Wheat Field with Crows, by Vincent van Gogh, exhibits a dark nature, inviting many to interpret this artwork as a symbolic end to the artist's life. It was painted just weeks before his suicide in July, 1890 during van Gogh's Auvers period - referencing the ten week long period of time between his stay at the asylum in Saint Remy's and his death in the small town of Auvers-sur-Oise. By this point in Vincent van Gogh's life, he had fully mastered his personalized style of painting, creating at least 70 paintings usually representational of the nature surrounding him - such as cypress trees, wheat fields, and various buildings in Auvers-sur-Oise. Timothy Standling, the curator of the Denver Museum of Art, says “he drew as he painted and painted as he drew.” This was a technique particular to Vincent van Gogh. Inspired by his natural surroundings, van Gogh merged his use of color and line in Wheat Fields with Crows by incorporating intense vivid colors with his use of thickly painted, unpredictable yet strategically placed, brushstrokes portraying an imagined, idealized landscape. Similar to many of the van Gogh’s paintings completed close to the end of his life, Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Crows is a representational painting depicting nature around him. This piece is showing the wheat fields surrounding the graveyard of the Church in Auvers-sur-Oise - the graveyard where both van Gogh and his brother, Theo, were buried. The artist shows his interpretation of the wheat field on a stormy day, with three paths converging in the center of the painting's foreground. The center path disappears into the distance with an “abrupt termination” on its way to the horizon, creating a true sense of depth, while the other two ... ... middle of paper ... ...eath,” come down to pick up the wheat that has fallen on the ground. Lastly, many believe the abrupt ending to the middle of the three paths could refer to the premeditated ending of his life. Vincent van Gogh’s development in stylized representations of nature, created by the application of dark colors, bold lines, and thick paint all show an expressionistic view of the natural world as seen through the eyes of the artist. While we will never find a definite answer for whether or not Vincent van Gogh intended for Wheat Fields with Crows to be any indication of his suicide, we continue to draw on conclusions of what this painting really meant. Even though we can say with certainty that this was not Vincent van Gogh’s last painting, the subject matter and formal elements suggest that it probably was - intended or not - some indication of van Gogh’s unhappiness.
My second piece that I choose was Vincent van Gogh’s, Olive Trees made of oil on canvas in 1889. I have always loved this piece so this was an easy piece to choose. When looking up the dimensions of the piece it was hard to find. There are fifteen different canvases of this series, so it told me all of them. To make a rough estimate I would say it is about 4 feet high and 3 feet width wise.
However, Moran sided with the “sublime” aspect of Romantic landscape in which he uses the properties of form and color to evocatively paint a landscape meant to push the limit of formal expression. Moran doesn’t use just these techniques of the “sublime” to make the painting overwhelming, but also combined it with the sheer size of the canvas. He utilizes his space very well to make his viewers feel like he did when he found the canyon. He involves an aesthetic attack on our senses as viewers. Moran uses all of these elements to make the viewers feel like they are actually at the canyon. He used other tactics like the expansive sunlit landscape of the valley below, the tiny people that are dwarfed by the enormity of the landscape around them, and the enormous shadowing of the plane in the foreground which is symbolic of the fleetingness of a storm passing overhead. There is a tree that looks to have had barely made it through a powerful storm. All of these elements are meant to communicate just how small humans are in the wake of the destructive elements and splendor of nature. Yellowstone painting signifies the sheer power of nature and what it can bring which Moran uses to his advantage to captivate the masses.
The life span of 37 years saw Vincent Willem van Gogh (Vincent) in creating beautiful works he dearly loved. Painting was an avenue, which allowed him to express his inner thoughts or vent his struggles. My decision to research on Vincent’s painting, Starry Night (1889) came with the inspiration from Don Mclean’s Song, Starry Starry Night where his lyrics spoke about Vincent’s life that further intrigued me in writing this paper.
It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…
The French 1884 oil on canvas painting The Song of the Lark by Jules-Adolphe Breton draws grasps a viewer’s attention. It draws an observer in by its intense but subtle subject matter and by the luminous sun in the background. Without the incandescent sun and the thoughtful look of the young woman, it would just be a bland earth-toned farm landscape. However, Breton understood what to add to his painting in order to give it drama that would instantly grab an onlooker’s interest.
Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya, C.J., Tansey, R.G. (2001) Gardeners Art Through the Ages. Eleventh Edition, Harcourt College Publishers, Orlando, USA.
