[Watch Watch House Watch Culture] I don’t know if this is a fate, or a sadness. Many great artists who have influenced the history so far have become famous after the death. The Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent William van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh) is an example of a painting that only sold out a painting during his short life. Perhaps a choice, Van Gogh was born in 1853, and there was not much overlap between his early career and painting (although the Van Gogh family with prestige at the time had many relatives engaged in painting transactions, Van Gogh also had experience) until In 1879, his mission in the mining area was subjected to the incredible dismissal of the church, and the subsequent blows of love. He lost faith in God and life, and continued to live in different cities. Painting gave Van Gogh a new direction, from 1880 At the beginning, Van Gogh’s painting career really opened until the end of life.

Van Gogh's self-portrait at the end of 1888, the spirit of the abnormality cut off an ear

     At this time, in another part of Europe, a workshop that was also attached to the thoughts of his own mind, with the talent of the founder's self and the invention, created a legend of the times, this is the Jaeger-LeCoultre. In the mid-19th century, the Swiss watch industry had not yet reached the scale of the world's major watch countries. Watches still depended on several small home workshops for assembly, and then assembled to complete. The founder Antoine LeCoultre and his son Elie first Bringing together local watchmakers to exchange and share craftsmanship, this model allows watchmaking technology to grow rapidly, and the patents and inventions introduced by watchmaker Antoine LeCoultre further promote the development of the workshop, from the traditional family style. In the workshop, Jaeger-LeCoultre gradually expanded into a “big workshop” with hundreds of craftsmen. Since then, Jaeger-LeCoultre's continuous exploration of watchmaking technology and the exploration of super-complex structures have made Jaeger-LeCoultre famous in the global market.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Art Workshop

     One is an artist who lived in the middle and late 19th century, but had a profound influence on the western art world of the 20th century. One was a watchmaking workshop that was born in the early 19th century but has made outstanding contributions to the world's mechanical timekeeping history. There have been no intersections in the track for hundreds of years. As Jaeger-LeCoultre gradually realized the importance of art to culture, Jaeger-LeCoultre decisively devoted himself to artistic creation and artistic inheritance, so that they have had close contact again and again in this era.

Van Gogh in "Sunflower"

     In 2015, it was the 125th anniversary of the death of Van Gogh. A wave of art to pay tribute to Van Gogh was created around the world. Van Gogh's works were displayed in various countries, including China, in the form of multimedia. Van Gogh's motherland, the capital of the Netherlands, the Vatican Museum of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, is a memorable moment of commemoration. It combines several structures and holds commemorative events in the countries where France, Belgium and the Netherlands have lived in Van Gogh. Introduced by the important partner of Jaeger-LeCoultre, the famous jewellery watchmaker Gasssn in the Netherlands, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Van Gogh Museum have cooperated with each other in an unprecedented way, using Van Gogh’s "Sunflower" painting as a prototype to launch a Jaeger-LeCoultre. Reverso à Eclipse watch limited edition commemorative watch.

Van Gogh, "Sunflower"

     Van Gogh made a total of nearly 2,200 works in his life, and more than ten works on sunflowers. From 1888 to early 1889, Van Gogh was obsessed with the sunflowers of the southern region of France, where he lived. This has a strong The color of sunlight and the flower of vitality gave him a lot of spiritual comfort. After 1885, he was inspired by the fascinating and bold use of Japanese ukiyo-e and the Paris Impressionist and New Impressionists, gradually giving up the extremely gloomy gray color and turning to bright colors. In 1888, he painted a lot of handed down works. "Sunflower" was painted during this period. Until he entered the mental hospital in 1889, he painted sunflowers many times. The bright colors of "Sunflower" show the spirit of a sun. He uses these paintings to decorate the living environment in his "Yellow House" and paint himself with color.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso à Eclipse "Sunflower" watch

     Jaeger-LeCoultre chose this "Sunflower" oil on canvas from the National Museum of the National Museum of the Netherlands as a blueprint for the creation. The master of the brand art workshop prepared for this, using the more difficult micro-painting craft, trying to rebuild in Jaeger-LeCoultre. à Reproduce this work on the Eclipse dial. Reverso à Eclipse is an unusual special art watch collection in the Reverso series. In 2006, Jaeger-LeCoultre created this unique collection to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Reverso collection. It can be opened by the 2 o'clock roller. And the louvered dial is closed, and can be fully opened, fully closed and half-opened, etc., showing magical dial magic. Since then, the theme of this series has become more and more abundant, and it has become a more representative art series of Reverso and even Jaeger-LeCoultre.

     Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso à Eclipse "Sunflower" theme watch is made of 18K rose gold case, a total of 5 pieces, the interior uses the ultra-thin small circular manual movement Calibre 849, its thickness is only 1.85 mm, 35 hours Storage. The use of such a small movement is to give more positions for the 192 parts with the louver dial and the enamel dial. In this unique enamel dial, Jaeger-LeCoultre masters need to fire the bottom white enamel on the metal blast disk several times, and then use a small brush to paint the enamel with different colors. "On such a small dial, according to the original ratio, micro-painting "Sunflower", and after many firings. Because of the original oil paintings, the difference in strokes and the great troubles caused by the micro-paintings, the masters need to carefully handle every detail in order to reproduce the original style in a sly form.

