Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

'Portrait of a woman in blue'

Subject matter:

I think the mood of this painting is calm but also confused. The way he showed the background in pretty dark and coldcolours shows a little of confusion/sadness. Also the way he painted the face makes the painting look like the lady in it was surprised, as her eyes seem to be looking at something and her mouth is open. I think this painting is a lot about the way its been painted as well as the colours used. The way its painted i think because of oil paint which gives it a rough and a little blurred like effect. Also its about the colour because the painting name is Woman in blue, which does say that blue is meant to be as a main colour, and there are alot of blue/green tones in this portrait.

Technique:

This artwork by Vincent Van Gogh is painted. The brushes used could be different sizes, but the marks however seem to be mostly slapped on, because if you look closely at the picture there are only certain areas such as the eyes, or some of the shadows on the face as well as necklace and earings that were carefully applied because its quite detailed. The consistency of the paint is thick and oily. There is alot of depth in the work as if you look from far away it does look like the woman is in the front of the painting because of the background colours. The tonal range which is used a lot in this painting shows the light and dark areas in the art work as well as also shows the depth of this art piece. The colours do resemble the actual person as it was meant to turn out realistic. Colours used are warm and cold but mostly cold tones of green and blue as well as looks like theres a hint of purple. Only warm colours that are in this Vincent's work are for the skin colour nand the lips, as its shades of yellow and red. The texture is lumpy and rough because of the canvas as well as the oil paint which is quite thick.

Artists career:

Vincent Van gogh was born on 30^th of March 1853, in Netherlands (Zundert). He died however only aged 37 on July 29^th 1890 in france. His death cause started of when he had an illness and he was hospitalised, after being released from hospital there was a lot of the times Vincent couldnt paint because of the ilness that was making it really difficult for him, and from frustration that he couldn't express his talent, he shot himself with a revolver in the chest. Vincent was quite but a very serious child in his early ages, he was taught in village school from 1860s to 1861s. He began to draw as a child and had interest in art from an early age. Van Gogh worked as a supply teacher which he did not get paid for once he came back to England. He was however never married. He was working in fields such as drawing, painting and also printmaking. His movement was Post-Impressionism.

Opinion:

I do like Vincent's work, some paintings i think are a little hard to understand however there are loads of paintings made by him are really great and inspiring, i love the texture and the pattern of the work made by him. I did paint the same painting that i described, my painting colours weren't so rich but it turned out pretty similar.