The Practice of Van Gogh
By: Catharine Yoder
Known today as one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art, Vincent van Gogh produced about 2,100 artworks –most of which date from the last two years of his life– in a technique that grew more fervent in brush stroke, symbolic and intense color, surface tension, and in the movement of form and line 1. Van Gogh’s mental instability and unstable personal temperament romanticized the image of the tortured artist. The struggling artist strove to convey his emotional and spiritual state in each of his artworks 2. While Van Gogh only managed to sell one work during his lifetime, he helped lay the foundations of modern art and left a lasting impact on the art world. The intensity of his vision with his wonderful sense of color and extraordinary boldness of his technique created masterpieces that displayed such a profound influence on the art of the twentieth century 3.
Van Gogh’s dedication to the fluent inner thoughts of man and nature resulted in dramatically imaginative and emotional canvas works. His works of landscapes and portraits used an impulsive amount of paint and vibrant color to symbolize the expression of subjective emotions. He deliberately used colors to capture mood, rather than using colors realistically. No other artist was doing this at the time. Each painting provides a direct sense of how the artist viewed each scene; interpreted through his eyes, mind, and heart. These methods and practices came to inspire many subsequent modern movements such as Fauvism and Abstract Expressionism 4. In his early career, Van Gogh painted with dark and melancholy colors that suited his subjects at the time, mainly portraits of miners, peasants, and farm laborers. However, his style changed dramatically when he moved to Paris, France in 1886 and was greatly influenced by the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists. He started using a more vibrant palette and experimented with the broken brush strokes of Impressionists as well as attempting the pointillist technique of the Neo-Impressionists. Such experimentation was evident in his Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat.
His choice of colors varied with his moods and occasionally limited his palette, such as Sunflowers, which is almost entirely composed of yellows 5.
In his advanced years, Van Gogh painted over 30 self-portraits, reflecting his ongoing technique of contrasting complementary colors and bolder composition. He used portrait paintings as a method of self-analysis, a method to make money, and a method of developing his artistic skills 6. Two years before his death, Van Gogh moved from Paris to Arles where he became inspired by the vibrant light colors of spring. Painting outside changed his style and technique as he was hugely influenced by Japanese prints.
Van Gogh painted dark outlines around objects and filled these areas with thick color. The composition in Irises is evidence of the influence of Japanese prints and pieces. The profound elements in this piece are ordered into distinct large regions of color and symmetry. These wavy, twisted, broken and pointed curvy lines foreshadowed his later works.
Around this time, Van Gogh was admitted to Saint-Paulde-Mausole asylum where he had devoted himself to his art, between his attacks, with a desperate determination. He made most of his best works in the asylum, such as his magnum opus piece The Starry Night, which remains to be one of his most influential pieces in history. The swirling lines of the sky are a possible representation of his mental state, as this same shaken style is visible in all of his work during his time at the asylum 8. Starry Night is an attempt to express a state of shock, wracked with solitude and uncertainty.
Although Van Gogh’s mental instability was the source of much upset during his life, it provided the frenzied source for the emotional renderings of his surroundings and imbedded each image with a deeper psychological reflection and reasoning. Van Gogh viewed his life as totally wasted and a terrible failure, filled with mental evils and artistic triumphs 9. The Post-Impressionist’s collection of drawings and paintings illustrates his artistic interests and the evolution of his practice. Defined by thick, painterly brushstrokes and a bright color palette, these luminous landscapes, expressive portraits, and lively still lifes have come to represent the artist, evolving with each phase of his short life 10.
A few decades after his death, Van Gogh’s 2,100 artworks reached international acclaim and he remains one of the most important figures in the history of art. His influence is seen through the works of modern artists and impressionists of the 20th century such as Martin Shwatrz, Lucien Pissaro, and Francis Bacon. Celebrated for both his artistic practice and his admirable approach to life, Vincent van Gogh’s importance is guaranteed to be carried on far into the future.