Vincent Van Gogh was a unique and unusual man, yet one would surely not believe that he was a self-taught painter. Vincent was born in 1853 in Grotto-Sunders, a village located in the south of Netherlands. Van Gogh did not pick up painting until the age of 27 which is somewhat late for the average painter of his time. He also did not Jump straight to being an artist, but attempted to be a minister, a missionary, an art dealer, and a teacher. We will see what shaped Van Sago’s art whether it was through his perception of the world or through his quest to keep his sanity.
We can observe most of Van Sago’s life through the connection he and his brother made by the writing of each other’s letters. His younger brother, Thee helped Vincent emotionally and financially as he started his new found passion for creating art. Since his attempt of being a preacher did not go as planned, Vincent in a way turned to painting because of familiarity and to express his religious faith. Despite his motives, Van Gogh fell short of capturing an audience through his art work. For a while he shared an apartment with a prostitute name Seen. Seen was said to be his muse, his source of inspiration in the creation of artwork.
When Vincent father caught wind of this relationship that had trouble written all over it, he demanded that Vincent immediately rid himself of her and continue on his way. He finally gave in and abandoned Seen, leaving her alone where she once again turned to prostitution for her source of income. Van Gogh did not have much luck at first when it came to attracting buyers for his artwork, but the creation of his painting “The Potato Eaters” was one of his first works to gain some recognition. It was a painting of poor peasants eating potatoes around a inner table.
Vincent purposely chose to depict them in their natural environment where it can easily be seen that these hard working peasants labor tirelessly to earn their small rations of food. The painting further complements the idea of “poor and unfortunate” through the use of dark, thick, and dusty looking colors. Van Gogh was very heavy on his brush when it came to painting portraits like this because he did not Just want to paint something, but he wanted to create philosophical connection with his audience which most likely were the middle and upper class of society.
After moving to Paris, Van Gogh finally found impressionism and began creating paintings with the use of lighter and more brilliant colors. Thee had informed Vincent that it was a very difficult endeavor to sell his paintings to art collectors who disliked his type of dark art style. It was at that point that Vincent embraced his light side and embraced nature as a source of beauty that could only be captured through the use of richly draped yellows, and other lavish colors. One of Van Sago’s painting called “the Sorer” incorporates complementary colors to bring a sort of immersed intensity to the picture.
This painting is a recreation of an earlier painting, but Van Sago’s has a glow of brilliance to it through the use of a variety of colors that is sure the audience’s eyes in ecstasy. Vincent was always a little skittish growing up, but now it was evident that he was beginning to go mad. It is quite unsure how it came about, but it was said that Van Gogh, in a moment of immense tension, cut his own ear off because of an argument between Gauguin and himself. From there on it was all downhill for the upcoming artist.
Vincent eventually admitted himself to a mental hospital where he painted for while in an effort to keep himself from becoming a lunatic Later, he moved with a doctor who specialized with artists who suffered from mental illnesses. Van Gogh seemed to have recovered enough to have left the care of the doctor and returned to painting soon after. One of his last and one his notable works is called “Wheat Field with Crows”. It is painting that depicts a dramatic landscape set in a wheat field with a great sea of blue as the sky. The single road and flock of crows direct you in an unsure direction, It brings about a sense of loneliness.
With thick and heavy strokes, the setting is set or a wind-swept field of golden wheat. This painting is one amongst his unique and haunting works created. A man who may have been mentally ill or Just a man mad at the world for not understanding his views through his art? No one will ever know for sure because his story came to an end when it was said that he shot himself in the stomach later dying due to infection from the wound. It is not clear what type of mental illness Van Gogh suffered from if he did at all suffer from one, but it is fact that he had a way of creating art through the power of his mind and emotion.