The painting Olive Trees, which is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is one of one of the paintings of olive orchards, which Van Gogh painted in 1889 while he was living at the asylum of Saint-Remy. The painting is a landscape painted in bright, beautiful colors, with Van Gogh’s lively brushwork. The image is divided into thirds, the trees being in the middle and highly capricious. The brushstrokes kind of depict the way the land is laid, the motion of the wind in the trees, and the gleam of the sun. In the painting the sun is misrepresented in size, and is also highlighted by an orange outline. The sun dominates the painting and more emphasis is put into it to show its importance. The curved trees all lean, even quiver further away from the center of the painting. The bottom of the trees are painted with red lines that ambiguously show where the sun would hit if it was directly above. The sun and mountains seems to be stable while the ground and the trees have some wave appearance.
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
Vincent Van Gogh never gave up his style and insight in his early work compared to his later work. I will discuss the comparison of the Potato Eaters and Starry Night and even though there are obvious differences, the core of his passion and eccentricities can be seen.
Nighthawks is perhaps the painting that embodies whom Edward Hopper was as an artist. The whole scene of a diner at night creates this entire different mood then it would if it was painted at a different time of the day. When we think of night, there are many things that happen, more obscurity and more curiosity. With this painting you can start to create the narrative, that these individuals are loners, they like to come out at night to escape the day. This idea that these people come to this place to alienate them from the real world is such great metaphor, how night can become a sense of peace for this people.
Richard Wilbur's recent poem 'Mayflies' reminds us that the American Romantic tradition that Robert Frost most famously brought into the 20th century has made it safely into the 21st. Like many of Frost's short lyric poems, 'Mayflies' describes one person's encounter with an ordinary but easily overlooked piece of nature'in this case, a cloud of mayflies spotted in a 'sombre forest'(l.1) rising over 'unseen pools'(l.2),'made surprisingly attractive and meaningful by the speaker's special scrutiny of it. The ultimate attraction of Wilbur's mayflies would appear to be the meaning he finds in them. This seems to be an unremittingly positive poem, even as it glimpses the dark subjects of human isolation and mortality, perhaps especially as it glimpses these subjects. In this way the poem may recall that most persistent criticism of Wilbur's work, that it is too optimistic, too safe. The poet-critic Randall Jarrell, though an early admirer of Wilbur, once wrote that 'he obsessively sees, and shows, the bright underside of every dark thing'?something Frost was never accused of (Jarrell 332). Yet, when we examine the poem closely, and in particular the series of comparisons by which Wilbur elevates his mayflies into the realm of beauty and truth, the poem concedes something less ?bright? or felicitous about what it finally calls its 'joyful . . . task' of poetic perception and representation (l.23).
In conclusion, Van Gogh used the elements above to create a man by himself in a field. He used color to represent feeling rather than represent realism of an event. The cool colors represent the field and happiness in his work. The warm colors represent the harshness of the day and could be a metaphor for life. He used scale and proportion to emphasis the overbearing sun. He also used proportion and scale to represent literally and figuratively how far away home was. The linear perspective was only evident to me after I really studied the used of lines. I followed the lines to the horizon and left side of the painting.
Just like in the beginning exert of “A Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, the author introduces suspense and invites readers in by first setting the scene of an ideal and perfect world where,”…all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” The scene the author is painting shows nature and humans coexisting together and this type of interaction brings an image of beauty and peace to mind. She also mentions that the country was especially famous for its abundant and various types of birds and makes several references to them throughout the story. Different types of birds carry a different symbolism each for example, the dove is a symbol for peace and friendship but a crow can signify that something terribly wrong is near.
Looking at landscape art, especially when painted by one of the masters, many have undoubtedly pondered: what would it be like to live there? Shapes and attention to detail are, of course, important in a painting. However, it is color that draws the eye and inspires the heart. Oscar Wilde, an Irish poet and dramatist, spoke well of this when he noted that, “Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. (qtd in “color”)”. Vincent Ward had a similar understanding of this impact when, in 1998, he directed the movie What Dreams May Come. Looking at this film, one can easily imagine being inside a living painting. The use of color to emphasize the emotional state of a character or event is common in films; nevertheless, Director Ward goes even farther in using color to represent the actual characters themselves. Red is the shade chosen to signify Annie and likewise, blue is used for Chris. Both of these, as will be shown, are accurate in defining these fictitious people. However, it is the profound use of purple in this film that is the true focal point. When mixing red and blue paint, one would find that, after being mixed, they cannot be separated. Likewise, this is true of the life and love these characters build and share. Purple represents the many ways in which Chris and Annie are melded, and joined.
Like many of Van Gogh’s paintings, Olive Trees commences as a landscape and expands into a complex work, disclosing influences from other times and places. Using the color theory and separated brushstrokes of the Impressionists, the movement and vivid colors of the Romantics, and lighting and composition inspired by Millet, Van Gogh achieves the potency and significance that characterizes his work. Van Gogh’s paintings can’t possibly be mistaken for those of another artist of his time because, despite the fact that all of his means have criterion, his end results do not.