Van Gogh The Potato Eaters

452 Words1 Page

Vincent Van Gogh being one of the pioneers for the expressionist movement, and just art in general was heavy on the expression of societal issues. Van Gogh was born in Holland in the small town of Groot-Zundert. As a child, he battled with emotion and social confidence, and used art as a form of expression. Around the Mid-1800’s he started painting seriously while residing in Belgium to study the thing he loves to do. One of his most famous paintings was created around the time of his death, and of course didn’t receive the recognition it deserved until then. The painting “The Potato Eaters” (1885) was a concentrated depiction of what was taking place in his home town of the Netherlands. Poverty was one of the leading concerns throughout the Netherlands, and this painting captured that. While he was living among the “peasants and laborers” he took a vow to depict “the people and their lives truthfully”, and he definitely delivered. The use of dark colors and loose brushstrokes are used to show the environment and the interaction it has with the people in it. The light in the middle of table I feel as if it is the thing that brings the people out of the darkness into truth. Their faces and body language tell a story of oppression and struggle, the way the woman hunches over portrays feeling of fatigue. No matter what they go through they still come together and eat around the table, the light is the sanctity. …show more content…

Poverty is defined as “the lack of basic human needs, such as clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them”. The painting shows that through the drab clothing on the five individuals in the painting, and most importantly the food they

Show More
Related

  • Van Gogh Influences

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vincent Van Gogh is one of the world’s greatest and most well-known artists, but when he was alive he considered himself to be a complete failure. It was not until after he died that Van Gogh’s paintings received the recognition they deserved. Today he is thought to be the second best Dutch artist, after Rembrandt. Born in 1853, he was one of the biggest artistic influences of the 19th century. Vincent Van Gogh created a new era of art, he learned to use art to escape his mental illness, and he still continues to inspire artists over 100 years later.

    Read More

  • Poverty In Sonny's Blues

    233 Words  | 1 Pages

    Poverty is the general state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. In life poverty affects people in many different ways like lack of education for themselves and there family members. Second low paid jobs is another factor, because of the low education people living in poverty have

    Read More

  • vincent van gogh

    1417 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter, whose work represents the archetype of expressionism, the idea of emotional spontaneity in painting. Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, son of a Dutch Protestant pastor. Van Gogh's birth came one year to the day after his mother gave birth to a first, stillborn child; also named Vincent. There has been much speculation about Vincent van Gogh suffering later psychological trauma as a result of being a "replacement child" and having a deceased brother with the same name and same birth date. Early in life, he displayed a moody, restless character that was to spoil his every pursuit. This theory remains unproven, however, and there is no actual historical evidence to support it.

    Read More

  • Starry Night a Paint by Vincent Van Gogh

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vincent was an influential post-Impressionist painter born in 1853, Netherlands. With Theo van Gogh’s association, Vincent met reputable Impressionist painters such as Émile Henri Bernard and Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin. Impressionism served as a platform for Vincent in developing his own style . He explored with colours, a stark contrast from his usual dark and sombre style. The influence of Japonisme charmed Vincent into residing in Arles where he began painting landscapes. Thereafter, Vincent voluntarily checked into Saint-Rémy sanatorium where his works reflected strong colours and lights of the countryside around him. His manic depression and epileptic condition, led to his suicide on July 27th 1890.

    Read More

  • On Dumpster Diving Analysis

    339 Words  | 1 Pages

    To some, poverty means a lack a lack of options and prospects while simultaneously being looked down on by others, which creates low self-esteem. Others would argue that being in poverty is an inability of a human being to effectively contribute to society. There is, however, a definition of poverty that should not be overlooked. Although oftentimes poverty is negative, it should not always be looked at as such, especially when one’s needs are met; for some poverty is an individual choice and defining one as a success or failure because of one’s economic standing is entirely a personal matter.

    Read More

  • Van Gogh

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    Art is a severe Goddess, who in return for her smiles demands many sacrifices. No one did more to please her, and no one was so insufficiently rewarded as Van Gogh. Several times the blows that she dealt him were painful enough to make any reasonable man resign. Only fanaticism and faith in her would permit one to leap the abyss between reality and desire. With cruel, merciless method, art asked from Van Gogh everything. It was a loan that multiplied with time and was never paid back. It haunted him within the recesses of his soul, it flirted with him and raises his hopes, it took away from him everything that was dear, and when it could finally take no more, it decided to take his life.

    Read More

  • Poverty in NC

    1887 Words  | 4 Pages

    Merriam Webster defines poverty as the state of lacking a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The United States Census Bureau identifies poverty as a lack of goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. Professor Gene Nichol, however, defines poverty from an emotional, yet som...

    Read More

  • Poverty in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poverty is defined as deficiency, or inadequacy. It can be used to represent more than just the lack of money. Poverty is constant throughout the novel, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton. Poverty is evident in almost every area of Ethan's life.

    Read More

  • The Bedroom By Vincent Van Gogh

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Kahlo And Van Gogh

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vincent van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890 and is arguably the most famous painter of the post-impressionism era of art. His painting style was often

    Read More

  • Van Gogh's Potato Eaters and Starry Night

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Potato Eaters is Van Gogh’s realist style where he thought of “peasants to be closer to nature than other people”. This began his religious view to capture life’s divinity. It was his first painting, which is a scene of a family at the kitchen table eating supper. His view on the scene was that these people worked all day, then come home to enjoy dinner with the same hard working hands that helped to make the dish, therefore, earning them an honest, genuine meal.

    Read More

  • Cause Of Poverty

    2564 Words  | 6 Pages

    Poverty is a global epidemic that contributes to the deaths of millions each year. However, poverty is more prominent in some areas around the world than others. The Oxford dictionary defines poverty as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support, but it’s so much more. Poverty can be defined as being hungry, lacking shelter, being unable to go to school, being unable to see a doctor, or being powerless and having a lack of freedom. The reason behind the many descriptions of poverty is that poverty has many faces, and its definition changes depending on the place and time, however the effects of poverty on the poor are always the same.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Vincent Van Gogh's Wheat Field With Crows

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Children And Poverty

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2015); in other words, struggling to provide a comfortable living style. It is the cause of family stress and many other problems, especially for the children. Millions of people around the world are struggling with poverty; families suffering to provide enough food seem to be growing in numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the poverty rate was highest in the 1960s and decreased greatly in the 1970s. However, it is now slowly starting to increase again. Recently released census data by the Bureau showed that one in five people are living in poverty (Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty is even

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Poverty

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    The question is, what is poverty? Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs of life, including food, clothing, and shelter. Nevertheless I believe that poverty is much more that not having enough money. The World Bank Organization describes poverty as, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is the lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty

    Read More

More about Van Gogh The Potato Eaters

Open Document