Interactive Elements
Below are decsriptions and links to some of the inateractive features on the Straight from the Heart CDrom. These interactive features were created to help illustrate Vincent's thinking and working processes as he developed into the master he became.
The "Palette" element along 
with the words he wrote to Theo illustrate what he was conveying to Theo in Letter #000.
The "Perspective Frame" element provides a working model of the perspective frame he had made for him by a local carpenter. Please read the 
instructions as the element is a bit tricky but, whith a little practice you'll get the idea and see what his concerns were. It is also accompanied by spoken words from Letter#000.
The "Potato Eaters" element contains pieces of sevarl of his letters to Theo about his current "project" whic was making many studie of peasant heads with the ultimat end of creating a composition which became the painting we know as "The Potato Eaters". 
This was Vincent's first masterpiece and the last major work he made before moving Antwerp and on to Paris. This interactive element features many of the studies of peasant heads, hands and other elements as they sat at table eating dinner. In this element you can roll the mouse over the peasant heads and hands etc to see the related studies for that particular section or model used in the painting.
By the time Vincent moved to Paris he was well versed in the color theories of the day. He had read of the color theories as expressed by Delacroix and of the impressionist. He copied these theories verbatim in Letter #000 to Theo. Click on this graphic to hear and see the theory as he wrote it down.
Finally the "Variations" element illustrates by way of comparison Vincent's ideas about copying works of other artists. 
One of his favorite artists was Millet whom he also copied early in his development. This element includes a lengthy spoken section of Letter#000 in which he expresses his thoughts on this subject while at the same time you can compare the actual copies he made to the original etching which he used as his guide.