Van Gogh's self-portrait, his own eyes

     In 2016, Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Reverso series. Jaeger-LeCoultre and the Van Gogh Museum once again collaborated. The self-portrait known as Van Gogh was the source of the design of the Reverso à Eclipse watch. A Reverso à Eclipse watch was re-launched. . Self-portrait is a very important part of Van Gogh's paintings. Through painting to reproduce the expressions and gestures of his paintings, the painting chosen by Jaeger-LeCoultre is the work of Van Gogh's paintings from 1887 to 1888, when he was about to leave. Paris, travel to Alcazar, France. This painting is a standard format for the self-portrait of the standard painter, and is similar to the self-portrait of Rembrandt's "The Painter in Front of the Easel" and the self-portrait of Cézanne.

Van Gogh

     After completing the creation of this self-portrait, Van Gogh wrote to his very close sister and gave a detailed description of the self-portrait, with a grayish reddish face, wrinkles on the corners of his mouth and forehead, and green eyes. The beard was very red, the mess was like a long time untrimmed, it made people look frustrated, etc. After that, he said in his letter that he was not like this in reality. He had no beard and hair, and his clothes were not blue. All the descriptions show Van Gogh's qualities as a post-impressionist artist – he doesn't paint what he sees, but what he thinks, the kind of sluggishness. He has been processed here, and his ideas about identity, spirit and life are also reflected.

Jaeger-LeCoultre reproduces Van Gogh's classic paintings through micro-painting

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso à Eclipse Van Gogh High Self-Portrait Watch

     After the 2015 Reverso à Eclipse series of masterpieces for Van Gogh's paintings and the successful experience of the series for world famous paintings in the past 10 years, this Reverso à Eclipse watch in 2016 is also very meticulously crafted with micro-painting techniques. This self-portrait of Van Gogh is presented. Under the creation of micro-painted enamel, the paintings of the blue collarless tooling worn by Van Gogh, the color on the paint tray, the brush in the hand, the easel and his red messy beard, wrinkles on the forehead and mouth are all one by one. It is reflected that even the texture brought by the oil painting is fully displayed. Only the superb craftsmanship can control such a delicate miniature painting.

     In 2016, the new Reverso à Eclipse Van Gogh self-portrait watch is limited to 4 pieces. It is also equipped with the classic small manual movement Calibre 849. The watch is made of platinum and each piece is priced at 101,000 euros ($110,000). It was exhibited at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

"Starry Night on the Rhone" and "Starry Sky"

     Of course, the close contact between Jaeger-LeCoultre and Van Gogh's works is not only in the Reverso à Eclipse series. With Jaeger-LeCoultre's extraordinary craftsmanship combined with high-level mechanical watchmaking technology, Jaeger-LeCoultre is a three-question watch of the super-complex master series based on Van Gogh's famous painting "Starry Night on the Rhone River". "Starry Night on the Rhone" was created in 1888. In the night sky of the dark blue and short lines of cool colors, the reflection of the lake is illuminated by bright yellow. The strong contrast shows the tranquility of the night, although the blue sky is very deep, the picture is right. In the lower corner, an old couple walks by the lake, and the peaceful and peaceful scene brings inner warmth and tranquility.

Jaeger-LeCoultre's traditional master series "Starry Night on the Rhone" three-question watch

     Jaeger-LeCoultre's traditional master series three-question watch selects such a picture, and the sound of the three-question sound of the watch brings more vivid pictures. The watch is made of 18K gold, limited to 18 pieces, and the built-in movement has 437 parts. Under the fine depiction of the micro-painted enamel, this Van Gogh painting was once again immersed in the dial of the 39 mm diameter, and the details still follow the paintings, which can not help but marvel at the subtlety and extraordinary of Jaeger-LeCoultre.

     However, Van Gogh's famous paintings can be less famous for the "Starry Sky", which was created during the treatment of Van Gogh in a spiritual sanatorium. This painting fully reflects the abstract style of the Impressionist, completely distorted. The starry sky and the swirling night sky express the melancholy and psychedelic of the Van Gogh spiritual world at this time. The deep blue color is one of Van Gogh's favorite colors, orange, bright yellow and grayish black, which makes people think that the wonderful starry sky is overwhelming, but this is the starry sky in Van Gogh's mind. Therefore, Jaeger-LeCoultre made this Van Gogh high-profile painting, which was also miniatured by the micro-painting process, and was recreated in the Jaeger-LeCoultre Masters series tourbillon watch. 18K white gold case with built-in 978 automatic The winding movement has a limited edition of 18 watches.

To sum up: genius is only one line away from the madman. The work of Van Gogh's high achievement is actually completed when his spirit is in a state of distress. The suffering of reality makes him fall into the valley of spiritual despair too early. Although he was able to find new hopes, he did not let him get rid of the reality. Van Gogh's works have deeply influenced the history of the West in the 20th century, and even today still give us a lot of inspiration. Jaeger-LeCoultre, which also spanned from time and space from the 19th century, brought a dialogue across art boundaries with exquisite art and mechanical watchmaking techniques, bringing new vitality to Van Gogh's paintings in new forms. (Figure / text watch home Wu Yibing)