Vincent Van Gogh

By: Al Jazi Al Thani 7B

A brief introduction

into the life of Vincent Van

Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh was born in the year 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Holland. His

Father was a Pastor and he lived in quite a religious environment.

He started off no where but then began to study art and loved it. He used his talent

to make others happy.

The picture of him to the left I took of a site and really like because to me I feel like I can see his mood at the time through the

picture and I think that is a remarkable thing for a portrait to have.

Becoming an Artist

Between the years 1860 and 1880 Vincent Van Gogh decided to become an artist. He had to sadly unsuccessful romances during that time. He also moved from job to job until he finally decides to stay on Belgium and study art. So he can give people happiness in the form of beauty.

During his life he created many extremely famous pieces of art some examples of these is a painting he did using a medium of either oil pastel or oil paints to paint a landscape of a building next to a lovely and creative starry sky.

His painting was mainly made up of the colors blue and black using some white to paint the stars. As well as tinting and shading different parts of the sky to make it look more realistic.

Also to me I believe that the colors black and white aren’t actually colors but merely something they use to change another color that makes me feel like they are the scariest and sadist of all the the colors. Because even though some people say they are real colors not everybody does.

Paris

In the year 1886 Vincent van Gogh went to Paris to join his Brother Theo who at the time was managing Goupil’s Gallery.

During his time there Vincent studied with a person named Corman and then met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin. Then Was able to begin lightening up his dark pallet, he used quick short brushstrokes and then began his impressionists period. His nervous behavior combined with painting all day threatened his health as well as mad him a bad companion.

After that he chose to go south to Arles to found an art school, he hoped his friends would join him with his ideal. Luckily one of Van Gogh's friends, Gauguin did join him. Sadly a nearing the end of 1888 there was a disastrous incident which caused to Gauguin to leave Arles. That incident also caused Van Gogh to cut off a bit of his ear lobe.

He kept hovering between fits of lucidity and madness before going to an asylum in Saint Remy for treatment.

Famous piece of work

One of his most famous pieces of work during the early Dutch periods was

called “The Potato Eaters” that was painted in the year 1855.

This picture is extremely detailed which is always a good thing so people can

see the even the small parts in a scene.

Sometimes in a painting you cant tell the difference in gender because of the

lighting so I just want to tell you that this is a painting consisting of one male and four

females.

About the Image

This Painting is a portrait of people four females one male sitting around a square table eating potatoes. While painting this I feel Van Gogh was calm and concentrated as best he could. Looking at the extreme detail of the picture I can tell that he worked on it for quite a while and continuously tried to make it better and add more details and shading.

He had a good proportion because the size of the table compared to the people is pretty good it looks almost as if he took a picture. To make hat possible he tinted and shaded the picture as best he could to match the composition in front of him.

He darkened this are so it would be more realistic.

About the Image

His composition is also good because when you look at the people you can see all of them at different angles and he added an extraordinary amount of detail which would take a long time add. His medium was either oil pastel or oil paint on a canvas.

When he painted the picture he paid attention to the small details and even used a bit of his own emotions in the feeling. During that time it was very dark and painting such a fantastic piece of work was BIG.

He even drew the glow of the light bulb in this painting.

Why I chose the potato eaters.

I chose The potato eaters as the painting I talk about because it was the painting which made Vincent Van Gogh famous and until now people still remember his name as a magnificent artist. If it wasn’t for that piece I believe Vincent might not have gotten his big break.

Quotes

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well. 

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be

narrow-minded and all to prudent.

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to. . . . The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.

 The best way to know God is to love many things. 

Quotes

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.

 I wish they would only take me as I am.

Bibliography

"The Potato Eaters." Vincent Van Gogh Biography. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.vincentvangoghart.net/The-Potato-Eaters.html>.

incent Van Gogh Biography Overview." Vincent Van Gogh Gallery - Welcome! Web. 05 Oct. 2011. <http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/overview.html>.

Bibliography

Famous Vincent Van Gogh Quotes -ThinkExist." Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.thinkexist.com/english/Author/x/Author_4279_1.htm>.