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Vincent Van Gogh
The all inspiring icon
By: Sharon Stansell , Art History Honors
Introduction
Vincent Van Gogh, a post-impressionist style artist. Post-Impressionism was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and color.
Post-Impressionists both extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: the artists continued using vivid colors, a thick application of paint and real-life subject matter, but were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, distort forms for an expressive effect and use unnatural and seemingly random colors.
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Vincent van Gogh Biography
Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot Zundert, North Brabant, Netherlands.He grew up in the southern Netherlands, where his father was a minister.
Van Gogh was the eldest of six children of a Protestant pastor. He was a quiet, self-contained youth, spending his free time wandering the countryside to observe nature.
Originally, van Gogh planned to be a pastor and worked as a lay preacher in Borinage, Belgium. It was only on being fired from this job that he decided that his future was in painting.He didn't start painting until he was 27 years old, and he never received any formal training.
Besides painting he was a teacher, minister, art dealer, and also enjoyed drawing. Van Gogh was influenced by Millet, Monet, Gauguin and many others, but most of all perhaps by the Japanese artist Hiroshige.
This oil painting is one of Van Gogh’s most representative works. It’s not in vain that you have seen it reproduced in countless media: plates, posters, stationery, etc. “The Sunflowers”, belonging to a series of paintings on the same subject, arose after the painter collected them from a field in Provence and painted them as they withered.
“Starry Night” is an icon of the Post-Impressionist style. It represents the night view from the window of the sanatorium in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence where the artist stayed during the last stage of his life. Van Gogh painted the work during the day and also used it to channel his state of mind after one of his schizophrenia attacks a little more than a year before he committed suicide.
“Café Terrace at Night” is an oil painting from his stay in Arles, in which Van Gogh depicted La Terrasse café in the Place du Forum, which later became Café Van Gogh. Warm colors, a symbol of the painter’s optimism at having arrived in the south of France in search of calm and inspiration, dominate the painting and are juxtaposed with houses in the shade and a star-studded sky.
“Self-Portrait with Straw Hat” is known for its markedly yellow tones and a light typical of Impressionism. He created this self-portrait when he was feeling overwhelmed in Paris. He was drunk in a wild city, he needed to escape to a quiet place , hence he presents himself with a straw hat and a look that conveys the oppression that he wants to end.
Van Gogh explained in a letter to his brother Théo that he wanted to portray real peasants eating the potatoes they had picked and grown themselves to depict the hardship of country life. He painted this bleak portrayal of five humble peasants about to have dinner in the Dutch town of Nuenen.
During his time in Arles, Van Gogh stayed in this room that he painted. the artist wanted to represent the simplicity and tranquility of his bedroom through a palette of pale colors, which are also a tribute to the sobriety of Japan, whose artwork inspired Van Gogh.
My Favorite Art Works: “Starry Night”
- Cafe terrace at night is a post-impressionist painting that has probably become my favorite of all time. Van Gogh creates a scene of absolute comfort and relaxation and makes you feel homesick for a place you’ve never been. The serenity of the work just speaks to the viewer and truly captures, in my opinion, what art is truly about, speaking to the beholder. Blue and yellow hues dominate this painting and the placement of lighting in the painting give it the look of realness and makes it look like you're actually there. This painting reminds me of a relaxing night stroll through a peaceful town.
-Starry night is such a classic and popular work and it's been such an inspiring art piece in many people's lives including mine. It was one of the first art pieces I was ever introduced to so it holds a very special place in the art world to me. Starry Night is a post-Impressionist artwork. When I view Starry Night I see a serene but more dull town but above a beautiful vibrant sky which is the very heart of the painting. Blue and yellow are the most dominant colors. The yellows, blues, greens, whites and browns give the scene life, and the swirling brushstrokes show the painting as a living, breathing thing. The work as a whole has an emotional and contemplative vibe due to how lifelike it looks. To me it makes me think of a night where all the stars are visible, no light pollution, no clouds, just the stars in the sky.It is an iconic painting and is one of the most beautiful pieces of artwork in history.
Works CitedBoshdemont, Anna. “8 of van Gogh’s Most Iconic Paintings.” Musement Blog, 13 May 2019, blog.musement.com/us/famous-van-gogh-paintings/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2024.Britannica. “Vincent van Gogh | Biography, Art, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Vincent-van-Gogh.Van Gogh Museum. “Vincent van Gogh.” Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh Museum, 2023, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/art/vincent-van-gogh.Van Gogh Studio. “Café Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh.” Van Gogh Reproductions, Hand-Painted in Oil on Canvas | van Gogh Studio., Van Gogh reproductions, hand-painted in oil on canvas | Van Gogh Studio., 21 Dec. 2016, www.vangoghstudio.com/cafe-terrace-at-night-by-vincent-van-gogh/.Wikipedia. “Vincent van Gogh.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh.