then, the church in the painting is in the North, not in Provence at all and so on...
I just put anything like that down to Dr Who happening in a universe similar to, but not quite the same as our own... for instance, the 1960s stories about Nero and about the OK Corral gunfight are quite different in their details, and there was no UK manned mission to Mars or Jupiter in the 1970s or near-collision with our twin planet in 1986... ;)
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The fan forums have expressed concerns over changes to VVG's life story, for instance many don't think the mental illness he suffered from was depression, and there are hints in the episode that he may have been synaesthesic (like the line about "hearing" colours), and presumably the STD he was meant to be suffering from couldn't fit into a teatime show, but anyway I did like the episode's portrayal ( ... )
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If you are going to complain about the liberties with real history, there are plenty - Van Gogh was not in Arles at that particular time, the Sunflower series were not painted then, the church in the painting is in the North, not in Provence at all and so on...
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