Friday Kanopy Movie Pick: Loving Vincent

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Our Friday Kanopy movie pick features the Oscar-nominated film Loving Vincent, the first ever fully painted animated feature film. The story follows a young man who travels to Van Gogh's last hometown to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days. Features the voices of Saoirse Ronan and Chris O'Dowd.

About Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. Van Gogh decided to become an artist after a string of unsuccessful jobs, including preacher and art salesman. In 1885 he started work on "Potato Eaters" which is said to be his first masterpiece. A year later he moved to Paris to live with his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. There he developed his own post-impressionist style after many unsuccessful attempts to imitate the techniques of popular Impressionist painters.

Van Gogh then moved to the south of France to the now famous Yellow House, where painter Paul Gaugin eventually followed him. The relationship between the two artists was difficult and birthed the infamous ear-cutting incident. It is said that Gaugin walked out after an argument, and Van Gogh followed him, razor in hand, and ended up cutting off a portion of his own lower ear lobe. He began to increasingly show signs of mental illness and was sent to an asylum in Saint-Remy. After two years at the asylum, Van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, where Dr. Gachet, a homeopathic doctor and artist, treated him. Two months later, on July 29, 1890, Vincent van Gogh died of complications from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which he had incurred two days prior.

Vincent van Gogh completed more than 2,100 works, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. He is considered one of the most influential artists of all time. To learn more about him, tour the Van Gogh museum website here.

How to use Kanopy

Kanopy is a streaming service that is free to use with your WPL card. Your account has 4 watch credits per month. If you do not use your credits, they do not roll over to the next month. You will see a "play credit tracker" at the top right of your library's Kanopy platform to alert you of how many play credits you have remaining for the month.

To use a play credit, you must press play on a video and have the video play for at least 5 seconds. Once a play credit is logged, you will have a full 3 days (72 hours) to watch the video as many times as you would like without using another play credit, even if a new month starts and your credits reset. Your Viewing History will show any video that is still available to view in your 3 day window. After the 3 day window has expired, another play credit will be used if you press play on the video again.

Kanopy is currently offering credit-free viewing for select films. If you watch any of the movies on this list, you will not be using your credits. Once you log into your account, click the “credit free viewing" link on the top.