Two Bright Colored Paintings By Van Gogh example essay topic

Portrait of the Peasant by Vincent van Gogh. Vincent van Gogh has always been an interesting artist who has captured the attention and admiration of many artists, critics and mere admirers. Like many artists during his life he suffered many disappointments, which in turn caused him to go through some transitions in style and subject matter regards to his work. It is quite interesting to actually see the changes that occurred in his life through his work, a gift that not many artists are blessed with in their lives.

Appropriately enough, as I entered the Norton Simon Museum, I noticed two bright colored paintings by van Gogh. One of the paintings was entitled " The Mulberry Tree" and the other "Portrait of a Peasant". He painted both of these in Arles in 1988, a time of an obvious transition in his style and approach to color. However, it is the later of the two paintings that really caught my attention. While both paintings were colorful and endearing, what instantly attracted me to "Portrait of a Peasant" was the way in which van Gogh used the colors at their truest value to not only display an image, but also to display emotion. The intense eye-catching colors of this piece brightened up the entire room of the museum.

The work is painted using oil on a canvas, illustrated a peasant named Patience Escalier, an old gardener and shepard. Escalier was chosen as the subject of his painting partly because he reminded van Gogh of his own father. In this work, van Gogh positioned Escalier very close to the plane. This technique was inspired by Japanese printings that used a different approach in illustrating a portrait. This is why the face of peasant is really flat and the lines are outlined, surfacing the picture plane.

The background is not like one in traditional portrait, rather a pure color of blue. This color is used in different values of bright blue in fast brushstrokes, which directs the eye towards the background. The brushstrokes are intense, as if woven together. In contrast to the blue background, the peasant is wearing a bright yellow straw hat. Horizontal curvy brushstrokes are used more liberally, which complete the hat covering the forehead of the peasant. In my opinion, the use of bright yellow in contrast to the blue, actually connects the peasant with the background of the painting.

These bright colors represent the mood and stage of van Gogh's career. In a letter to his brother Theo in Paris, he talks a great deal about this work. In his own words he describes, "Behind the head, instead of a painting the ordinary wall of the mean room, I paint infinite, a plane back round of the most riches, intense blue that I can contrive, and by this simple combintaion of the bright head against the rich blue background, I get mysterious effects, like a star in the depths of an azure sky" (22). In addition the contrast and symbolism of the colors, the facial features of the peasant are also quite intriguing.

These facial features consist of intense circular brushstrokes around the eyes that focus on the obvious tired look of the peasant. The use of warm red in the cheekbones perhaps emphasizes on a badly sunburned man who works out on the field all day long. Escalier is also unshaved, which also exemplifies the type of life peasant's lead. The artist can truly represent the struggles of peasants, because he actually began his career by drawing peasant after working in the coal-mining district in Belgium. He witnessed the bad conditions and poverty strike lifestyle of these peasants and felt compelled to capture these scenes in early sketches and then in paintings. It was the life and hardships of the peasants that actually led him in his career as a painter.

Van Gogh had done most of his peasant paintings in Belgium. With the dark and cold climate of this region, most of his peasant paints follow the mood and climate of the country. After some time, he moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo. During this time, his influences changed as he studied the modern innovations of Impressionists like Passer, Degas, and Gauguin. Discovering the light colors of these artist and combining it with his fast brushstroke technique, van Gogh established his true style that made him quite famous. However, it was not until he moved to Arles that he began painting with the vibrant colors and new techniques that are found in " Portrait of a Peasant".

In Arles, during the last two and a half years of his life, he painted most of his masterpieces. Where he achieved most of his artistic genius and executed more than 100 paintings, of which only two were portraits of peasants. In the other painting, van Gogh presents Escalier with a vivid orange background, almost flashing at the viewer. In a letter to his brother Theo he mentions. ".. Instead, I imagine the man I have to paint, terrible in the furnace of the height of harvest ime, as surrounded by the whole Midi.

Hence the orange colors flashing like lightning, vivid as a red-hot iron and hence the luminous tones of old gold in the shadows... ". (546) In short, this painting is more that just a interesting or beautiful piece of work. It is representative of a man, a time, and a transition that would one day make him immortal.

This painting is one that combines his old and new style, and ultimately giving us an extraordinary piece of work. The List of

Bibliography

1. Norton Simon Museum. "Vincent van Gogh; Painter, Printmaker, Collector". 1990.
Letter #520) p. 22 2. Reward, John. "Post-Impressions im: From Van Gogh to Gauguin". 1978, pp 536-551 3.
Tilborgh & Heugten. "Vincent van Gogh: Paintings" 1990.